We've started to get earnings from companies for the quarter ended in June, which are big months for sales. Not surprisingly, they've been pretty disappointing. Middleby, who own Kamado Joe, Masterbuilt, and Char-Griller had incrementally better sales, but not great overall. They forecast that we're at the housing market bottom with tailwinds that are forming in the near future.
Kingsford also
reported disappointing sales for the quarter. They attributed it to bad weather around key grilling holidays. Their market share was preserved, so that suggests charcoal sales overall were down significantly.
CROSSRAY is a unique Australian grill brand that exclusively uses infrared burners. Their gas grills have up to four ceramic infrared burners running the width of the cook chamber. They just released a new electric grill that also uses infrared burners, rather than a
traditional Calrod design. It's an innovative idea to try to get more heat from electricity.
Finally, with pressure growing from investors, Vista Outdoor has canceled the vote to sell part of their business to CSG. They are going to explore all strategic options as a path forward, so we'll be eager to see where Camp Chef lands with the rest of their outdoor brands.
