Weber Inc. Introduces New, Limited Edition Kettle Collection to Commemorate 70th Anniversary of the Weber® Original Kettle®
Modern Charcoal Kettle Design and Performance Meets 1950s-Inspired Features to Honor the Innovative Roots of the World’s Leading BBQ Brand
PALATINE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Weber Inc. (NYSE:WEBR), the global leader in outdoor cooking innovation, technology, and products, today unveiled a new limited edition series of commemorative charcoal kettles designed to celebrate the Weber® Original Kettle® charcoal grill that started the global outdoor cooking revolution 70 years ago. Weber produced a limited number of these special kettles globally, which go on sale worldwide later this Spring.
“When our founder George Stephen invented the iconic Weber Kettle in 1952, he initiated a new era in grilling,” said Jennifer Bonuso, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Product for Weber. “This constantly curious, entrepreneurial spirit of innovation that George embodied is the lifeblood of our Company, and our new Anniversary Kettle Collection honors 70 years of Weber grilling and how we continually strive to reinvent the outdoor cooking experience.”
ABOUT THE NEW, LIMITED EDITION 70th ANNIVERSARY KETTLE COLLECTION
This limited edition, commemorative Weber charcoal grill series features heritage colors and details that reflect the 1950s in America. Each of the four 22-inch kettles in the Collection is named after elements of American culture that mark the “Golden Age of America” era:
- Hot Rod Yellow nods to classic ‘50s car models.
- Hollywood Gray speaks to the silver screen and the advent of drive-in movie theaters and stereo sound.
- Diner Green celebrates the classic ‘50s diners that shaped the country’s love for hamburgers, french fries, and club sandwiches.
- Rock ‘N’ Roll Blue honors the emergence of rock and roll and rockabilly music.
Weber worked with a charcoal kettle fan group on social media to develop the individual kettle color names. As a tribute to the era itself and the legacy of Weber, fans nominated a wide range of naming themes, and hundreds voted “American Classic” as their winning 1950s inspiration for the kettle color names.
The kettles also feature a solid bottom, silver utility tray for storage, a ‘50s-inspired automobile-style hood-ornament lid thermometer, white-walled wheels, and wood-like nylon handles.
Every limited edition Weber 70th Anniversary Kettle also comes with a vintage Weber steel sign and bottle opener, and all items are boxed in throwback-style Weber packaging.
Weber enthusiasts around the world can purchase the limited edition Weber 70th Anniversary Kettle Collection from retailers and on weber.com this Spring. Pricing, purchase dates, and availability of Collection colors will vary by geographic region.
ABOUT THE WEBER CHARCOAL KETTLE
It all started around a fire. In 1950, in a small town just outside of Chicago, George Stephen hosted a large BBQ in his backyard. As the party got underway, George realized he couldn’t control the flame on his homemade brick fireplace, subsequently burning his food and ruining his party. But not all was lost that day. That open flame sparked George’s interest in creating a better barbecue.
At the time, George worked at Weber Brothers Metal Works, a local business that made buoys for the Chicago harbor system. Each buoy was made out of two half-spheres welded together. These buoys inspired George to create a closed cooking system for a grill. He took one-half of a sphere, added legs and punched holes on the bottom to increase air circulation, and placed a lid on top. The cooking results were outstanding, and the iconic Weber kettle — “George’s BBQ Kettle” — was born.
George packed up a few of his new kettles and hit the road, demonstrating his creation to shoppers at small, local hardware stores throughout the U.S. And the rest, they say, is history.
Over the years, George’s kettle design evolved with dampeners, a deeper lid, a handle, and other elements that continually improved the grilling experience. And across seven decades, his Company would go on to create the industry standards in high-quality, high-performance smokers and gas, electric, wood pellet, and smart grills, all designed to make cooking outdoors more enjoyable, relaxing, and, above all, delicious.
ABOUT WEBER
Weber Inc. headquartered in Palatine, Ill., is the world’s leading barbecue brand. The Company’s founder George Stephen, Sr., established the outdoor cooking category when he invented the original kettle charcoal grill 70 years ago. Weber offers a comprehensive, innovative product portfolio, including charcoal, gas, pellet and electric grills, smokers, and accessories designed to help outdoor cooking enthusiasts discover what’s possible. In 2021, the Company acquired June Life Inc., a smart appliance and technology company, to accelerate the development of its Weber Connect® technology and digital products. In addition, Weber recently launched 1952 Ventures, a subsidiary designed to accelerate new growth platforms and brand extensions for the Company in the areas of product, technologies, and partnerships. Weber offers its barbecue grills and accessories, services, and experiences to a passionate community of millions across 78 countries.
WEBER®, ORIGINAL KETTLE®, and WEBER CONNECT® are U.S. registered trademarks of Weber-Stephen Products LLC.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which represent Weber’s expectations or beliefs concerning future events. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us, may include projections of our future financial performance, our anticipated growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including those factors discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended September 30, 2021.
Our future results could be affected by a variety of other factors, including uncertainty of the magnitude, duration, geographic reach, impact on the global economy and current and potential travel restrictions of the COVID-19 outbreak, the current, and uncertain future, impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our business, growth, reputation, prospects, financial condition, operating results (including components of our financial results), and cash flows and liquidity, risks relating to any unforeseen changes to or effects on liabilities, future capital expenditures, revenues, expenses, earnings, synergies, indebtedness, financial condition, losses and future prospects, the ability to realize the anticipated benefits and synergies from business acquisitions in the amounts and at the times expected, the impact of competitive conditions, the effectiveness of pricing, advertising, and promotional programs; the success of innovation, renovation and new product introductions; the recoverability of the carrying value of goodwill and other intangibles, the success of productivity improvements and business transitions, commodity and energy prices, transportation costs, labor costs, disruptions or inefficiencies in supply chain, the availability of and interest rates on short-term and long-term financing, the levels of spending on systems initiatives, properties, business opportunities, integration of acquired businesses, and other general and administrative costs, changes in consumer behavior and preferences, the effect of U.S. and foreign economic conditions on items such as interest rates, statutory tax rates, currency conversion and availability, legal and regulatory factors including the impact of any product recalls; and business disruption or other losses from war, pandemic, terrorist acts or political unrest.
Contacts
INVESTOR RELATIONS
Brian Eichenlaub
investors@weber.com
MEDIA
Kristina Peterson-Lohman
media@weber.com