Tongs, spatulas, grill brushes: these are all essential tools for a griller at any skill level. It makes a lot of sense to carry these items in any store that carries grills, or stores that carry general cooking supplies. But what about specialty (or even novelty) cooking items?

Look, we love products like our Dizzy Dog® and salt plate. They work great, they’re conversation pieces, and they are innovative designs. One thing we can’t say about them: that they are essential products. Perhaps not in the same way that utilitarian items like, spatulas, or tongs are necessary. So why are these products necessary for the assortment?

Fresh Product Assortment

Let’s imagine that you head to your local hardware store to pick up supplies for a home improvement project. What’s most likely going to catch your eye, a row of common grill kits, or a big, bright, pink block of salt you’ve never seen before? Maybe you see the block as you’re passing the aisle on the way to grab something totally unrelated on your shopping list. If you’ve never seen one before, you stop and examine it, and remember that you have to buy a new grill brush. Plus this salt block looks like it could be interesting to cook with. It’s not a stretch: it happens all the time!

Broaden category to include other foods

One of the more popular blog posts on grilling this year is on Country Living’s website, called 50+ Grilling Recipes for an Epic Summer Cookout.

It may start off with a recipe for the ultimate burger, but slide 3 is for Chicken Fajita skewers, and slide 5 is the even more esoteric Grilled Avocado Caprese Crostini. Specialty items help make these recipes accessible for any cook.

Capitalize on customer passions

Country Living including exotic recipes isn’t an accident! More and more often people are looking for variety and newness in the things they cook.

Clearly consumer attitude is shifting. People aren’t satisfied with old staples: they want to make and eat new types of food. Specialty items help them achieve that goal.

Increased precision in cooking

They’re old cliches: use “the right tool for the right job”, and “you are only as good as your tools.” Platitudes like these might make you roll your eyes, but they often hold true in the cooking world, especially for home cooks!

Take a job that’s time consuming like putting together kebabs, or one that takes technical skill like slicing hassleback potatoes: using specialized tools to create these foods makes them more attractive and easier to produce than ever before.

Hasselback Potato Slicing Rack

Diversify cooking techniques, materials and flavors

Remember when you’d go to the supermarket, and your choices of beer were Coors, Budweiser, and Miller? Now you can get every variety under the sun. We’re talking beer with mango in it. We’re talking beer that tastes like spicy nachos. People are willing to embrace exotic foods, and expect flavor experimentation.

Check out Forbes’ 2017 food predictions from last December.

Gen Z is coming of age and “they prefer stove-top to microwave cooking and are more intuitive cooks. For them, the most ethnically diverse generation, ethnic foods are the norm.” Readers Digest wrote an article titled “11 Trending Superfood Veggies That Could Be the Next Kale.”

Specialty items encourage and support the experimentation that customers are looking for!

Let’s revisit one of the statements earlier in this post, where I said that these products aren’t necessary in the same way that staples like tongs and brushes are. They may not be required for grilling, but niche products are crucial to earning customers and keeping those customers happy. I can walk into any store and pick up a sturdy spatula, but when I see the Dizzy Dog® on the shelf? Now you’ve got my attention.

Daniel Replogle

Daniel does business development and marketing at The Companion Group. When he isn’t writing you can find him rock climbing or doing ceramic artwork.