Episode 183 | From Music Dreams to a Multi-Million Dollar Grilling Business with Debra Dudley

In this conversation, Debra shares her remarkable journey from aspiring country music star to Co-Founder & President of the global brand, Oscarware, Inc.

She recounts how a love story and a simple idea, inspired by her late husband's  his experience in the satellite industry, inspired the concept of metal "topper" placed over an outdoor grill. The company went on to change the way people cook outdoors. Debra talks about the early years of trial and error, the persistence it took to land Walmart as her first major buyer, and how she and her late husband built their business through sheer determination and creativity.

We also explore the parallels between performing on stage and selling a product, the importance of believing in yourself even after hearing “no,” and how a strong personal brand and authentic connection can open doors. Debra’s story is a testament to resilience, faith, and the power of never giving up on what you believe in.

About Debra A. Dudley – Co-Founder & President, Oscarware, Inc.

Once an aspiring country singer with Top 40 hits, Debra Dudley transformed her creative spirit into entrepreneurship after meeting her late husband, Reg. Together, they invented the first Oscarware grill toppers, turning a simple backyard idea into a Made-in-the-USA success story. Today, Oscarware products are sold nationwide at Walmart, Kroger, Publix, and beyond, reaching 14 countries.

Debra’s leadership has earned her major recognition, including Kentucky Small Businessperson of the Year, the WBENC Southeast Woman-Owned Business of the Year, and the 2024 Gail Adinamis wegg® Award for Exemplary Global Leadership®.

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Want to be more successful, make more sales and grow your business? If so, you'll love this podcast. In this show, I (Kay Miller, aka "Muffler Mama,") interview superstar women from all industries. Their experience and advice will give you specific tools you can use to enjoy Uncopyable success. I earned the nickname “Muffler Mama" when sold more automotive mufflers than anyone in the world, and I've been a successful entrepreneur for over 30 years. During that time, I (along with my husband, Steve) have generated 8 figures in revenue for our business.  Besides hosting this podcast, I'm an author, speaker, coach, consultant and most importantly....Kelly's mom.

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Transcript

I am really looking forward to today's conversation with Deborah Dudley. Deborah is the co-founder and president of Oscar Ware Incorporated. Deborah was an aspiring country music star climbing the charts when she traded Dreams of the Grand Ole Opry for building a global grilling empire with her late husband.

Reg. Today, Oscar Wear Grill Toppers are sold in all major retailers across the US and 14 countries. Debra, welcome to the podcast. Well, thank you for having me. I'm just really happy to be here and tell my story. And a story. It is. I have to thank Connie Lefferts, a mutual friend, a client, a client of mine, and when I asked her who would be the very best guest that you know, you were at the top of the list.

So I appreciate Connie and I appreciate you being on, uh, the show. So I'd like to start, as I said, just you have an interesting backstory because you were on your way, it sounds like, successfully to be a singing professional, singing star, whatever. So how did that change and how did this, this grill chopper, let's tell it, take it back to the very beginning.

Okay. I'll do this without taking up too much time. 'cause it's a book made to be written. I always had music influence with my mom and my dad. And when I was five years old, my dad had a radio station, uh, a program on a radio station, and he would steam me up in a chair. And I would sing because the microphones were way up high and I couldn't reach them.

I never knew what it wasn't like to be performing somewhere. And you know, not just country music, bluegrass music, gospel music. Um, my mom, you know, she had me in piano lessons. My dad taught me how to play guitar and bass guitar and, and it was just part of my life. And so that's, that's what I wanted. I wanted to grow up and be that country music star and sing on the Grand Ole Opry.

First I went to school. I, I, I got a job, but I had a day job. But every night I by the time I was 20, I had a country music band. We practiced every night. We performed locally. And then one time we were performing in a battle of the bands in West Virginia and doing so there was a man in the audience.

He saw me, I didn't see him, but he was visiting his friend, his best friend from the Marines. They were in the Marines together. And he took, he could tell the story much better than I could. Um, but he said, I saw you. I punched Don. Don was his friend's name. He says, I am gonna marry that girl. And I knew his friend because he banked at the bank I was working at, and he worked at the radio station that we used to do a lot of things with some of the line line clubs, benefits and things like that.

So his friend comes into the bank and says, I have a friend who really wants to meet you. Okay? I'm, the least thing I wanted at the time was to meet a man. Okay? And he kept pursuing, you know, he really wants to meet me. I said, okay, next time he is in town visiting you, we'll have a cup of coffee. So that cup of coffee was the day I fell in love with this man and his blue eyes, and we got married two months later.

