众所周知,烧烤历来是一件非常简单的事情。你只要把肉放在烧烤架上,一边喝着啤酒,一边注意一下火候,没有什么难度。当然,烧烤界偶尔也有一些创新,但相对来说都没有什么了不起的核心技术。不过就像其他事情一样,随着人工智能的普及,烧烤界很可能也将迎来一场大变革。
就像其他行业的公司都在通过热炒人工智能概念来提升股价一样,户外烧烤行业也在密切关注人工智能技术的发展。智能烧烤架就是一种结合了人工智能技术的产品,它既有望扩大产品受众,也降低了老板们烤肉的难度。
2022年,美国户外烧烤行业的销售额为68亿美元,这个行业甚至不乏一些上市公司,只是它们的品牌不像家得宝(Home Depot)和劳氏(Lowe’s)旗下的美得彼(Middleby Corp.)这样响亮,所以你大概率应该没有听说过。比如美得彼旗下有Kamado Joe和Masterbuilt两个品牌。Traeger Grills也是一家卖户外烧烤架的公司,该公司于2021年上市。Weber公司是业内的另一巨头,它原本是一家上市公司,不过2023年BDT Capital Partners公司选择把该公司私有化。另一行业巨头W.C. Bradley Co.公司旗下拥有Char-Grill、Pit Boss和Oklahoma Joe 's等多个品牌,目前它也是一家私有化公司。
虽然品牌不少,但是这个行业的消费基数却没有太大的起伏。毕竟大多数人不会想到每年去买一个烧烤架。虽然厂家推出了功能相当丰富的配件来刺激销售额(例如比萨石和木炭等等),但仍然难以在不激怒现有客户群的情况下显著扩大受众。
“人工智能与户外烧烤的碰撞将是很有趣的。”美得彼的营销副总裁乔希·席尔瓦说。“在我们能够向消费者提供多少,和消费者想要得到多少便利之间,是存在一种平衡的,因为有的消费者就喜欢火焰升腾的感觉。所以我们必须要在技术上提供适当的功能,以达到正确的平衡,不管是在便利性上,还是在递进消费的机会上……你不能剥夺消费者明火烧烤的体验感。”
“人工智能烧烤”的支持者表示,这项技术可以简化烧烤流程。比如英国的一家初创公司Seergrills在今年年初的消费电子展(CES)上推出了一款名叫Perfecta的人工智能红外垂直烤箱,它的温度能够达到1,600摄氏度,不到三分钟就可以烤好一块牛排,而且烧烤的过程中也不需要翻动食材。烤箱里内置的传感器能够自动识别你需要的熟度,不论是三分熟、五分熟还是全熟,一旦食材被烤至你需要的火候,机器就会自动停止加热。
Seergrills公司的创始人及首席执行官苏拉杰·苏德拉介绍道:“在使用传统烧烤方式时,我们必须考虑八个变量,即食材的厚度、脂肪和水分的含量、起始温度、持续温度、环境温度、热源的变化性、爆焰问题和食材的多样性。即便是一位经验丰富的烧烤大师,也需要多年的实践才可以逐渐完善他们的烧烤技能,以及攻克一些常见问题——例如把食材烤得过干,或者火候不对,等等。而人工智能烧烤在这方面有显著的优势,因为它能够用系统监测和控制这些变量。”
Perfecta的人工智能会记录烧烤过程中每一秒钟的数据,并且根据用户的主观反馈和传感器的客观数据进行改进。
现在所有业内企业都加大了对智能烧烤技术的重视。比如Weber公司于2021年收购了智能家电科技公司June。在这次交易前,双方曾经合作研发了Weber Connect烧烤技术。
Kamado Joe和Masterbuilt推出的几款烧烤架也明显比传统烧烤架智能得多。例如Kamado Joe Konnected烧烤架只需要轻触一个按钮就可以自动点燃木炭,而且烧烤温度还能够由用户自行设定,避免了在好几个小时的烧烤过程里用户需要持续监控火候的麻烦。
即将于今年4月上市的Masterbuilt Gravity XT则配备了一个重力加炭系统,它可以通过风扇和数控系统提供间接热量。它同样能够通过电子设备保持最佳炉温,无需人工监控,而且烹饪容量达到了普通烧烤架的2.5倍。
这项技术的卖点当然是便利性。燃气烤炉之所以流行,就是因为大家可以立即生火做饭,而不用考虑木炭和炉温的问题。但不管是炭炉还是燃气炉,制造商们都希望通过添加人工智能功能,让人们花更多的时间享受在户外烧烤的感觉。
以Kamado品牌为例,该品牌的产品仅占据了3%的市场份额,这跟它的产品操作起来比较麻烦不无关系。所以美得彼公司希望通过加入新技术来扩大市场。
席尔瓦表示:“我们设计这款产品(Kamado Joe Konnected),就是为了吸引新的人群。”
但是在添加这些新功能时,美得彼公司也是非常谨慎的,惟恐疏远了现有的忠实用户。
