Welcome to the first ever Luxury Kitchen Summit.
I'm so excited to have five people that
will help you determine what you're going to buy in the next week or next 10 years.
Thank you, everybody, for joining.
Thank you, Steve, for inviting me.
Talking today about probably
the brands that are the most luxurious in the kitchen space, and that's La Cornue.
La Cornue is a company that was founded
in Paris 115 years ago, and they actually created the first gas
oven for the home, the first convection oven back when they
were lighting the streets of Paris with gas street lamps.
The engineer and founder of La Cornue
thought about controlling the gas flow for street
lamps and how you could apply that to your cooking versus open flame.
From there, the first La Cornue was born.
And in the past century plus, it has evolved into a global brand.
I'm very proud that the US is by far the biggest market worldwide.
That was not the case 20 years ago.
But the American consumer has
learned to just fall in love with it, understand the benefits.
So this is some photos that were taken in our factory.
A lot of people think it is going to be a beautifully sleek, pristine factory.
This is not Photoshop.
It is absolutely charming.
We use the word charming to tell you about 30 minutes north of Paris.
It is true, every chateau range is handcrafted custom to order.
So there is no inventory.
Every range is designed by the end consumer, the designer in terms
of the size, color, trim, cooktop configurations,
whether you want induction, gas, griddle burners, barbecue, etc.
And then it is built to order.
So they actually print out the order with all the required parts.
And then that artisan walks around the factory and builds it.
Absolutely fascinating to watch.
And we've had clients come over and see
their specific range being built, and it's really neat.
Here's a couple of photos just showing a specific range being built.
The image on the top left is actually that first La Cornue range that I referenced.
It was about the size of a big US mailbox.
And these are modern Chateaus today.
And the image on the bottom left, they actually inscribe the ID plate
with either the homeowner's name, the estate's name,
sometimes the dog or the children's name, a lot of cute things.
People just get to see that that range was built for them.
Every range is inspected, flown over on Air France,
and then custom delivery by glove into the homeowner's place.
So this is just a snapshot of what La Cornue looks like today.
From ranges, we've evolved into wall
mounted rotisseries, which is a great, great, great, great product.
And then we also have our more entry level product, which is the Cornue Fe.
So that piece is manufactured in bulk in predetermined colors and trims.
So we've got 12 colors,
three trim combinations in two to three different sizes.
We have a 36 and a 44 inch.
Those are European sizes as well.
And that is a phenomenal seller.
So those start around $10,000 US.
You'll notice a lot of variation in the style here.
So we say we'd love to do anything is possible.
If you can dream it, we can build it.
We've seen a lot of crazy things over the years.
We have matched
antique tile, we've matched sports cars, we've matched the wife's eyes.
So as long as it's feasible and we can get you all to approve it, we can build it.
We have done so.
So it's nice that no two La Cornues are ever the same.
First and foremost, though, we're all about our cooking.
So typically, ranges are going to see the gas burners in the far left where you
get your direct heat, searing, sautéing, and boiling.
And then our signature pieces are French top or the plaque,
the French call it the piano, where you're moving pots in and out.
Just some more peek at some of our details.
So you can just see some of the variety of the product.
And then the Cornue Fe collection,
we just announced four new colors about a week or two ago.
And I will say the order desk is very busy.
So we're happy to see that the series, New Colors Collection, has taken off.
And then I'll just finish with some collaborations that we've done.
Ferris Fowell is a designer at Canada who did this specific project for drake,
and we now offer this in our collection as the most elite at 125,000 plus.
And then we have collaborations
with Martin Lawrence Bilard and Suzanne Kessler,
who have interpreted their versions of the perfect La Cornue Palette.
What's the most unique range you guys have ever made?
I know about the F1 Fiber Ridge.
Oh, yeah. Yes.
We've done the range out of all carbon fiber, which was absolutely stunning.
I mean, there have been a lot over the years, the artisans loved to print out
pictures, take pictures of what their favorites.
The one I remember is the most memorable is consumer actually designed that entire
range out of brush brass panels instead of stainless.
It was all brushed brass, all trimmed and brushed brass.
It was completely over the top.
They had it in lack of it, so it wasn't going to patina.
And it just was like this massive altar sitting in the middle of the kitchen.