We were married 23 years when he passed away, and that was in 2006. But he was, he was supportive of my music career, so that wasn't the end of it. He had a dream and it was, he was a pioneer in the satellite TV industry, so he was very electronic, very smart, such, such an engineering. He could see something and know how it worked or whatever.

So together we started this business in the satellite TV antenna business, and pursued my career in Nashville. So it was, uh, it was a lot of fun, but we failed at the satellite industry. When the programming was, was, it was a dinosaur, but it died just like a dinosaur. We were trying to find something else we could manufacture and we tried patio furniture truck toolboxes, lots of other different products.

The first house when we got married that we rented, did not have a kitchen stove, but we had an old gas grill, but we couldn't grill the types of food we wanted to grill because the food would fall through the grill. Grs, the satellite TV antenna dishes had a, had expended metal in them. So he took, now this would've been in 1982, we didn't start all square to 1989.

In 1982, he took a square piece of expanded metal, put it on top of the grill. We were grilling everything from pizza, french fries. Chicken nuggets, fresh fish, shrimp. Had we known in 1982 that we had a product that would totally reinvent outdoor grilling forever and change our lives, we probably would've missed the rest of what happened during those seven years.

So my career in music being backstage of the Grand Ole Opry, trying to get on that stage meeting a lot of country western stars and one particularly Oscar Sullivan, who was a member, which is kind of where we named the company from. I was backstage of the Opry passing out grill toppers to everybody.

And I'm talking a lot of them aren't even here anymore. Trying to get that going and then also trying to get on stage. We went with what happened next, and that's the, what happened next was we went to our first trade show in Chicago, Illinois, and it was at McCormick, the big hardware show. And I'm standing in the booth, I'm grilling on the, a grill topper on a small electric grill.

A gentleman comes into the booth, he says, this product is really cool. Will you call me after the show? It was Walmart. And what year was that? That would've been 1989. Okay. Now, that could have helped my career in music. It certainly helped get us going with. Our next business adventure, which was changing outdoor grilling, and we continued to do that for many years.

If you could grill it in, if you could cook it indoors, we wanted you to have the product that would grill, that you could put on a grill and be successfully and make it easy and delicious for you to cook whatever you wanted. But it kind of helped me get a little deeper into meeting the right people in Nashville.

I had two CDs that I recorded in Nashville. I had a video on country music television, and I had two top 40 hits. But having a husband having a business that was, that was going well and finding out what it was like with being a mom. You know, having kids, having family. Mm-hmm. Um, it was my decision to just say, I'm, I'm better off.

Those are, that's the best job I can have is being a mom and having the love of my life. And so I just kind of didn't wanna go any farther, if that makes sense. Sometimes it's, you think you want something, but if it had been a different journey where I had been single and you know, who knows what would've happened, but I'm happy doing what I'm doing and I'm happy with the decisions I'm made and for being there and finding the one person in the world that I loved more than anything.

That is quite a story. I did take some notes. Uh, I told you that I've been to the Grand Ole Opry one time. I was at a meeting at that time and I wanted to go. Nobody would go with me. So I bought a ticket and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Life. And there were no big stars that night, but I could not believe the talent and the magic of that place.

So I can see why you wanted to go there. It must have been so fun to be part of that whole operation. It was, and I mean tears. I mean, it, you experienced so many emotions just with the performances, the music, and just It was, yeah. It was really magical. Yeah. Um, I think there was a 22-year-old kid, I say kid on the guitar that blew me away.

There was a man in his eighties that sang a very emotional song about overcoming alcohol addiction, but just the, the talent. So I'm sure, like you said, it was hard to give that up. But you've gotta make decisions in the grander scheme of your life. Yes. And traveling like that. You couldn't have a social life, a family life.

It would be, I, I mean, I'm just really surprised people could do it. I am an, I'm very connected to friends, very social, so. That would be difficult. You chose to be home and then Reg I, that cracks me up. That he spotted you in the audience. I really don't know anyone else personally who that's happened to.

I know it does happen but the fact that he, he pursued you and won you over. Very cool. Quite a love story that you had, which is always fun. And then the satellite dish thing. It's interesting because my husband, Steve Miller, who's part of the business with me, he, his dad was involved in the invention of the eight track tape, and that was not long lived.

