Los Angeles Times
It’s a rite of summer: Grilling on the outdoor barbecue.
Cooking hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks on an outdoor grill is such an ingrained part of Americana, and a grill is such an established feature of homeownership, that 3 out of 4 U.S. adults own a grill or smoker.
Demand for the outdoor grill also is egalitarian, not unlike the television set. They’re found everywhere — from the backyards of posh Beverly Hills homes to the infields of NASCAR speedways.
The fact that backyard grills are so commonplace is one reason why there’s only modest sizzle in new-product sales for the U.S. barbecue and grill manufacturing industry.
It’s simply a mature business.Grill sales are growing only by low single-digit percentages each year, and the market is nearly 20 percent smaller than a decade ago.
U.S. grill manufacturers — led by Weber-Stephen Products, maker of the iconic Weber grills — also face stiff competition from imports, which account for 56 percent of U.S. sales, up from 46 percent a decade ago, the research firm IBISWorld reports.
Grill sales are closely tied to changes in the U.S. economy, especially the housing industry. So, not surprisingly, the grill business was hammered between 2008 and 2010 during the housing crisis and recession.
The industry has been gradually recovering since then in step with the economy’s rebound, with annual U.S. grill sales climbing to $1.44 billion last year from $1.21 billion in 2009, according to IBISWorld. But that’s well below the $1.78 billion in sales in 2006.
“We think we’ll continue to see steady sales,” said Carrie deGuzman, a spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, the industry’s trade group.
The Fourth of July is the most popular day of the year for outdoor grilling, with 76 percent of grill owners saying they planned to fire up their barbecues on the recent holiday, the HPBA says. Those summer bookends, Memorial Day and Labor Day, tied for second place at 62 percent.
In the group’s most recent consumer survey, conducted last summer, 37 percent of U.S. adults planned to buy a new grill or smoker this year; 56 percent of those purchases would be for replacement grills.
And in the heated debate between gas and charcoal, gas has the edge. Gas grills outsold charcoal grills, 57.7 percent to 40.1 percent. The remaining 2.2 percent of grills sold were electric.
The millennial generation — buyers ages 18 to 34 — is just as hooked on outdoor grilling as its forebears, partly because they watch “BBQ Pitmasters” and other cooking shows on television, said Richard Wachtel, founder of the barbecue website GrillingWithRich.com.
“People are looking to bring those barbecue techniques home,” he said.
The word “barbecue,” incidentally, dates back hundreds of years to the Caribbean words “barabicu” or “barbacoa,” which was a wooden structure used by the Taino people to smoke food, according to some etymologists. Later it also became a verb for outdoor grilling.
The leading U.S. grill supplier is Weber-Stephen with 30.3 percent of the market by dollar sales, according to IBISWorld. Next is Middleby Corp., an Elgin, Ill.-based company that has a 16.6 percent share with brands that include MagiKitch’n and Viking.
Last December, Middleby acquired Lynx Grills Inc., a maker of high-end outdoor grills that include some elaborate models that are voice-activated and can cost more than $8,000.
Weber has been growing faster than the overall market in recent years, aided by its brand recognition, product reputation, the improved economy and higher exports.
Overall, outdoor grill sales should keep modestly rising the next few years provided the economy keeps growing and consumers have enough disposable income, IBISWorld analyst Edward Rivera said.
After all, Rivera said, “it’s part of the American identity to have a grill.”
— Los Angeles Times
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