As restaurants close and food delivery dwindles, more people are taking an interest in cooking. You can’t scroll through your Instagram feed without seeing five loaves of fresh-baked sourdough. Whether out of quarantine boredom or out of necessity, a new hobby or a revived passion, novices and kitchen masters alike are investing in new cookware.
Facebook mentions for the high-end cookware retailer Williams-Sonoma ($WSM) peaked at 151,000 last month as quarantine began to set in. That’s 47% more attention than the company received leading up to Thanksgiving.
The Facebook page has been making the most of the buzz, sharing family-friendly recipes and introducing a new “Ask the Expert” online chat tool. KitchenAid’s ($WHR) Facebook ‘Talking About’ count surged late last month at 61,900, a 98% increase from the beginning of the month and 91% higher than the holiday time Facebook chatter.
It’ll be interesting to see if the pandemic era in cooking emboldens the cultural discourse around making food. With everyone quarantined for at least a few more months, we’ll have plenty of time to sharpen our bread baking skills.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- Coronavirus outbreak threatens global economies - but here's who's hiring
- 3M scales mask production, slashes job postings
- In NYC, MTA subway rides grow during weekdays