席尔瓦指出:“这就是为什么我们保留了手动控制功能。因为我们意识到,有一部分核心用户非常喜欢自己动手的感觉。所以说,科技程度的高低也是一种平衡……在今年的消费电子展上,大家都在谈论人工智能,但人工智能对我们这个行业究竟意味着什么?它是一个能够帮助我们完善烹饪过程的系统吗?对我们而言,从目前来看,它更多的是一种算法,通过不断的改进,随着时间的推移,它可以让烹饪的过程变得更加智能。”
苏德拉也认为,在短期内,传统主义者仍将占据大部分市场。不过随着时间的推移,人工智能等智能化功能必将成为户外烧烤设备的标配功能。
“就像生活中的大多数事情一样,市场上还会有一部分人忠于传统技术,就像现在还有人爱开手动档的车一样。但是随着时间的推移,这些能够提供便利的技术必将逐渐扩大市场份额,直到最后在很大程度上取代旧技术。”他说。
如果他的预测成真,那么人工智能烧烤设备的市场必将显著扩大。据市场研究机构Allied Market Research预测,到2032年,烧烤架市场的规模将在现在的基础上翻一番,达到128亿美元。(财富中文网)
译者:朴成奎
众所周知,烧烤历来是一件非常简单的事情。你只要把肉放在烧烤架上,一边喝着啤酒,一边注意一下火候,没有什么难度。当然,烧烤界偶尔也有一些创新,但相对来说都没有什么了不起的核心技术。不过就像其他事情一样,随着人工智能的普及,烧烤界很可能也将迎来一场大变革。
就像其他行业的公司都在通过热炒人工智能概念来提升股价一样,户外烧烤行业也在密切关注人工智能技术的发展。智能烧烤架就是一种结合了人工智能技术的产品,它既有望扩大产品受众,也降低了老板们烤肉的难度。
2022年,美国户外烧烤行业的销售额为68亿美元,这个行业甚至不乏一些上市公司,只是它们的品牌不像家得宝(Home Depot)和劳氏(Lowe’s)旗下的美得彼(Middleby Corp.)这样响亮,所以你大概率应该没有听说过。比如美得彼旗下有Kamado Joe和Masterbuilt两个品牌。Traeger Grills也是一家卖户外烧烤架的公司,该公司于2021年上市。Weber公司是业内的另一巨头,它原本是一家上市公司,不过2023年BDT Capital Partners公司选择把该公司私有化。另一行业巨头W.C. Bradley Co.公司旗下拥有Char-Grill、Pit Boss和Oklahoma Joe 's等多个品牌,目前它也是一家私有化公司。
虽然品牌不少,但是这个行业的消费基数却没有太大的起伏。毕竟大多数人不会想到每年去买一个烧烤架。虽然厂家推出了功能相当丰富的配件来刺激销售额(例如比萨石和木炭等等),但仍然难以在不激怒现有客户群的情况下显著扩大受众。
“人工智能与户外烧烤的碰撞将是很有趣的。”美得彼的营销副总裁乔希·席尔瓦说。“在我们能够向消费者提供多少,和消费者想要得到多少便利之间,是存在一种平衡的,因为有的消费者就喜欢火焰升腾的感觉。所以我们必须要在技术上提供适当的功能,以达到正确的平衡,不管是在便利性上,还是在递进消费的机会上……你不能剥夺消费者明火烧烤的体验感。”
“人工智能烧烤”的支持者表示,这项技术可以简化烧烤流程。比如英国的一家初创公司Seergrills在今年年初的消费电子展(CES)上推出了一款名叫Perfecta的人工智能红外垂直烤箱,它的温度能够达到1,600摄氏度,不到三分钟就可以烤好一块牛排,而且烧烤的过程中也不需要翻动食材。烤箱里内置的传感器能够自动识别你需要的熟度,不论是三分熟、五分熟还是全熟,一旦食材被烤至你需要的火候,机器就会自动停止加热。
Seergrills公司的创始人及首席执行官苏拉杰·苏德拉介绍道:“在使用传统烧烤方式时,我们必须考虑八个变量,即食材的厚度、脂肪和水分的含量、起始温度、持续温度、环境温度、热源的变化性、爆焰问题和食材的多样性。即便是一位经验丰富的烧烤大师,也需要多年的实践才可以逐渐完善他们的烧烤技能,以及攻克一些常见问题——例如把食材烤得过干,或者火候不对,等等。而人工智能烧烤在这方面有显著的优势,因为它能够用系统监测和控制这些变量。”
Perfecta的人工智能会记录烧烤过程中每一秒钟的数据,并且根据用户的主观反馈和传感器的客观数据进行改进。
现在所有业内企业都加大了对智能烧烤技术的重视。比如Weber公司于2021年收购了智能家电科技公司June。在这次交易前,双方曾经合作研发了Weber Connect烧烤技术。
Kamado Joe和Masterbuilt推出的几款烧烤架也明显比传统烧烤架智能得多。例如Kamado Joe Konnected烧烤架只需要轻触一个按钮就可以自动点燃木炭,而且烧烤温度还能够由用户自行设定,避免了在好几个小时的烧烤过程里用户需要持续监控火候的麻烦。
