According to the 23rd annual Weber GrillWatch™ Survey, a whopping 90 percent of American grill owners fire up their backyard grill on the Fourth of July, a nine percent jump from last year.

Weber commissioned Toluna to field the 23rd annual Weber GrillWatch Survey. A total of 1,000 grill owners throughout the United States completed the online survey. All respondents were 21 years of age or older and currently own a charcoal, gas or electric outdoor grill or smoker. The sample was divided between 50 percent males and 50 percent females and was balanced demographically to represent households across the U.S.

The survey revealed the following fun grilling facts:

• Independence Day remains the most popular "grilling holiday" of the year, followed by Labor Day (77 percent); birthdays (76 percent); Memorial Day (71 percent) and Father's Day (53 percent).
• The three foods grilled most often are hamburgers (73 percent), chicken (41 percent) and steak (40 percent).
• Hot dogs and burgers remain the top two foods considered easiest to grill (78 percent and 72 percent, respectively; followed by steak (49 percent), brats (43 percent) and chicken (38 percent).
• Three in 10 grill owners feel that grilling is an extremely important activity when entertaining guests in their home (30 percent); with 77 percent say grilling is an important activity when entertaining.
• The grill brings people together. During grill parties, more than one-half of grill owners (59 percent) say their guests tend to congregate outside—of those, 26 percent enjoy "hanging out" exclusively by the grill.
• On average, grill owners host approximately 2.8 barbecues during the summer; nearly 19 percent say they hosted at least five barbecues during the summer months.

Source: Weber-StephenProducts LLC

Published with permission from RISMedia.