Rome Ind Stoves & Cooktops

Rome Industries Stoves & Cooktops: Open-Fire Cooking the Old-Fashioned Way

Few brands can claim the kind of heritage that Rome Industries brings to the outdoor cooking world. Founded in 1964, Rome is a three-generation family business that has spent more than six decades engineering cookware purpose-built for cooking over an open flame — whether that's a backcountry campfire, a backyard fire pit, or a traditional grill. Within the Stoves & Cooktops category, Rome occupies a unique niche: tools designed not for countertops or kitchen ranges, but for the raw, elemental experience of cooking with live fire.

Built for the Campfire, Ready for the Backyard

Rome's approach to camp-style stoves and cooking surfaces reflects a philosophy that prioritizes simplicity, durability, and portability. Their lineup includes folding camp grills — such as the well-regarded Group Camping Folding Grill — that collapse compactly for transport and deploy quickly without tools at the campsite. The brand's tri-pod grill designs, for example, are engineered to set up in approximately 90 seconds and pack down to a fraction of their assembled size for easy storage.

Chrome-plated steel grill surfaces and cast iron construction are hallmarks of Rome's camp cooking hardware. These materials are chosen deliberately: cast iron excels at retaining and distributing heat evenly over an uneven open flame, while chrome plating adds corrosion resistance for gear that lives in a pack or a truck bed between seasons. Rome's folding grill grates feature proprietary designs that make them genuinely portable without sacrificing cooking surface area.

What Makes Rome Stand Out

Rome's identity in the stoves and cooktops space isn't about propane burners or electronic ignition. Instead, the brand leans into the tradition of cooking directly over wood or charcoal fire — an approach that resonates with campers, overlanders, and backyard fire enthusiasts alike. As the brand puts it, their products are "just as likely to find themselves being used on a BBQ grill or backyard firepit as the campfire," reflecting how their customer base has grown well beyond traditional campers.

Rome designs all of its own products in-house, with an emphasis on originality over imitation. The result is a catalog of camp cooking tools that have appeared in publications ranging from Backpacker to National Geographic Traveler, and earned loyal followings across generations of outdoor cooks. When you invest in a Rome camp grill or cooking surface, you're buying into a legacy of genuinely original design backed by decades of real-world use.

Choosing a Rome Camp Stove or Grill Surface

• Material: Rome offers both chrome-plated steel and cast iron options — cast iron is ideal for sustained, even heat; chrome steel is lighter for packing.
• Portability: Look for Rome's folding and collapsible designs if you need gear that travels easily in a vehicle or large pack.
• Heat source compatibility: Rome's open-fire cooking surfaces work with wood fires, charcoal, and standard BBQ grills — making them versatile across a wide range of outdoor setups.
• Cooking surface size: Rome offers options ranging from compact personal grills to larger group-sized surfaces, so consider your typical party size when selecting.

Whether you're a weekend camper or a dedicated open-fire cooking enthusiast, Rome Industries brings decades of purpose-driven design to every piece of camp cookware they produce.