It was stunning.
Not for everyone, but really one of the kind.
And that kitchen was just so memorable.
One last question.
You may want to plead the fifth in this.
French company recently acquired by an American one.
How does that work?
Great, actually.
So Middleby is a big holding company
for about 100 commercial brands and 20 residential brands.
I would say what it's afford us is access
to technology, to manufacturing notes, to purchasing power.
It's had nothing but upside.
We have not really changed anything about the DNA of our new.
We've added in some new efficiencies,
which has been great, but it's all been positive.
So I'm happy and fortunate. Well, that was good.
I want to ask some follow up questions.
The first question I have is,
gas has already been banned in vertical housing in many cities.
How does this affect your product portfolio?
Let's start with you.
Well, law crime is unique in that we've always had both electric and gas options.
But on the Chateau side,
we actually have had induction ranges, all electric induction ranges for a while.
We have everything from 24 inches up to 60 inches.
So we still see on the Chateau side, a lot of the consumers want the gas.
They're still tied to it.
But on the corner face side, maybe a little bit of that younger
consumer, a little bit more conservative fiscally, we are nearly at an even split.
Gas is still out selling,
but we have seen a huge ramp up with the induction ranges of late.
We have a sister brand, AVA, where the induction range is actually
outsell the gas, which is very interesting.
That is very interesting.
Our induction sales were up 29 % last year.
Yeah. Color has become a big trend.
I personally think
it's never going to dethrone stainless because stainless matches.
It's easy. It's inexpensive.
What percentage of your sales is colors and do you see a lot more of it nowadays?
You've got what, seven types of blue?
Florence blue?
Yes.
Well, I will say after black, white and seamless blue is the next best
seller, but it's very emotional decision on what blue.
So you have to have the right blue.
We still do a lot of custom blue too.
What percentage is...
You're probably almost all color.
I know we've got...
We unfortunately show it in all stainless.
We can change that.
Yeah, we can change it.
But what percentage of your ranges are color?
I think if we look at global sales, stainless is probably 10 %.
And then we actually just did an exercise
study in the past four years of sales and stainless was like 9 %.
And then we've got everything else broken down.
So we're known for color.
I mean, that's really if you're buying
a block of new range, you're probably not trying to have it disappear.
You're making a statement.
And that is the focal point of the kitchen.
So we are color.
But my favorite is the stainless with the brush brush trim.
I think it's just so timeless and beautiful, but to each their own.
That is beautiful. I like black and copper.
Smart has improved considerably from when
I first started talking about Smart in 2021.
How far are we from saying to Alexa, hey,
make me lasagna, and having Alexa actually make you lasagna?
How far off are we?
Any Smart tech are going to be in Locker New anytime soon?
I mean, stay tuned.
I will say we do have a own several companies with some really cutting edge
technology, both on the residential and the commercial side.
So for us, for La Cornue, it'll be about striking the right balance.
But we do have a lot of interest for more contemporary forward thinking products.
So the re are some things on the table, design table right now.
So hopefully we'll be able to deal with that in one of your future summits.
I want to ask you guys, what is the one trend or megatrend
that people will see in the next, say, 1 to 10 years?
You can pick one.
It's induction, gas, heat pump, color, smart, steam.
Like I said, 150 year old brand,
and we are not trying to be on the leading edge of technology.
We have our lane, we stay in it.
We think we do a great job with it.
We've been approached to take
on refrigeration, dishwashers and put a La Cornue label on it.
It's just not who we are.
We just pride ourselves on focusing
on really strong, reliable cooking equipment.
So I think we'll see some strides with how service is done and networks with our
consumers, the way we interact with our consumers after they own.
But from a technology standpoint,
we'll obviously keep up with the time, but I'm not sure we'll leapfrog or be
leading the trend on anything that's really out there.
Kudos to you guys for not relabeling somebody else's product.
That's good integrity.
I learned a lot and I want to thank you all.
I knew you'd do great.
You did do great.
And thank you again.
Hopefully, we'll do this again sometime.
And that's about it. And we finish.
On time. Thank you, Steve.
Thanks for having us. Thank you, Steve.
It's terrific. Great pleasure.
Thank you. Thanks, everybody.
Bye. Thank you.
Bye. Bye, everybody.
Thank.