You're my age. You remember those? I've, I've still got some, yeah. It was so cool at, at the time because before that, there's nothing record players. My dad had a record player in his car when he was a teenager, and I thought, I said, how could you play a record when you're driving? And he didn't say anything.

And I said, oh, you're not driving. Well, okay, dad. So anyway the, uh, satellite dish network didn't last as long as you would've hoped, but something wonderful came out of that. And talk about industrious that I'm pretty impressed. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's funny and, and I tell this story over and over again, if we had just done that, if we would've just done that it's just, uh, it was meant to be.

We, maybe the market wasn't ready for that yet because grills weren't. What they are today, right. Back then, I mean, it was mainly charcoal grills and Weber was, had the big griddle, you know, the big ke uh, kettle grill. Mm-hmm. And people were grilling on 4th of July Memorial Day. You know, they weren't grilling the types of foods they're grilling today.

And the grills today make it so much easier. We take credit for the, that ma I we don't deserve all of it, but we just feel like we reinvented what you're grilling and, uh, cause those other grills or products to come to market and make it more about being with family and friends at home and just enjoying each other.

If you wanna get the guitar out and sing a song or two, because that's what we did growing up, that's, that was fun. We didn't just grill. On a couple of days a year, everybody came to mom and dad's house. Everybody wanted to be there, and we just all sat around and had a good time together. It's, yeah, it's fellowship.

Well, if you listening ha are not familiar with Oscar ware, it's oscar ware inc.com. And this is an unbelievable concept. And I, I guess also a reminder to the listener that, we don't know what else is out there. All these years people have been grilling, well, these are porcelain correct, and there are all different kinds of formations.

You can fry an egg on the grill, you can make a pizza, of course, all the traditional things. But as, uh, Deborah said, things aren't falling through the grill. It's just easy cleanup. Less mess. You could make anything. So be sure to check uh them out because they're available at Walmart. So you'd re, you'll be able to find this Oscar wear and if you do any kind of grilling it, it's just, it's worth your time to check this out and buy one of them.

So, you know, something that just struck my mind, and again, it's kind of an encouragement to people out there listening who might wanna start a business, wheels on a suitcase. For years, we dragged our suitcases around, I dragged golf clubs and a suitcase, and my arms, I thought, were gonna fall off. Who knew?

Why didn't someone think of wheels on a Suitcase? That's so weird. I dunno. I mean, and, and they probably thought it was stupid at the time, you know, maybe. So there are ideas out there. I know you've been at it at this for quite a while, but at that time there wasn't this idea and you got creative and inventive and you also thought about yourself, your own life and what you would've enjoyed.

And that's always a good source of ideas too. And this be cool. Uh, then you grew this company. I do like the fact that you were very passionate about promoting this product, and I think I talk with a lot of companies, a lot of clients, if they have a small business and I ask, who does the selling? Well, we don't have a salesperson.

Well then do you do the selling? And they don't wanna see themselves as a salesperson, but you were passing these out, passionate about it, trade shows, which really get a bad rap anymore. Trade shows you, you met Walmart at a trade show that as you said, there was another path that if it hadn't happened, who knows where you'd be.

But you've really, you know, how hard and how exciting has it been to take this company basically international? It's, again, it is the journey. I mean, it's that first trade show. Do you know how many phone calls. I made before that trade show. Do you know how much a trade show cost? Do you know how many times we mortgaged our home?

I mean, it was like today you shoot an email, you, you post a Facebook, uh, post. I just grilled a three pound meatloaf on my big green egg grill yesterday to have content on social media with my marketing team. So you can do it because you probably never in a million years thought of grilling a meatloaf.

And I used my mom's favorite recipe and my mother is 102 years old. Wow. Well, congratulations. Happy birthday to your mother whenever that birthday is. But it, you know, it's like I go back and it was just, you know, dialing. I've got the old address book with phone numbers. I, I can remember calling Kroger, trying to talk to the buyer doing cookie demos and parking lots going into stores and grilling on a grill.

I was on QVC, you just, and I guess maybe the music in my, you know, my love for just being that face and Rich was you know, he was such, he was the, he was at the engineering mind. I could think of something. Okay, I wanna walk Stir Fry's popular. I don't want a round one, I want a square one.

So I cut this product out of pencil and paper and taped it together and said, this is, this is the shape of it. I mean, I, there's no way I could have, you know, really. Designed it to be manufactured, but it was our creativity together and our talents together and our partnership together that, got us another new product on the market and we were the only grill topper out there.

