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Barbecue Trends for Summer 2020
As originally explored in Transformational Cooking, outdoor cooking is booming. The global barbecues and grills market is expected to reach $8.1bn by 2023, up from $5.1bn in 2019 (Research and Markets, 2020). The pandemic has turbo-charged growth, as experts urge individuals to eat and entertain outdoors. Here are three trends to watch.
- Rebooted Barbecue Flavours: In the UK, the use of fish at barbecues rose by nearly 42% between 2014-19. This was boosted by a 63% increase between 2018-19 in consumers choosing to barbecue foods due to its perceived healthiness (The Grocer, 2020). Alongside its new fish preparations intended for grilling – such as lemon-herb-crusted mini salmon burgers – UK supermarket Waitrose registered an 80% increase in demand for vegan barbecue foods between this summer and last (The Times, 2020).
- Ease of Use: With US sales of outdoor kitchen equipment expected to reach $780m by 2024 – a rise of 6.3% annually (Freedonia, 2020) – brands are devising tools to simplify grilling routines. US start-up Spark Grills’ streamlined charcoal grill targets the 68% of US consumers who want their grill to improve flavour. Rather than messing with charcoal pieces, Spark Grills makes easy-to-use slabs, dubbed Briqs, made from compressed charcoal and woodchips to imbue food with a smoky taste.
- Urban Grilling: Targeting city dwellers with limited outdoor space, US start-up Asmoke has designed a portable grill, which cooks food with a combination of electricity and wood pellets. When the product debuted on crowdfunding site Indiegogo in early June, it was fully funded within three minutes of launch, and garnered over $1m in under two months. For more on products that slip al-fresco living into urban routines, see The Innovative Outdoors.