即将于今年4月上市的Masterbuilt Gravity XT则配备了一个重力加炭系统,它可以通过风扇和数控系统提供间接热量。它同样能够通过电子设备保持最佳炉温,无需人工监控,而且烹饪容量达到了普通烧烤架的2.5倍。
这项技术的卖点当然是便利性。燃气烤炉之所以流行,就是因为大家可以立即生火做饭,而不用考虑木炭和炉温的问题。但不管是炭炉还是燃气炉,制造商们都希望通过添加人工智能功能,让人们花更多的时间享受在户外烧烤的感觉。
以Kamado品牌为例,该品牌的产品仅占据了3%的市场份额,这跟它的产品操作起来比较麻烦不无关系。所以美得彼公司希望通过加入新技术来扩大市场。
席尔瓦表示:“我们设计这款产品(Kamado Joe Konnected),就是为了吸引新的人群。”
但是在添加这些新功能时,美得彼公司也是非常谨慎的,惟恐疏远了现有的忠实用户。
席尔瓦指出:“这就是为什么我们保留了手动控制功能。因为我们意识到,有一部分核心用户非常喜欢自己动手的感觉。所以说,科技程度的高低也是一种平衡……在今年的消费电子展上,大家都在谈论人工智能,但人工智能对我们这个行业究竟意味着什么?它是一个能够帮助我们完善烹饪过程的系统吗?对我们而言,从目前来看,它更多的是一种算法,通过不断的改进,随着时间的推移,它可以让烹饪的过程变得更加智能。”
苏德拉也认为,在短期内,传统主义者仍将占据大部分市场。不过随着时间的推移,人工智能等智能化功能必将成为户外烧烤设备的标配功能。
“就像生活中的大多数事情一样,市场上还会有一部分人忠于传统技术,就像现在还有人爱开手动档的车一样。但是随着时间的推移,这些能够提供便利的技术必将逐渐扩大市场份额,直到最后在很大程度上取代旧技术。”他说。
如果他的预测成真,那么人工智能烧烤设备的市场必将显著扩大。据市场研究机构Allied Market Research预测,到2032年,烧烤架市场的规模将在现在的基础上翻一番,达到128亿美元。(财富中文网)
译者:朴成奎
众所周知,烧烤历来是一件非常简单的事情。你只要把肉放在烧烤架上,一边喝着啤酒,一边注意一下火候,没有什么难度。当然,烧烤界偶尔也有一些创新,但相对来说都没有什么了不起的核心技术。不过就像其他事情一样,随着人工智能的普及,烧烤界很可能也将迎来一场大变革。
就像其他行业的公司都在通过热炒人工智能概念来提升股价一样,户外烧烤行业也在密切关注人工智能技术的发展。智能烧烤架就是一种结合了人工智能技术的产品,它既有望扩大产品受众,也降低了老板们烤肉的难度。
2022年,美国户外烧烤行业的销售额为68亿美元,这个行业甚至不乏一些上市公司,只是它们的品牌不像家得宝(Home Depot)和劳氏(Lowe’s)旗下的美得彼(Middleby Corp.)这样响亮,所以你大概率应该没有听说过。比如美得彼旗下有Kamado Joe和Masterbuilt两个品牌。Traeger Grills也是一家卖户外烧烤架的公司,该公司于2021年上市。Weber公司是业内的另一巨头,它原本是一家上市公司,不过2023年BDT Capital Partners公司选择把该公司私有化。另一行业巨头W.C. Bradley Co.公司旗下拥有Char-Grill、Pit Boss和Oklahoma Joe 's等多个品牌,目前它也是一家私有化公司。
虽然品牌不少,但是这个行业的消费基数却没有太大的起伏。毕竟大多数人不会想到每年去买一个烧烤架。虽然厂家推出了功能相当丰富的配件来刺激销售额(例如比萨石和木炭等等),但仍然难以在不激怒现有客户群的情况下显著扩大受众。
“人工智能与户外烧烤的碰撞将是很有趣的。”美得彼的营销副总裁乔希·席尔瓦说。“在我们能够向消费者提供多少,和消费者想要得到多少便利之间,是存在一种平衡的,因为有的消费者就喜欢火焰升腾的感觉。所以我们必须要在技术上提供适当的功能,以达到正确的平衡,不管是在便利性上,还是在递进消费的机会上……你不能剥夺消费者明火烧烤的体验感。”
“人工智能烧烤”的支持者表示,这项技术可以简化烧烤流程。比如英国的一家初创公司Seergrills在今年年初的消费电子展(CES)上推出了一款名叫Perfecta的人工智能红外垂直烤箱,它的温度能够达到1,600摄氏度,不到三分钟就可以烤好一块牛排,而且烧烤的过程中也不需要翻动食材。烤箱里内置的传感器能够自动识别你需要的熟度,不论是三分熟、五分熟还是全熟,一旦食材被烤至你需要的火候,机器就会自动停止加热。
