Summer means white linen, family picnics, surfing and swimming, cold brews, and hot burgers. And there's nothing quite like a a juicy, medium-rare burger right off the grill (with a bit of pineapple and BBQ sauce).
The trouble comes, though, when the party is over and it's you versus the grill, armed with your scrub brush and degreaser. Fighting off a day's worth of solidified and charred meat fat from your grill often ends in defeat with an only somewhat clean grill, a mess of towels and greasy hands.
This is the part where I tell you that there's a service in town that will come straight to your doorstep to do it all for you.
Two New Canaan High School grads (c/o '08), Kenny Slattery and Chris Valk, are in their third summer of scrubbing and polisbing grills around town with their surprisingly fast-growing business "Two Guys and a Grill."
The two young men discovered the ease with which they could get a grill in tip top condition whilst cleaning up Mom's grill and decided to utilize that talent by selling it as a service.
"We never really expected to get the demand we did," said Slattery, who has had to hire two more employees in order to keep up with customer demand. Without any advertising, Slattery and Walk rely on customer satisfaction.
"We understand that the best way to get to customers is word of mouth. It’s somewhat small here and everyon knows each other, so after every grill, we send an email with before and after photos, which is perfect for forwarding to friends," said Slattery. "You do your hardest to make the grilles look great, because they can really see the difference right in front of their eyes."
Despite a less-than-stellar economy, "Two Guys and a Grill" grew to over 120 customers in two summers and was named "Bussiness Owner of the Month" at People's Bank of New Canaan.
Slattery, a Boston College graduate, and Valk, a Colgate graduate, use a variety of tools such as brushes and scrapers with safe chemicals such degreasers and Windex. The two clean the grill inside and out, removing build-up and gunk from the interior and also give metal exteriors a nice, polished finish.
Depending on the size and the extent of the build-up, the entire process could between one and three hours for $60 to $120. For instance, a large grill with cobwebs and a burger from last summer would run around $120 while a smaller, lightly used grill would run around $60.
The proof is in the pictures, so don't forget to check out the gallery to see Slattery and Valk's before and after shots.
Two Guys and a Grill is on Facebook and you can make an appointment via email at 2guysand1grill@gmail.com