So we kinda had the attention, we had the business and we had new products, which, buyers love something new and different. And when you've got national accounts like Walmart having it on the shelf in their stores it just kind of gives you that still of approval that this product is great and mm-hmm.

But it wasn't the, you know, as far as how many people could do more than going to store and shop and see if they saw it to. You can tell anybody anywhere in any language. About your product. To start a business today, if you do it right, you know it's easier than what it was back then. It, to me it is.

And what that has done for our brand and just our story, our values, we have been able to share those in a big way. And I wanna be the face of Oscar. My daughter is right beside of me, and we're, we're just very close. We wear a lot of hats in the business. I mean, I'm ordering aluminum for the presses before our meeting today.

I just. I just do a lot of things, but it's just, it's not hard. It's not hard for me to do. So it's just, it comes natural to me because I've been doing this for so long. And the memories, just the memories. It's very helpful to hear some of the things you did early on. Uh, when you said that you tried to get ahold of Kroger, did you, how long did it take till you got ahold of Kroger?

Well, let's say I, I guess Kroger has, has been good to us when we were in their programs. But Walmart has stayed true blue to us. Albertsons. A lot of our customers are, have been very true blue to us for many, many years. And we have the best quality. There's no doubt in my mind. We have been copied.

China has copied a lot of our products. Mm-hmm. Our quality to theirs. There's no there, there, there's a big difference. But when we build a product, we want it to be sustainable. We think of cradle to the grave. We look at what you're gonna be doing with that. What kind of food are you gonna be grilling on that?

What's the grill temperature? Uh, is is the, is the porcelain coating on the steel? Is that safe? Our porcelain coating is our signature porcelain coating. It's made in Leesburg, Alabama, and it is safe. And we fire that coating on that steel topper at 1,535 degrees. So it's not coming off. And it's there, it's like a large skillet with a porcelain coating on it.

And if you take care of it, it's gonna last you for a long time. I can tell the way you're talking about this, the passion that you have for your product. I do wanna talk about a couple things and that is, you know, our brand is UNC Copyable. We just wrote a book called UNC Copyable You, which is all about personal branding and you had a personal brand already, country Music star.

And then you have a story, and that's one thing that, products and services, as you said, they can be copied in your case, they are inferior, but sometimes people will go for the, the buck or whatever. But you have a story, a meaningful story, you have a personal passion for this. You said you're a family business, now you and your daughter do this.

I think that really sets you apart, that story and that heart for what you do. And I know you just had to be. I don't know if aggressive is the right word. Persistent. You know, you were like a dog with a bone, it sounds like, when, I love the fact that you said, you know how many calls I made before trade shows?

That's a big deal. We have worked in the trade show industry for years, and what happens is people will go to a trade show and then they blame management when they don't get visitors and don't make connections. And what you're saying is you did that on your own before the trade show even happened. Yeah, I mean, it, it's just, I don't know.

I didn't go to school to learn any of this, I can play instruments, I can sing, which I don't anymore, but it just it was just the type of person that I am. It's like, if I wanna do something, and I guess at the beginning of it, we needed to, we had to do something, you know, we had a growing business with the satellite and when it just kind of died.

We had potential and opportunities. We just, we didn't sit, it was right there in our backyard on the grill and just, prayers for answered. Yeah, maybe who knows how that all came together because it did really all come together and at the right time. As you said, sometimes you make a product and it just isn't the right time.

Uh, but I am giving you credit for what you did because you had to have a real backbone, a real passion. Everyone's afraid in sales. You don't wanna be re rejected. You don't wanna talk to people that you don't know. Your mom said, don't talk to strangers. So many barriers that you have to just make yourself cross.

And it sounds like you're just that type of person. And breaking into the music field probably took a lot of those same skills, I'm guessing. I'm sure. I mean, it is just, I never knew, I always felt like I was performing. Maybe, I don't know. Uh, I would think about, okay. But then I've, I've had situations, Kay, where I've walked and sat down from the buyer and no reaction at all.

He might say hi and bye, and I would just think, boy, that was not good. Nothing I did or said. Got his attention or her attention, so it's, I think you have to find a way to connect with people, and I think being yourself works mm-hmm. Most of the time. And so, and I have a que so when, when you don't get a reaction like that, ISI suppose it depends on who that prospect is, that whether you say, okay, I guess they're not for us, or you find a way to go back and.