Seergrills公司的创始人及首席执行官苏拉杰·苏德拉介绍道:“在使用传统烧烤方式时,我们必须考虑八个变量,即食材的厚度、脂肪和水分的含量、起始温度、持续温度、环境温度、热源的变化性、爆焰问题和食材的多样性。即便是一位经验丰富的烧烤大师,也需要多年的实践才可以逐渐完善他们的烧烤技能,以及攻克一些常见问题——例如把食材烤得过干,或者火候不对,等等。而人工智能烧烤在这方面有显著的优势,因为它能够用系统监测和控制这些变量。”
Perfecta的人工智能会记录烧烤过程中每一秒钟的数据,并且根据用户的主观反馈和传感器的客观数据进行改进。
现在所有业内企业都加大了对智能烧烤技术的重视。比如Weber公司于2021年收购了智能家电科技公司June。在这次交易前,双方曾经合作研发了Weber Connect烧烤技术。
Kamado Joe和Masterbuilt推出的几款烧烤架也明显比传统烧烤架智能得多。例如Kamado Joe Konnected烧烤架只需要轻触一个按钮就可以自动点燃木炭,而且烧烤温度还能够由用户自行设定,避免了在好几个小时的烧烤过程里用户需要持续监控火候的麻烦。
即将于今年4月上市的Masterbuilt Gravity XT则配备了一个重力加炭系统,它可以通过风扇和数控系统提供间接热量。它同样能够通过电子设备保持最佳炉温,无需人工监控,而且烹饪容量达到了普通烧烤架的2.5倍。
这项技术的卖点当然是便利性。燃气烤炉之所以流行,就是因为大家可以立即生火做饭,而不用考虑木炭和炉温的问题。但不管是炭炉还是燃气炉,制造商们都希望通过添加人工智能功能,让人们花更多的时间享受在户外烧烤的感觉。
以Kamado品牌为例,该品牌的产品仅占据了3%的市场份额,这跟它的产品操作起来比较麻烦不无关系。所以美得彼公司希望通过加入新技术来扩大市场。
席尔瓦表示:“我们设计这款产品(Kamado Joe Konnected),就是为了吸引新的人群。”
但是在添加这些新功能时,美得彼公司也是非常谨慎的,惟恐疏远了现有的忠实用户。
席尔瓦指出:“这就是为什么我们保留了手动控制功能。因为我们意识到,有一部分核心用户非常喜欢自己动手的感觉。所以说,科技程度的高低也是一种平衡……在今年的消费电子展上,大家都在谈论人工智能,但人工智能对我们这个行业究竟意味着什么?它是一个能够帮助我们完善烹饪过程的系统吗?对我们而言,从目前来看,它更多的是一种算法,通过不断的改进,随着时间的推移,它可以让烹饪的过程变得更加智能。”
苏德拉也认为,在短期内,传统主义者仍将占据大部分市场。不过随着时间的推移,人工智能等智能化功能必将成为户外烧烤设备的标配功能。
“就像生活中的大多数事情一样,市场上还会有一部分人忠于传统技术,就像现在还有人爱开手动档的车一样。但是随着时间的推移,这些能够提供便利的技术必将逐渐扩大市场份额,直到最后在很大程度上取代旧技术。”他说。
如果他的预测成真,那么人工智能烧烤设备的市场必将显著扩大。据市场研究机构Allied Market Research预测,到2032年,烧烤架市场的规模将在现在的基础上翻一番,达到128亿美元。(财富中文网)
译者:朴成奎
Grilling and barbecue have, for decades, been pretty bare-bones affairs. Throw a steak, brisket, or pork butt onto a grill, keep an eye on the temperature, and nurse a beer until it’s done. There have been innovations, of course, but the heart of the exercise was relatively tech-free. Like so many other things, though, that could be changing as artificial intelligence becomes more widespread.
Just as companies in other industries chase the stock surges that come with AI, the outdoor cooking industry is keeping a close eye on the technology as well. And smart grilling is one of the latest trends to expand the audience and make things easier for suburban pitmasters.
