THE FUEGO BLOG

The 2008 International Pool, Spa and Patio Expo was held in Las Vegas this week at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. I was fortunate enough to walk the show and preview some new products in this industry and meet with a few distributors, manufacturers and members of the press.

According to Casual Living magazine, the expo attendance is slightly down from last year; however, the show is still strong and people are optimistic. I chatted with a number of pool and spa industry professionals that said consumers are continuing to invest in their outdoor rooms, given the tough economic times. This presents a huge opportunity for the outdoor industry as more consumers are entertaining at home and creating aesthetically pleasing outdoor living spaces. Casual Living also indicated that the casual furniture stores are beginning to express interest in carrying outdoor grills, which they have previously been opposed to. They understand that their customers want a one stop shop to buy furniture and grills.

A few of the outdoor grill manufacturers exhibiting at the show were: Dimplex, Cal Flame, Big Green Egg and Blue Ember. The Blue Ember grill was pretty cool - it functions like an oven with a touch screen control that offers the same functions as your indoor cooking appliances. The majority of the grills on display were the traditional bulky, stainless steel grills that really lacked in the design and technology category.

I was also able to meet with Tim McLoughlin with Purcell Murray, our Southern California Distributor and Sharon DeFelice with Two Dogs, our cover supplier.

Overall, I was pleased with my trip down to Las Vegas for the show and will be closely following the pool, spa and patio industry to see how we can capitalize on this category for Fuego.

Cheers!

Sarah Kramer, Director of Marketing at FUEGO

We just received the Nov/Dec 08 issue of Food Network magazine and while we were a little skeptical at first, considering there are a handful of foodie magazines out there, we must say that we are impressed and now VERY hungry.

The magazine focuses on personalities and tastes of more than 30 Food Network celebrity chefs - and, best of all, they have an issue this summer focused on GRILLING!

In honor of Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, we thought we'd share this Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe from the issue - straight from the Food Network kitchen

Yes... we think it is.

Hearth & Home magazine, official publication of the Hearth, Barbecue and Patio industry asked its readers in a recent issue if this is the year of the outdoor electric grill. For the past 10 years, manufacturers have been struggling to feed the market with an outdoor grill that offered a flameless and smokeless option. In 2007, electric grill sales remained stagnant, which led to the electric grill category representing only two percent of total grill sales. However, we believe that change is on the horizon (and you thought election jargon was over!...

Our friends down at BSC Culinary on 1665 Mission Street in San Francisco hold live demonstrations of the Fuego 01 every other Thursday hosted by the Culinary Director, Ross Rosenzweig (pictured above). Ross really flexes his culinary muscles during these demos as he uses several cooking methods to explore the varied capabilities of the Fuego 01. During my last visit, he was cooking chicken breasts using two fuel sources at the same time!

On one side of the grill...