Solo Brands received notice this week from the New York Stock Exchange that their stock isn't in compliance from being under $1. To cure the issue and remain listed they have six months where they need their stock to have an average price of $1 or higher for 30 days and close above $1 on the last calendar day of the month.
As Solo Stove continues figuring out a path forward, they've made a change
that's consumer facing. They have eliminated their rewards program. It could be them looking to cut where they can, or their continued push away from the direct-to-consumer model, but either way I'll miss the program.
The Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) was this week showcasing the latest products in outdoor kitchens. I'll have more on that next week, but one notable product is from RH Peterson Co. They're releasing an induction cooktop for outdoor kitchens under the
Fire Magic brand.
In other outdoor kitchen news, Looft has a new modular outdoor kitchen coming out June 1st. Looft is known for their fireless charcoal lighters, so this is a new market expansion for them. The outdoor kitchen is completely from 304L stainless steel and looks beautiful. They even have a charcoal grill for it.
Middleby is spinning off their Food Processing division into a separate publicly traded company. That means their Residential business
unit and grills brands will remain with the company for now. It sounded more to me like that's a function of them being on a down cycle, rather than fitting with their Commercial division. It wouldn't surprise me to see that change in a couple years when values return for outdoor cooking brands.
Finally, Lowe's and The Home Depot both reported earnings this week. Lowe's noted a good start to spring with grill sales being up. Both companies think there could be growth through
home equity in the future as opposed to home sales which have traditionally helped hardware retailers.