The outdoor cooking industry had sales of $6.8 billion in 2022. And some of the biggest names are publicly traded, though maybe not always by the names you see on the floors at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Middleby Corp., for instance, owns the Kamado Joe and Masterbuilt brands. Traeger Grills began trading in 2021. Weber, another giant in the industry, was publicly traded until last year when BDT Capital Partners opted to take it private. And W.C. Bradley Co., which owns Char-Grill, Pit Boss, and Oklahoma Joe’s among others, is currently privately held as well.
The audience, though, has stagnated a bit. Grills aren’t an annual purchase for most people. And while grill makers offer plenty of accessories to boost revenues between big purchases, from pizza stones to specialty pellets or charcoal, the manufacturer’s dream is to expand the audience without alienating the existing customer base.
“AI’s going to be interesting in the outdoor cooking space,” says Josh Silva, vice president of marketing at Middleby Outdoor. “There’s a balance between how much we provide consumers and what sort of level of convenience they want, because there is something to be said about tending fire and that experience of live fire. For us, it’s going to be incumbent to find the right balance of providing the right feature set in technology, whether it’s convenience or incremental engagement opportunities… You don’t want to take away the total experience.”
Proponents of AI in outdoor cooking say it simplifies the process. Seergrills, a startup out of the U.K., turned heads at CES earlier this year with the Perfecta, an AI-powered vertical infrared oven that reaches temperatures of over 1,600 degrees and cooks a steak in under three minutes, no flipping required. Built-in temperature sensors recognize when the food has reached your preferred temperature, whether that’s rare, medium, or well; then the heat shuts down.
