CAMERONS SMOKER.

• Author: PETERSON, ERIC
• Position: Business - Brief Article

After founding CM International Inc. in 1984, Chris Malone found himself marketing his Camerons Smoker to kitchen retailers at a trade show. A stranger, flanked by an entourage of buyers, approached Malone's booth. "He pointed to the smoker and walked by," Malone remembered. Soon thereafter, the stranger's identify emerged: Chuck Williams, the founder of Williams-Sonoma. "That's how we first started," said Malone. In 1987, Malone sold the company, watched it flounder, and bought it back "when it was on its last...