Learn more about them and persuade them why this is for them. What, what do you feel like ha have both happened, I assume? Uh, yeah. I mean, I've been told, you know, a lot of things over the years, but I think when you meet their expectations, they gotta give you a shot and you've got the proof the product sells.

Sometimes you can't, you just can't get the yes. But I had a friend of mine who was in sales and he, you know, you meet people through just like, I'm meeting you today that you have conversations with and you learn from them. And I had a really good friend. Tell me two great things that make perfect sense when you have a bad day.

Just think not every day is gonna be bad, and. When you think about selling your product, if 50% of the people you pitch it to says no, if the first five people outta 10 you pitch it to say no, then the next five's gonna say yes. And you know, it is just hearing their stories and things they've learned from someone else.

It's true. Nobody gets everything they want. And there's still, you know, a lot of customers, a lot of buyers that I think of where they, where are they now? A lot of companies we used to sell to are outta business today. You know, they've merged with someone else or, you know, they've, they have not been successful in sustaining their business.

Made a lot of friends. I don't really want to, think that maybe he had a bad day, maybe that fire had something terrible happen to him that morning. And I didn't take it really personal. I just kind of had those kind of thoughts. Maybe, you know, he could have had some terrible news right before I walked in the room.

So you just have to kind of not think you did anything wrong as long as you're being yourself. Do you agree with that? I, I do agree. I mean, you know, not everyone's gonna say yes. We always talk about going for your moose, which is your ideal target, but you might get in and find out they are not your ideal target.

And if you don't, if you get discouraged and don't keep trying, that's when you really get into trouble. We only have a minute left. I can't believe it. I could talk to you all day. Um, I like your creativity. With your husband will give reg part of the credit for sure. You're being tenacious, you stuck with this.

I, when you say it calls before a trade show and you talk about giving out products, samples, and all the things that you did, uh, you went above and beyond. This is, this doesn't just happen even if you have the best product in the world, which basically you do, again, be sure to, to check out Oscar Wear Inc.

Uh, you believed in your product. So when you believe in your product like that and you know, you think, okay, I'm helping someone, someone doesn't know that this is possible. They're grilling on stuff's falling through the grill and the grills, tie-ins are getting gross and yucky, and you have to scrub 'em with a wire brush.

You're helping make their lives better. In having a better grilling experience. So those are the things that stood out to me in this, our conversation. And, uh, I don't know if you have any final words to close this out, but I know this is so valuable for listeners and for me, it's, you've gotta be reminded that it's, sometimes you hear no, but you just kept pushing for the bigger picture.

Definitely. And I, I really think it's a, it's, you have to, you have to find a way to teach yourself that you have to believe, you have to believe in something so much. It's like a baby, you know? You don't know what it's gonna be. I've got my first grandchild, he just turned a year old a week ago, and now he's starting to walk.

I don't know what the future holds for him. I want the very best in the world for him and love that baby so much. I think you just have to want it. You have to want. You want, you have to believe. And you if when you want it bad enough and you believe in yourself, you don't fail. The only time you fail is when you quit.

And if you don't fail a few times, if you don't make a mistake or say something wrong, or if the product isn't quite right, before you pitch it, ask why. If they say no, what is it? What's wrong? Is it me? Is it the product's too expensive? Is it not what you're looking for right now? Are you looking for something else?

I always ask those questions and sometimes I get the answers. Sometimes I don't, but I never give up. And if anything, I'm more tenacious to make more calls or emails or whatever, to just stay in touch to just get more conversation going between someone that I really want to believe in our, our company and work with us and put the products in their stores, on their marketplace, wherever, the world is a big place.

It's not just here in the USA, there's, oh my gosh, how many people in this whole wide world and now I think 7 billion, around that 7 billion. And now, and now with a good marketing team and with the resources that are available through social media. I mean, it's, it's bigger. It's so much bigger than what it was 36 years ago when we were at that first trade show.

The world is huge, and the market is, the market is too. Deborah, this has been a fascinating conversation. We've heard a lot of these, uh, sayings don't give up, but you have given us a whole, life story practically of what happens when you truly have those attitudes. So, I appreciate you so much.

I appreciate Connie for connecting us, and Deborah, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you. Kay. It's been my pleasure and I'm available anytime, anytime. I love helping and inspiring other small business people. That's what we all need to do.