About Us

Last updated: November 14, 2026

Grill Tee makes original-design aprons, tees and small gifts for backyard cooks: the one who tends the offset from first light, the one who has the kettle and chimney going before anyone else is awake, the one who fills the hopper and walks away, the one on the flat-top doing smash burgers for twelve. And for the people who buy for them, because a cook is the hardest person in the family to shop for. This page tells you how the store is put together and what you can count on when you order.

Starting from what he cooks on

Most gift shops for cooks start with “gifts for Dad” and work outwards to a mug that says something about beer. Grill Tee starts somewhere else: with the cooker. The man who runs a stick burner and the man who cooks on a flat-top are both “into grilling”, but they are not the same cook. One talks about thin blue smoke, splits and the stall. The other talks about a hot griddle, a good scraper and how many smash burgers fit on one side. A design that speaks to one of them is a little off for the other.

So the homepage opens with four drawn cookers as large tiles you can tap: an offset smoker, a kettle, a pellet cooker and a flat-top griddle. Pick the one that sits in the backyard and you are in a range drawn for that cook. It is the shortest route we could think of from “I have no idea what to get him” to something that fits the way he actually cooks.

Here is how that plays out. A son knows his father cooks on a pellet cooker and checks the hopper three times an hour, but he does not know the words for any of it. He taps the pellet cooker tile and every design he sees is already in his father’s language. He does not need to know what a probe tender is. The range does.

The four cooker ranges

Offset and Stick Burner

For the cook who manages a fire all day and judges it by the colour of the smoke. Designs here lean on splits, the firebox, the long wait, bark and the smoke ring. Browse it at Offset and Stick Burner.

Kettle and Charcoal

For the cook with a chimney starter, a bag of lump and opinions about vents. The kettle is where a lot of people learned, and the range is drawn for that kind of cooking: two-zone fires, a lid that stays closed, a rest before slicing. See Kettle and Charcoal.

Pellet Cooker

For the cook who sets it, watches the probe and still goes out to look anyway. Hoppers, temperature curves drawn as pictures, the overnight cook. See Pellet Cooker.

Flat-Top Griddle

For hot and fast: breakfast for the crew, smash burgers, a scraper on a hook. See Flat-Top Griddle.

Below the cookers, one more row asks who it is for: for him, which leads to Name Your Joint; for the crew; and for the little helper. Then a cook-day strip runs through the day the way a cook thinks about it: fire, smoke, wrap, rest, slice.

Name your backyard joint

Lots of backyard cooks have a name for their setup even if nobody has ever written it down. The carport where the offset lives. The patio on Elm Street. “Big Mike’s”. The homepage closes with a row of hand-painted signboard examples, and they lead to the personalised pieces, which are the heart of the store.

• Backyard Joint Signboard Apron: a joint name of up to 18 characters printed in capitals, an optional town of up to 18 characters and an optional “Since” year.
• Pitmaster Name Apron: a name of up to 16 characters in capitals, a title chosen from Pitmaster, Fire Tender, Sauce Boss, Head Cook or Taste Tester, and an optional “Since” year.
• Backyard Joint Tee: joint name, town and “Since” year.

A live preview on the product page shows your lines over the product picture as you type, and the same text is repeated in the cart, at checkout and in your order email. We print exactly what you typed, spelling, capitals and spacing. There is no proof step, so the preview and the checkout read-back are where to catch a slip. If the name is too long, shorten it the way the sign painter would: “SMOKE HOLLOW BARBECUE COMPANY” will not fit on 18 characters, but “SMOKE HOLLOW BBQ” fits and reads better from across the yard.

The “Since” year is the customer’s own text. It is when you lit your first fire or named the joint. The example names on our pages, “Smoke Hollow BBQ”, “Low & Slow on Elm”, “The Carport Pit” and “Big Mike’s Backyard”, are made up. They are not real restaurants or people. Explore the range at Name Your Joint.

The crew and the little helper

A cook day is rarely one person. Somebody handles the sides, somebody keeps the plates coming and somebody’s only job is to taste. The Crew and Little Helper range has the Pit Crew tee, a kids apron and a youth tee for exactly that.

Ordering for a crew works the same as ordering for one. Five friends can order the Pit Crew tee in S, M, 2XL, 3XL and 5XL in one order. There is no minimum order and there is no group pricing; each tee is the price shown for its size. Adult apparel runs S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL and 5XL, unisex, and the size add-on is shown on the product page before you add to cart: 2XL and 3XL are $2 more, 4XL and 5XL are $4 more.