“When using traditional cooking methods, there are approximately eight variables that one must consider,” said Suraj Sudera, CEO and founder of Seergrills. “These include food thickness, fat and water content, start temperature, carryover temperature, environmental temperature, heat-source variability, flare-ups, and food versatility. It requires years of practice for the most experienced grill masters to perfect their skills and surpass common challenges such as dryness or over- and undercooking. Grilling with AI offers significant advantages by allowing the system to monitor variables and account for them by controlling the cooking system.”
Perfecta’s AI uses subjective feedback from the user, and objective data from the sensors to improve, taking readings every second of the cook time.
All of the players in the field are putting a greater emphasis on smart grilling technology. Weber, in 2021, acquired smart appliance and technology company June, which it had previously worked with to develop its Weber Connect grill technology.
New models from Kamado Joe and Masterbuilt are also a lot smarter than grills to which most people are accustomed. The Kamado Joe Konnected will light charcoal with the touch of a button and let users set their preferred temperature, keeping the grill at just that level—doing away with the sometimes onerous task of constantly monitoring the fire for multihour cooks so the food finishes as desired.
The Masterbuilt Gravity XT, meanwhile, which will come out in April, offers a gravity-fed charcoal system that provides indirect heat via a fan and digital controller. Like the Konnected, it maintains the optimal temperature electronically without the need for human monitoring, with roughly 2.5 times the cooking space of an average grill.
The point of that technology? Convenience. Gas grills became popular because people could instantly start a fire, cook what they wanted, and then get on with their day, without worrying about lighting the grill and maintaining a constant temperature. By adding AI and smart features to new grills, whether charcoal or electric, manufacturers are hoping to increase the amount of time people spend cooking outdoors beyond the weekend.
Kamado cooking, for instance, has a market share of just 3% of the total cooking market, in part because the process can be intimidating. Adding connected technology, Middleby hopes, will expand that market.
“We designed this product [the Kamado Joe Konnected] to go after a new category of folks,” says Silva.
In adding these features to new grills, though, the company wants to be careful not to alienate current loyal users.
“That’s why we left the ability to control things manually,” says Silva. “We realized there was a subset of our core users who like that manual experience. It’s really a balancing act in a lot of ways to say how much technology is too much… AI was the talk track for CES, but what does it really mean, especially in our space? Is it a system that helps refine your cooking process? For us, where we’re currently at, it’s more about an algorithm and refining that to become more intelligent over time.”
Sudera agrees that traditionalists will make up most of the market for the short term. Over time, though, he expects AI and other smart features to become more standard on outdoor cooking devices.
“[As] with most things in life, there is going to be an element of the market that remains loyal to traditional techniques, just like the people who still drive with stick shift,” he says. “However, over time, convenience-providing technologies gradually expand their market share, starting with modest adoption until reaching a critical mass where they largely supplant older technologies.”
If true, that could dramatically expand the market. Allied Market Research estimates that by 2032, the barbecue grill market will more than double in value to $12.8 billion.
Grilling and barbecue have, for decades, been pretty bare-bones affairs. Throw a steak, brisket, or pork butt onto a grill, keep an eye on the temperature, and nurse a beer until it’s done. There have been innovations, of course, but the heart of the exercise was relatively tech-free. Like so many other things, though, that could be changing as artificial intelligence becomes more widespread.
Just as companies in other industries chase the stock surges that come with AI, the outdoor cooking industry is keeping a close eye on the technology as well. And smart grilling is one of the latest trends to expand the audience and make things easier for suburban pitmasters.
The outdoor cooking industry had sales of $6.8 billion in 2022. And some of the biggest names are publicly traded, though maybe not always by the names you see on the floors at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Middleby Corp., for instance, owns the Kamado Joe and Masterbuilt brands. Traeger Grills began trading in 2021. Weber, another giant in the industry, was publicly traded until last year when BDT Capital Partners opted to take it private. And W.C. Bradley Co., which owns Char-Grill, Pit Boss, and Oklahoma Joe’s among others, is currently privately held as well.
