West Michigan's Morning News
The Cost of Grilling
It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend, which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to Chumbak Casino.com. It's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumbak Casino has over a hundred online casino style games, all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now at Chumbak Casino.com. Sponsored by Chumbak Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void, where prohibited by law, 18 plus terms and conditions apply. So you've noticed it at the grocery store, but have you bought a grill lately? Let's get Aaron reality. We see new radio, national correspondent on the conversation. Good morning, Aaron. Good morning. How are you guys? Well, listen, I'm good. I'm grilling. I have grille all year round, but the grilling industry has taken a hit this year. How come a serious hit? It's because everyone, all of the people went out during the pandemic and bought a grill in the summer of 2021, all of them. It's pretty incredible. If you look at Traeger, the pandemic, darling, Mac grill, very pricey, wonderful grill, but they reported last quarter that they brought in 76 million in sales. To give you some context, it's down from 156 million that they brought it. Yeah, they brought in the second quarter of 2021. So that just shows you, you know, what Americans are doing. We aren't cooking out less. We're cooking out more. We love cooking out. We got hooked during the pandemic and 80% of years homeowners own a grill, but a grill is the type of thing where it has like a five year life cycle. Generally, that's even high. And that's just the life cycle of it, depending on how much you use it. And if you own a grill, you very simply aren't in the market for a grill. You don't have like any desire. Like there's very few incentives that will have you purchase a new one. Aaron, this is hysterical because literally four days ago, my husband picked up a grill at a neighbor's curb that just had the free sign hanging on it because you do love to grill. But is it also a cost of meat here as well? We talk about the increased cost of groceries meeting cheap. No, you're absolutely right. Protein, particularly it's up 4% according to the Department of Agriculture. We're talking veal. We're talking beef, you know, just proteins and not plant based. But you see the fourth of July cookout this year. It's going to cost about 71 bucks for 10 guests this summer. That's 5% from last year, but that's $71 is 30% more for 10 people than it was in 2019. So just in 2019, I mean, in some ways, it feels like an eternity ago, given what the pandemic put us all through. And then at the same time, you're like, that's actually not that long ago. All things considered. And listen, we got to talk about the price of the grill, too, because that's up like twice as much as it used to be. Maybe are a little exaggerated, but my gosh. Yes, due to inflation. And listen, if you look at like an ace hard, hard, excuse me, I'm having a hard time speaking this morning, a hardware home depot. You have big green egg and Blackstone and Weber and trigger. These are all priced at like 400 bucks and above. If someone has a barbecue, they're not going to buy it. Even if that grill is half off at the end of the season. You're just like, I just don't need it. And it's one of those things where you're like, why would I have two grills? But most people, at least some people love to grill and they should have multiple if that's their thing. But the idea that you can entice people to purchase a grill if they have one, it's false. This NBC News Radio National correspondent, Erin Rialle. Thank you.