Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet

In 1998, while digging through an old steel filing cabinet, Geoffrey Bullard found his great grandfather Lewis Bullard's original plans for an outdoor grill built in 1906 for W.E. Upjohn. At the time Geoffrey was running KSM, his great grandfather's business otherwise known as Kalamazoo Sheet Metal. It was at that moment the modern Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet grill was born, but its roots are in the sheet metal division of Acme Hardware in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which was incorporated by Lewis Bullard in 1906 as Kalamazoo Sheet Metal. Kalamazoo Sheet Metal manufactured many of Lewis Bullard's inventions, including one of the first slot machines, The Mighty Kalamazoo, and the first folding daybed. Kalamazoo Sheet Metal's greatest success was in manufacturing some of the first compression machines for making pills for Upjohn. And, of course, Kalamazoo Sheet Metal created original gourmet grills for W.E. Upjohn and many other locals.