And it just lends itself, for different retail selling price points, to differentiate that to different types of retailer who have those types of customers. So, again, for me it’s blackstone grills really driven by what my end user wants, and then we build those products and see where they fit. And it naturally works itself into a nice strategy of go-to-market at retail.
You know I was counseled by a lot of people not to do traditional TV marketing and advertising, but I believed in it, and I think it really helped our brand initially when we started it. But just this last year, really maybe the last 18 months, we’re starting to flip our spend more to social marketing. So, I see that trend for us headed definitely in that direction. Right now our industry and our category is still mainly sold at brick-and-mortar retail, outdoor cooking. And I suspect maybe over time that trend will flip, like a lot of other trends have flipped. But right now a high majority of our product, and that’s true for me, that’s true for Weber, for all outdoor cooking products, is sold at brick-and-mortar retail.
Additional features abound on this flat-top griddle. There’s a hood, a large storage shelf, two ample side tables for food prep, hooks for grilling tools, a magnetic strip for utensils, and even a paper towel rack and bottle opener. This model sits on four large casters, blackstone flat top grill two of which are lockable, which is useful for wheeling the grill into position on a patio or deck. This flat top from Blackstone might just be the company’s best deal. I’ve discovered so many more foods and recipes I never thought I’d be able to cook or even like.
There was no question in my mind, this is an item that needs to be at retail. I had this griddle in the back of my mind, so I drew it up on a piece of paper. At the time I had a guy working for me who traveled to China and did our sourcing black stone griddle for us on other product lines. I said, “Go over there and find me a factory that could build this thing for me.” Explained what I want. Only 75 tickets will be sold, one lucky winner receives this brand new griddle, retail value of $350.
And everything we do is focused 100 percent on what our end-user customer is demanding, not so much what the retail customer is demanding. I just don’t have the bandwidth right now to get us there. We have customers call us all the time from foreign countries. We are expanding right now into the Middle East, which is interesting. But they have a lot of similarities with big family groups and family gatherings and cooking as an event. My Taiwanese partners, it’s a father-and-son team, and dad is about 75 years old.