Weber Summits on Sale 30% Off - A Harbinger of a New Summit on the Horizon?


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I received a link to this in my email today. Weber doesn't generally discount this much. The Summit grills - besides being over gadget-engineered and underbuilt (in my opinion, that is) - are growing very long in the tooth. I am wondering if Weber is getting closer to an all-new Summit? If so, I hope it will be a bold step in a different direction that includes using real stainless with no more painted steel cabinetry or porcelain-coated steel firebox. I personally would like to see more of the simple but elegant style of the original Summit.

Summit Name.jpeg
 
You know the new "Genesis" is so close to a Summit, they should simply dump the whole line and make the Genesis something better. Add a rotisserie burner, improve the construction just a bit and IMO they'd have a real profit center and could cut production costs immensely
 
Trying to figure out how to ask this given the Weber program you're involved in. I have it narrowed down to two approaches, lol:

1. If you knew Weber was going to introduce a new Summit would you be allowed to post what you did?
2. If Weber is not developing a new Summit would you know that to be the case?
 
My post was completely unrelated to anything on the Grillers’ Circle. I do try very hard not to disclose ANYTHING they show us.

This ad came by regular email. I have felt for a long time that a new Summit has been needed. With less and less floor space at Home Depot, Lowes and Ace, it may be that the Summit is a pretty slow seller and not worthy of the investment at this time. If Weber does do a new Summit, I hope it is a radical departure from the current model.

My inkling that something new might be coming is based solely on the significant price reduction, albeit for just a short July sale.
 
The email was sent in general, I got one. So no insider stuff involved.

I also initially thought it was because a new one was coming, but I doubt that’s why. It aligns with Amazon Prime days. If you’re moving old stock, a) you’ve shown a new product already and b) it doesn’t last only two days. You drop prices until they’re gone. Lincoln has had old style welders “on sale” (via rebate) for 7 months or so now.
 
Honestly, for any significant disposable income purchase--unless I knew with certainty that it nor its high-ticket raw materials were not sourced in China--I would refrain from making a purchase until tariffs were lifted (or I would hold out longer to see if they were lifted).

But some of you may be smart enough to know that Summits and its costly raw materials are not sourced from China. I only know that my Summit purchase in March 2021 was ~24% cheaper than the current price tag (aside from this 30% sale).
 
Jon, if I was on that griller's circle I would just keep telling them to start making Genesis 1000 grills again. I would also tell them that I still like their products, but they need to do better if they want to thrive in this market moving forward.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Where there is opportunity, I push hard for better construction and using real 304 stainless and not painted steel panels that inevitably rust out.
Click to expand...
There are components that could practically be made of sheet steel...doors, back panels, on some Genesis and Genesis II models those panels meant to hide the propane tank....cosmetic stuff. Also, I don't believe the shelves are 304 SS as I recall placing a Hide-a-Key under my old S-210 shelf. But structural parts and those prone to failure should be.
Quite puzzling that their flagship model would ever have a sheet steel firebox.
 
Probably true that this is just a quick inventory reduction sale. At the same time, this Summit has been in the same basic body for at least 15 years. If Weber wants a viable entry in the higher priced grill market, this one isn't it for all the reasons we have noted before.

Summit Rusty Bottom.jpg

I think Weber is on kind of hard times right now, so investing in tooling an all-new Summit may not be in the cards for a while longer. It would be so cool, though, if they could make a true standout grill in the price zone between the Genesis and $7K+ ultar high-end grills like Wolf, Lynx and FireMagic.
 
The issue is why invest in tooling a $4-7k grill when the overwhelming new grill purchases are poopers?

Everywhere you look at retail, gas grills are less than 25% of the available in stock grills right now. And those that are in stock are $1200 and less (estimated).

The larger grill purchases are at specialty stores or just via online.

Weber, like all grilling companies are facing strong headwinds post-pandemic. It’ll be 3-5 years post that all those pull through sales are normalized in the channel.

