Seriously, is there anything else that Weber wants to ship off to Europe while denying U.S. based customers? LOL

Weber Style Knives

Red kettles, copper kettles, sky blue kettles, grates with cast iron inserts, knives... I wish we got have the stuff they got over there.

Ummm. How do you know that they are making them stateside? Me thinks they're farmed out as an after item market, just like the kettle roti. There may be a blade producer who made them a deal for their logo. Look at how many Food TV personalities are hawking their own hardware. Think they have their own foundries?

well, it does seem that weber sells the minimum to folks in the u.s. . look at all the other sites and its kinda obviouse.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim T.:
Ummm. How do you know that they are making them stateside? Me thinks they're farmed out as an after item market, just like the kettle roti. There may be a blade producer who made them a deal for their logo. Look at how many Food TV personalities are hawking their own hardware. Think they have their own foundries?

I'll give you that Jim. Regardless... If they can make Weber kettles here, and make colors just for the European grilling contingency, they can ship stuff made for Europe, over here. It just seems like there's an inordinate amount of Weber branded products that are made exclusively for foreign consumption. Maybe I'm better suited as a consumer than a marketing guru, but I know I'd like to have a bunch of stuff they're making for everyone else...and I'm pretty sure I'm far from being alone.

I guess the only thing I can think of is that they figure they need to offer more things like that in a part of the world where an OTG costs more than what we're paying for a Performer. But...whatever. This is just frustration speaking. My apologies for griping.

Gripe away, we're on the same page. I'd hazard a guess that in this kind of economy Weber is looking at every possible revenue stream to wade in. If someone overseas or around the block makes them an offer to license a product, do the tooling and packaging, and take most of the risks, and fit into the Weber culture - smart money would follow that. There's another side to that if it becomes a hit - they'll bring it home. If you look at folks like Martha, Emerile, Rachel, Steve R., Guy, and Bobby they all have licensed product lines. Good for them, it's simply business.

I looked into the Weber knives sometime ago. As has been already stated, they are impossible to get in the US; even British dealers who ship stateside will not send the knives, nor the Weber spice grinders, round bread stone, dishes, etc. Of course, I realize Weber solicits vendors to make these accessories for them.

Some time ago, I ran across the identical knives in a specialty cooking sore in the Midwest. Of course, the Weber insignia was missing. But the merchant explained how these knives were specialty items, had to have a special sharpener, etc.--and they were Japanese!

That said, I wish we had access to those Weber accessories and tools that are unavailable in the US.

Gary

Gary, they look a lot like Globals. As far as a special sharpener is concerned your knife guy was referring to the fact that German or "Western" blades have a different blade angle than Japanese knives. Chef's Choice makes a sharpner that can handle both angles. The knives that I think are a cut above are the MAC knives. But hey, a knife is really personal tool.