The audience, though, has stagnated a bit. Grills aren’t an annual purchase for most people. And while grill makers offer plenty of accessories to boost revenues between big purchases, from pizza stones to specialty pellets or charcoal, the manufacturer’s dream is to expand the audience without alienating the existing customer base.
“AI’s going to be interesting in the outdoor cooking space,” says Josh Silva, vice president of marketing at Middleby Outdoor. “There’s a balance between how much we provide consumers and what sort of level of convenience they want, because there is something to be said about tending fire and that experience of live fire. For us, it’s going to be incumbent to find the right balance of providing the right feature set in technology, whether it’s convenience or incremental engagement opportunities… You don’t want to take away the total experience.”
Proponents of AI in outdoor cooking say it simplifies the process. Seergrills, a startup out of the U.K., turned heads at CES earlier this year with the Perfecta, an AI-powered vertical infrared oven that reaches temperatures of over 1,600 degrees and cooks a steak in under three minutes, no flipping required. Built-in temperature sensors recognize when the food has reached your preferred temperature, whether that’s rare, medium, or well; then the heat shuts down.
“When using traditional cooking methods, there are approximately eight variables that one must consider,” said Suraj Sudera, CEO and founder of Seergrills. “These include food thickness, fat and water content, start temperature, carryover temperature, environmental temperature, heat-source variability, flare-ups, and food versatility. It requires years of practice for the most experienced grill masters to perfect their skills and surpass common challenges such as dryness or over- and undercooking. Grilling with AI offers significant advantages by allowing the system to monitor variables and account for them by controlling the cooking system.”
Perfecta’s AI uses subjective feedback from the user, and objective data from the sensors to improve, taking readings every second of the cook time.
All of the players in the field are putting a greater emphasis on smart grilling technology. Weber, in 2021, acquired smart appliance and technology company June, which it had previously worked with to develop its Weber Connect grill technology.
New models from Kamado Joe and Masterbuilt are also a lot smarter than grills to which most people are accustomed. The Kamado Joe Konnected will light charcoal with the touch of a button and let users set their preferred temperature, keeping the grill at just that level—doing away with the sometimes onerous task of constantly monitoring the fire for multihour cooks so the food finishes as desired.
The Masterbuilt Gravity XT, meanwhile, which will come out in April, offers a gravity-fed charcoal system that provides indirect heat via a fan and digital controller. Like the Konnected, it maintains the optimal temperature electronically without the need for human monitoring, with roughly 2.5 times the cooking space of an average grill.
The point of that technology? Convenience. Gas grills became popular because people could instantly start a fire, cook what they wanted, and then get on with their day, without worrying about lighting the grill and maintaining a constant temperature. By adding AI and smart features to new grills, whether charcoal or electric, manufacturers are hoping to increase the amount of time people spend cooking outdoors beyond the weekend.
Kamado cooking, for instance, has a market share of just 3% of the total cooking market, in part because the process can be intimidating. Adding connected technology, Middleby hopes, will expand that market.
“We designed this product [the Kamado Joe Konnected] to go after a new category of folks,” says Silva.
In adding these features to new grills, though, the company wants to be careful not to alienate current loyal users.
“That’s why we left the ability to control things manually,” says Silva. “We realized there was a subset of our core users who like that manual experience. It’s really a balancing act in a lot of ways to say how much technology is too much… AI was the talk track for CES, but what does it really mean, especially in our space? Is it a system that helps refine your cooking process? For us, where we’re currently at, it’s more about an algorithm and refining that to become more intelligent over time.”
Sudera agrees that traditionalists will make up most of the market for the short term. Over time, though, he expects AI and other smart features to become more standard on outdoor cooking devices.
“[As] with most things in life, there is going to be an element of the market that remains loyal to traditional techniques, just like the people who still drive with stick shift,” he says. “However, over time, convenience-providing technologies gradually expand their market share, starting with modest adoption until reaching a critical mass where they largely supplant older technologies.”
If true, that could dramatically expand the market. Allied Market Research estimates that by 2032, the barbecue grill market will more than double in value to $12.8 billion.