By Shirley Burnham
Prentiss Headlight Correspondent

Mark Fails has lived in a lot of places in the world but none better than his hometown of Bassfield where he and his family returned to stay. He is co-owner of the commercial metal fabrication company DFI Construction & Inspection that is a family business. His family of pipe fitters followed his father to such places as Iran, Jamaica, Korea and Puerto Rico where he learned to do things right, and that the old saying, “necessity is the mother of invention,” rings loudly with truth.
When he found he had difficulty transporting his heavy ceramic grill from his home to his lake-side pavilion for cookouts, his inventive juices began flowing and he came up with a type of carrier for his own use. With encouragement and vision he perfected the product, received a copyright, registered the trade name and the Grill Barrow was born.

The Grill Barrow is designed to safely and effortlessly move large ceramic Kamado style cookers including the large Green Egg, extra-large Green Egg, large Kamado Joe, large Grill Dome, large Primo Round, large Bayou Classic and extra-large Primo Oval, or it can be custom built for any grill. It is made of schedule-40 carbon steel pipe that will last a lifetime, and the metal is coated with a bed liner material or dipped hydrographically to give that cool camouflage look. The countertop is half-inch food-safe cutting board material and flat-free tires are standard.

The ease of motion of this product is amazing. Even with the weight of the grill and Grill Barrow combined probably reaching or exceeding 400 lb., this correspondent was able to personally maneuver it around easily even with one hand.

The Grill Barrow has been featured in Tailgater Monthly Magazine and Man Cave Meals, a grill cooking show that got over half a million views and its popularity continues to grow. Last weekend Fails demonstrated the Grill Barrow at Gulf Shores at the SEC Bash on the Beach sponsored by Tailgater Monthly. A vehicle attachment is also available that can make your cooker and Grill Barrow easily transportable to tailgating parties or your site of choice.

“The cool thing is that it will fit through a standard door so storage is not a problem,” states Fails. “The hardest thing is the shipping since it sells fully assembled.”

Fails states he build this product to last a lifetime for those who want to be mobile with their cookers. He states there are over a million cookers sold a year in the states and he hopes to tap into the market with this product and build a hometown business around the sales, which are increasing. DFI employees are at work full time during the company’s less busy months meeting the demand.

Locally the Grill Barrow can be purchased at Collins Appliance in Collins and Madison Fire Place & Brick in Jackson. Morrison Supply, a dealer that has stores throughout Texas and Louisiana, also stocks the product.

For more information visit the website www.thegrillbarrow.com, email sales@thegrillbarrow.com or phone: 601-943-5288 or 601-943-6817.