Roughly resembling a panini press in shape and size, users would put meat into the countertop grill as you would a sandwich press, and both sides would be grilled simultaneously.
The surface had a slight downward angle and a drip tray underneath that would drain fat from the meat as it grills. It was an astonishing success, with 100 million grills sold.
Part of its success was its convenience, but an even bigger draw was its health claims. '90s diet culture was huge, and one fixation of the movement was the idea that fat was bad.
George Foreman grills played right into this anti-fat movement, and its fade in popularity was likely helped along by new understandings of fat as part of a balanced diet.