It all started with a plow disc and a vision. Perhaps not the most elegant kickoff to a brand's inception, but for Hunter and Griff Jaggard of FireDisc Cookers, such bedrock beginnings perfectly aligned with their revolutionary concept in portable outdoor cooking.

Always engaged in joint businesses and hunting and fishing adventures since their pre-teen years, Hunter and Griff eventually entered Texas Tech University, where they met their future wives and formalized their professional training. It was during their TTU years that Griff was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Rather than becoming a stumbling block, the news further galvanized the brothers' entrepreneurial spirit. After graduating TTU and starting their careers in Commercial Real Estate, Hunter and Griff wanted to help in finding a cure for MS and in improving the lives of those living with the disorder. This led Hunter to establish a non-profit racing team called Carney Men, which is now the largest private non-profit cycling team in the U.S. To date, the team has raised over $1 million for MS research and assistance through participation in the BP MS 150 and the Bike MS: Cactus and Crude cycling events. This desire to give back and offer community support continues as a foundation principle of their company, FireDisc Cookers.

Throughout their commercial Real Estate years and their ongoing work with MS fundraising, the brothers never lost their passion for entrepreneurism and enjoying outdoor sports. Those passions eventually merged when, frustrated with conventional outdoor cooking equipment that either didn't work well or never lived up to expectations, Griff and Hunter earnestly searched for a better solution—a way that would reduce the hassle of clean up, allow for preparing multiple food types with a single cooking device, and that could be easily transported, set up, and taken down so more time could be spent enjoying a meal with friends and family and less on the drudgery of creating large meals in an open, self-sustaining environment.

To that end, the brothers tapped family experiences that recalled large groups of Texas ranch hands being served up hearty meals prepared field-side on makeshift cookers. To help get them started, Hunter’s father-in-law supplied the brothers with a plow disc—a basic implement commonly transformed on West Texas farms and ranches for use in preparing large meals in the field. A plow disc, being rugged enough to cut and turn sod  and red dirt on the Texas back forty, the brothers reasoned, should certainly be durable enough to withstand the rigors of outdoor adventure cooking. A standard plow disc modification, though, would not be sufficient for the diverse cooking requirements they envisioned.

So, with their gifted plow disc in hand, the brothers sought the talents of local welding pros and began the designing and testing phases of their idea, building several prototypes that would eventually lead to the FireDisc® Cooker, and the formation of FireDisc the company the in 2010.

Griff and Hunter's initial approach to creating their ultimate portable cooking solution based on the plow disc design proved out. Here was a versatile yet portable cooking platform that could be used to prepare large quantities of diverse foods. The key, they discovered, was developing a cooker with the optimal size and profile so that multiple items, each requiring different temperatures and cooking times, could be prepared simultaneously and in volume. The other important elements to their new product's ultimate success meant that the system had to be easily transported and capable of setting up anywhere in the outdoors. Cleanup also had to be fast and simple.

They solved the portability issue by developing a fold-flat support system and independent cooking surface so that everything could stow neatly in any size vehicle yet be deployed in minutes, using no tools or hardware. The brother’s developed and packed a lot of technology into the FireDisc beyond the angled and pourous “seasonable” surface that makes food on the FireDisc tase so good. The FireDisc burns clean, operates efficiently and the 11 gauge carbon steel holds in the heat, up to 20,000 BTU’s for conservative use of fuel on a 16oz propane tank, enabling the FireDisc to cook twice as fast as most grills. Simply connect a propane bottle and it's ready to cook.

As for cleanup—the bane of outdoor cooking—the Jaggard brothers had always appreciated the convenience and superior cooking results of seasoned cast iron skillets. By using a specially prepared and polished pourous steel surface, their new FireDisc® cooker could be seasoned like a cast iron skillet so cleanup could be accomplished with nothing more than hot water and a wipe, eliminatating the problem of scraping and disposing of hot coals in the outdoors.

Subsequent refinements in design, a bullet proof,  ultra-durable powder-coating was then added in the colors of Black and Red in order to give the FireDisc a sharp outdoor look and feel that could weather the elements without rusting. This was then followed up by ongoing field-tests by veteran chefs, BBQ enthusiasts, and fellow outdoorsmen, resulted in the portable propane FireDisc® Cooker models offered today—the FireDisc® Deep 24-Inch Short and the Deep 36-inch Tall Portable Cookers with walled discs, plus the 24-Inch Short and 36-Inch Tall Portable Skillets. All models utilize propane for fuel and a regulator/manifold assembly attached to a two-piece, all-steel leg system. This modular design is what makes FireDisc® Cookers the most rugged, most portable, and highest volume outdoor cookers available.

Outdoor enthusiasts across the country seemed to agree, as sales of FireDisc Cookers quickly spread from the initial South Texas market to 44 states spanning both U.S. coasts. Griff and Hunter had obviously hit the right note by delivering the kind of efficient and highly portable outdoor cooking platform that answered the needs of anglers, hunters, campers, and tailgaters who want to easily prepare quick meals for large groups anywhere in the outdoors.

In 2014, This success also brought the brothers to the proverbial fork in the road—continue their Real Estate professions while working double-time to manufacture and fill orders for their new cookers or commit their full attention to building the FireDisc brand. Having been in joint business ventures since their childhood days, the decision to go all-in with FireDisc was an easy one. It also presented the brothers with the opportunity to expand their "give back" philosophy. Today, the company not only helps provide for MS research and support, FireDisc Cookers also helps raise funds for 11 other national foundations dedicated to assisting medical research and aiding those most in need.

Making life more enjoyable and easy is the goal of FireDisc Cookers, and with Griff and Hunter Jaggard's dedication to giving back, that mission extends throughout the country with every FireDisc product purchased.

For more information about FireDisc® Portable Cookers, go to FireDisc Cookers.

 

About FireDisc® Cookers:

Texas-based FireDisc® Cookers specializes in the design and manufacturing of the world’s most the innovative, high-quality and versatile, portable outdoor cookers and accessories. The company was founded by two entrepreneurial brothers, Griff and Hunter Jaggard, who, armed with a makeshift tractor plow disc, set out on a mission to build a cooker worthy of everyone from the world’s top chefs to hunters, fishermen, backyard family grill masters, tailgaters and campers. FireDisc® Cooker products are currently sold nationally and online throughout the globe.  For more information, visit http://www.firedisccookers.com.

Heavy-duty, ultra-high carbon steel construction renders the cookers indestructible, while meticulous design yields convenient portability and ease-of-use. A rigorous Chef-Tested/Chef-Approved quality assurance program enables the cookers to deliver unmatched cooking characteristics, as vetted by some of the world’s leading chef’s. Prior to their launch of FireDisc® Cookers, the founders formed a non-profit to raise money and find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. To date $1M has been raised via The Carney Men Bike MS team. For more information, visit http://www.ms150carneymen.org/

 

MEDIA CONTACT: Media Direct // Jacob Eaton //  Jacob@MEDIADIRECTCREATIVE.COM // 309.944.5341