International Women's Day Celebration
Today we celebrate our President, CTO, leader, mentor and customer support all-star, Gina Bourret. A woman who truly knows how to do it all! As an innovative, programmer, she took the lead in creating the world's first Wi-Fi BBQ thermometer back in 2013.
In a mostly male-dominated world of BBQ and technology, Gina was able to stand out through innovation and by creating what's called a "blue ocean shift". This means, she created a market where there wasn't one to begin with. Furthermore, this means that she had to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to get early adopters to invest in the concept. As you might expect, BBQ is a world of tradition and using a product that takes people out of their traditional ways of cooking was no easy task.
After a year of market research, business planning and product development, the "Tappecue Wi-Fi BBQ Thermometer" was launched at the Great Lenexa BBQ Battle Competition in July 2013.
Gina led Team Tappecue to victory that evening. We spent hours going team to team pitching the product and getting feedback, making notes and making customers. There were a lot of BBQers who'd say they rely on feel or they'd buy it right now if it worked in a rotisserie smoker. But that didn't stop Gina and her team from success. She constantly talks to customers and hears what they have to say.
In fact, that's exactly why the Tappecue V2 and Touch models have placed in NBBQA's "Best BBQ Tool/Accessory" category in 2018 and 2021. More recently the new AirProbe has solved one of the biggest needs in the BBQ market - tracking internal temperatures of your meat on a rotisserie smoker.
Gina's drive for quality and efficiency is exactly why it took 7 years of research and development on the new AirProbe.
Innovating Solutions (makers of Tappecue), spent each year testing different technologies as they came out, all the way from using sound waves to radio waves to transmit temps over the air - which all came up short at the time. "We didn't want to offer a solution that we weren't 110% satisfied with and only wanted to offer the best," she stated. Gina has always been about providing the best value possible.
Creating the best products and providing the most value to customer's is the reason why she chose to keep as much of the manufacturing as possible here in America... not only America, but here in Kansas City, MO - where she's from. She states, "when you're working directly with someone, face-to-face, it makes it easy to get things done quickly and correctly." And as a small business that never took on external investment, getting things done quickly is imperative to success; as we know technology is quickly improving and so should the technology company. We want to provide as much value as possible for you so you can create the best meals possible.
It's the smiles like this (pictured above) that keep Tappecue alive and growing. Just like a small flame that needs nurturing, Gina tends to her customers and helps them during any time of day. She truly goes out of her way to make sure you have a successful cook and meal for you and your guests. She brings this same kind-heartedness to the company and its employees. We're all very thankful for the value she provides and smiles that come with being apart of a fun and forward-thinking company that she leads.