Beer and BBQ is something that has always gone together. For Miller Lite they’ve brought them together again with their second annual release of beercoal, beer flavored charcoal. This year they’ve partnered with Kingsford though and rather than flavoring it with Miller Lite concentrate, it uses the same barley as the beer.
Solo Stove, and their parent company Solo Brands, often discuss their data focus on their earnings calls. It’s fitting that they announced that they’re the first outdoor recreation company to launch a ChatGPT powered chatbot. They’ve partnered with Simplr on the technology, and are using the non-scripted dialogue bot for customer service.
TIKI Brand is a company that is often thought of for Tiki torches. They’ve actually been innovating their product offerings in the outdoor lifestyle space in recent years though. We took a look at what they’ve been up to from a unique smokeless fire pit to their efforts to keep away pesky mosquitos.
TIKI Brand is also a portfolio company of W.C. Bradley Co. that’s squarely in the outdoor lifestyle space. The Ledger-Enquirer this week had a story about how W.C. Bradley Co.’s acquisition of Dansons recently was part of a larger strategy to grow the company’s footprint in outdoor living. They talked with CEO James Hillenbrand about the acquisition, and how Char-Broil’s former CEO was moved into a business development role to execute on their growth strategy.
While we often think of smart grilling associated with pellet grills or even charcoal grills, it’s coming for gas grills. We’ve reported on a number of Weber’s patents for the technology, and this week there’s an article where we heard from a gas valve supplier in China. They produce a smart gas valve that can be used for grills or pizza ovens. I think we’ll start to see even more smart gas devices popping up in the near future.
Finally, Academy Sports has continued their planned leadership transitions. They announced the internal promotion of their new CFO this week. The role was vacated when their former CEO took over as President.