The Breakaway Advantage...Our Story

As balmy summer evenings fall quietly across the Cape a soft wind picks up and gently carries across the main streets and backyards of Cape Cod. It carries the echo of children’s laughter laced with lively conversation and heavily laden with the rich, sweet smell of barbeque smoke moving across weathered porches and backyards. All of this means mean only one thing to Cape Codders — summer has returned, and so has the barbequing season.

The Recipe for an Entrepreneur

Ken Foster had loved barbequing since he was a child. Every so often his father would let him tag along on a trip to the Lumber Yard he owned up on 134 in South Dennis and let him pass the time sitting on one of the big, red stools behind the counter. He particularly loved being there when spring rolled around and families would start coming into buy their summer grills. In those days a shopping outing on a Saturday was a big event and it was all the more serious when an expensive purchase was going to be made. Families came dressed in their Saturday best, and while the mothers and fathers pleasantly chatted with the sales people the children, who were ever so behaved back then, marveled at all the shiny new products. When the family had finally chosen a grill they would make their way over to the counter, and as the cash register chimed little Kenny would watch the father carefully count out starchy, cool bills. Then as they turned to leave they would smile across the counter at him and wave goodbye as they stated their honest intention of returning quite soon, and he would counter back that he would always be happy to see them again and he honestly meant it.

But as the simple goodness of the fifties passed and small town America began bustling with huge national stores Ken couldn’t help but lose some of his fondness for barbequing. Try as he might, the idea of barbequing just seemed to lose its spirit after you spent four hours wandering through the aisles of a store so massive you could run across it and lose ten pounds. Never mind receiving a little assistance as you navigated the mere sixteen miles of aisles with four hundred grills to choose from and thirty manufacturers.  Then when you finally arrived home at nine o’clock you come to the awful realization  that you are going to spend the better part of the next day assembling 6000 pieces into one functioning unit, only to finish and head back out to fill a propane tank and haul your old grill to the dump. Ken was tired of it and he had something different in mind for his customers. Ken wanted to create a store that embodied the values and traditions of old small, town America while offering the same selection and price range of a modern superstore.

The Vision

What Ken truly envisioned was a mini Barbecue superstore, a place where people could find everything they needed for barbecuing from the grills, to the accessories, and fuel.

• His first order of business was to choose a few carefully selected manufacturers that produced a wide range of exceptional products suited for every taste and budget.
• He wanted the stores to be small and personal while effectively showcasing our great selection of products.
• He wanted customers to choose the degree of service they were comfortable with. Whether that meant they preferred shopping with the assistance of a member of our professionally trained team of grillologists or alone without the interruptions of helpful, but just too overeager, sales people.
  
• He wanted to provide people with exceptional service reminiscent of a day when every product was made with care, every customer was a person, and great service was included in the price.

The Breakaway Advantage

So at Breakaway repeat customers have come to know and love our Breakaway Advantage package. With this service every time you purchase a grill you get free assembly, delivery, pickup of old grill, and a propane tank or natural gas hose. And for those do-it-yourselfers you have the option of purchasing your grill in a box for the same price as the big name stores.

And so in 1986 Breakaway the Barbeque Grill Store opened on a bright, summer day.

• With an unparalleled selection of grills in every price and style you will also find a full line of barbeque accessories like sturdy vinyl covers, spit fire rotisseries, clam bake pots, stick-to-your-ribs sauces, and sweetly scented smoking chips.
• We also offer a full service parts counter stocked with both specialty and universal parts to fit almost every model of grill, new or old.
• When it comes time to fill your tank or replace your grill, Breakaway is eager to see our customers walk back in the door. We know that at Breakaway you’ll find we offer the right value, selection and service to keep you coming back year after year.

Patio Accessories...making the All-American Barbeque even better!

In the years since that first summer then Breakaway has grown tremendously. We delved into revolutionizing the backyard barbeque experience with incredibly effective products that will change your outdoor parties forever. Don’t get us wrong — we love the All-American Barbeque. From the once-a-year experience of witnessing dad impeccably dressed in a starched white apron (marred by the occasional spot of barbeque sauce) balancing a plate of crispy chicken wings dripping with barbeque sauce in one arm and a spatula in the other, to the feeling of lush grass on barefoot feet and the sun warm on our backs. What we don’t love is the barbeques were we find our guests leaving as the sun goes down because of the cold, or spending the night battling giant insects only to be covered in small red “battle” wounds that itch like crazy for a week afterward. 

So when we discovered products like incredibly efficient Patio Heaters and Mosquito Magnets we knew you would love them as much as we do. Because once you’ve solved those problems you can focus on the real issues, like decorating your patio. At Breakaway we love the look of a patio glowing with candlelight and we carry a great line of candles with incredible scents like mint chocolate chip and apple pie alongside beautifully colored glass lanterns and authentic teak Tiki Torches which will infuse your backyard with an exotic aura.

Every spring year we scour the market for the most incredible Barbeque and Patio products available. We are always picking up new items, grills from different parts of the world, the hottest line of new sauces, a better charcoal, or ingenious products like mini grill lights that attach to the handle of any grill. We invite you to visit the website regularly to see our newest products.

Hearth Products

A few years later Breakaway again also took on a very different direction and decided to carry Hearth products alongside our Barbeque and Patio lines. Breakaway carries:

• The most realistic, quality Gas Log sets on the market
• Remarkably efficient Fireplace Inserts
• A gorgeous line of Glass Doors
• Natural Gas Cast Iron Stoves
• Handcrafted Hearth Stones in a rainbow of colors
• Beautiful Hearth accessories.

And at Breakaway our service department will take care of all the details from installation to inspection, with all the work done in-house by trained, qualified, licensed personnel.

A Second Location

In the spring of 2006 Breakaway opened a new location in Mashpee. Our Mashpee store will embody the same values and atmosphere of our South Dennis store while carrying many of the same products. We invite you to visit both gorgeous showrooms or contact us if you have any questions, and we look forward to seeing or hearing from you in the near future.