Weber most likely still sells more kettle type grills than anything else in per unit. And those grills are the profit foundation due to paid-for tooling costs and materials cost management.

And then prices run upwards from there for internal costs, investment recuperation.

Maybe someone with more knowledge can chime in here but all the gassers, except the Summit are made outside the USA IIRC.

If these grills are made and sourced in China, then Weber has an even bigger problem in that China is experiencing a massive loss of factory and assembly jobs right now.

Off shore contracting is in Mexico for the Americas markets. Weber did just online their Poland facility to serve the EU market.

If Weber can push through and build profitability in the coming 2-3 years, then they’ll be in a stronger position.

I think Weber is still a private sale opportunity for the investors to exit. But Weber needs to be stable and growing for the investors to get their equity out and turn a profit for their investment partners.

Selling $7k grills isn’t going to fix Weber’s problems. I think that’s just reality.
 
Brett-EDH said:
The issue is why invest in tooling a $4-7k grill when the overwhelming new grill purchases are poopers?
Click to expand...
I agree the last thing Weber needs is 4-7k grills. In regards to poopers Traeger is not exactly killing it either and they are the market leader.

finance.yahoo.com

Traeger Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Results

SALT LAKE CITY, May 10, 2023--Traeger, Inc. ("Traeger" or the "Company") (NYSE: COOK), creator and category leader of the wood pellet grill, today announced its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2023.
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com
 
Honestly I think they should simply dump the Summit. Make a better Genesis (something that would be a REAL Genesis) not something that is the same as every other gasser out there. The whole reason the Genesis was called a "Genesis' is that it was a whole new way of looking at how a gas grill works. In 2011 they went backwards by 20 years with the redesign.
So, cut the losses and dump the Summit, do something ground breaking and make a Genesis that is a TRUE "Genesis". Tweak the SmokeFire a little to get rid of some of the little things still plaguing it.
Everything else they have is good stuff. The Q has proven itself, the Kettle is iconic, the traveler is proving to be a decent product.
This is what the company can do to make itself a winner again
 
Here is an Idea. Create a new Genesis/Summit but with E/W burners but front controls and aluminum cook box. leave the side tables open for use while cooking or side burners or whatever. Put in a sear burner and IR roto burner. That would be an Ultimate Genesis. Go ahead and bolster the frame and other key components with stainless steel and call it the "Genesis Platinum". How much would all that cost? I don't know. But it would be different and innovative design based on tried and true properties from past hugely successful Weber gas grill models.

Oh, and incorporate some kind of flip up tables for even more shelf space.
 
If they do the rotisserie burner there is no need for the complexity of EW burners. Everything else sounds like a winner
 
Any retailers I walk foot in, the small local or even big box stores, gas grills on the floor are almost 3-4x anything else. Home Depot is almost solely gas grills. The local retailer has, rough guesstimate from what I saw yesterday, I would say 30 or so gassers (probably more with the Q’s and Travelers), 15 or so kettles and less than 10 pellets, I’m thinking 7 or 8. This is across Weber and Napoleon, with Green Mountain thrown in for pellets. Two Smokefires.
 
I bought a genesis II s435 at Costco on close out. Assembled last week and have done two cooks. It’s a really good grill and I’m very impressed. I saw the sale yesterday on these summits and called Costco to see if they would take it back. They said no problem. The s470 sold out quicker than I could execute, so I have a summit s670 coming in a week or two now. I don’t live in a rust area (extremely dry here in the Utah desert), so I’m not too concerned with the rusting pics this grill can suffer from. But I am excited by the features and space it has. Cooking two tomahawks tomorrow on the genesis before she heads back to Costco this weekend …
 
John, I wish you luck and many enjoyable cooks with your new monster grill.
But, a word of caution. I don't think moisture is really the culprit for the problems with the Summit. Certainly on the cabinet areas, it is, but on the cook box, it is primarily just due to poor design and heat from the burners. Even so, low humidity and keeping it out of the rain will help.

Post up some pictures when you get it set up and cooking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top