The little helper part is our favourite. A kids apron ordered alongside an adult apron means a seven-year-old stands next to the cooker looking like they are on the same crew, holding the spray bottle with great seriousness. The youth tee comes in YXS, YS, YM, YL and YXL.

For the cook who already has every tool

Ask anyone who buys for a backyard cook and they will tell you the same thing: he already has the tongs, the gloves, the injector, three thermometers and a drawer of rubs. Another gadget ends up in the garage. That is the reason Grill Tee puts the effort into what a cook wears and drinks from instead. A tool sits in a drawer. An apron with the name of his joint on it gets put on every cook day, and the mug gets used on the cold morning before the fire catches.

The gift that works is usually the one with his own words on it. If his patio already has a name, use it. If it does not, the sign painter’s trick is a place and a habit: the street, the town, the carport, “Low & Slow on Elm”. If he is more of a title than a place, the Pitmaster Name Apron lets you put his name over Pitmaster, Fire Tender, Sauce Boss, Head Cook or Taste Tester, and the last one is a fine choice for the person who mostly turns up when it is time to slice.

Cooking through the seasons

Not every cook day is in July. A cook in Manitoba lighting a kettle in January wants something warmer than a tee, which is why the range includes a crewneck sweatshirt, a pullover hoodie and a long sleeve tee, all in S to 5XL. In Australia and New Zealand the calendar turns the other way, so a grandad on the Gold Coast is shopping for summer cooks around Christmas while a buyer in Ohio is buying a hoodie. Every product ships from the USA with the same free shipping and the same 7-14 business days in transit to all four countries we serve.

What you get, plainly

The products

Tees, the long sleeve tee, the crewneck and the hoodie carry printed designs. The dad cap has a front design. The aprons are printed aprons, made to keep splatter off your shirt; they are a cover-up for a messy job, not protective gear. Apron measurements and material are being confirmed with our print partner, so we do not list them yet. If you need them before ordering, email us. The mugs (one is 15 oz) and the 20 oz tumbler round out the gifts.

Sizing that includes bigger cooks

We carry every adult garment up to 5XL because plenty of good cooks are not built like a size-medium mannequin. A 5XL tee is a real option here, not a special request. The Size Guide explains how to measure a tee you already like and what unisex fit means.

Timing you can count on

Each order is made in 1-3 business days and then spends 7-14 business days in transit. Shipping is free with no minimum, and orders ship from the USA to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We do not ship to other countries. For a gift, allow up to 17 business days before the cook or the date. That is an estimate from our stated times, not a guarantee, and we do not promise delivery by any particular day.

That counting matters for Father’s Day, which falls on the third Sunday of June in the US and Canada and on the first Sunday of September in Australia and New Zealand. A grandson in Brisbane ordering in August is in a very different spot from a buyer in Ohio ordering in June. The Shipping and Delivery page has the details.

Changing your mind

You can cancel or change an order within 24 hours of placing it. If you notice a typo in the town line three hours after ordering, email and it can be fixed. After delivery, you have 60 days to return an item, including personalised items, and for a change-of-mind return we pay the postage with a free return label. Refunds are sent within 7 days of receiving the return. Store credit never expires. See Returns and Exchanges and the Refund Policy.

If something arrives wrong or damaged, email us with your order number and a photo, and we will help.

How we talk, and what we leave out

We try to write the way a cook talks at the fence: plainly, with numbers, without hype. You will not find countdown timers, fake scarcity or invented reviews here. You will not find the name of any grill or tool brand on our designs either; we say “cooker” and let you fill in the rest. We do not claim regional authenticity, contest wins or titles, and we do not give cooking or food-safety advice. A design might show the stall as a curve on a chart, but no page here will tell you what temperature is safe. That is between you and your thermometer.

Where we are and how to reach us

Grill Tee, 3349 Roundabout Dr, Middleburg, FL 32068, US. We work by email only, at support@grilltee.shop, and a person replies within 24 hours on business days. If you email at 3 a.m. in the middle of an overnight brisket cook, the answer comes the next business day, by which time the brisket should be resting. For the fastest answers, start with the FAQs or the Help Center, or go straight to Contact Us. When you are ready to look around, the whole range is on the Shop page.