One hundred years ago, a Southern cook shopping for cast-iron cookware had many options. From venerable names like Griswold, founded in Erie, Pennsylvania, at the end of the Civil War, and Wagner
of Sidney, Ohio, to young Southern upstarts like Birmingham Stove & Range Company and Lodge Manufacturing of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, a number of American cast-iron cookware companies dotted the landscape.
Today most of these companies have gone by the wayside. Only one century- old American cast-iron cookware company has survived into the new millennium—Lodge Manufacturing, founded by Joseph Lodge in 1896. How did Lodge become the lone American survivor in the cast-iron cookware world?
“I attribute our success to four things,” says Bob Kellermann, Joseph Lodge’s great grandson and current CEO of the family-owned company.
“First is innovation, second is our unwavering commitment to quality, and third is the willingness of the Lodge family to reinvest its earnings in the business.” Last but not least, he says, are the passionate employees who are committed to the company and the Lodge brand.
Today the company has 280 employees, and Jerry Don King, a third-generation Lodge employee, is one of them. Jerry Don grew up listening to his father, Albert King, and his grandfather, John King, tell stories about working at the foundry. And when he graduated from high school in 1976, he came to work for Lodge as well. “I started in the packing department, labeling skillets,” Jerry Don recalls. “I must have worked through the whole plant before I became a mechanic.
“Working for Lodge has been our living for three generations of my family,” Jerry Don explains. “It’s kept a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.” After 39 years at the company, Lodge feels like home. “I’ve really enjoyed the years I’ve put in at Lodge.”
He’s particularly proud that Lodge cookware has been around for more than 100 years. “When people keep buying something year after year, you know you’ve got a quality product. It makes you feel good because you know you’re doing something right.”
Employees such as Jerry Don whose families have worked for Lodge for generations are like family to Bob Kellermann. “We have a strong culture here at Lodge. We treat our employees like family,” he points out. When he looks back at the growth the company has experienced since he became a full-time employee 46 years ago, he feels a sense of pride.
“Introducing seasoned cast iron in 2002 was the biggest game changer in my tenure as CEO,” Bob explains. “It was something we had wanted to do for a long time.” Perfecting the process took more than 18 months. But when seasoned cast iron hit the market 13 years ago, it dramatically changed the company’s fortunes.
In a short five-year timespan, Lodge went from offering only unseasoned cookware to offering everything seasoned. “Our advertising slogan that first year was, ‘We should have thought of this 100 years ago,’” Bob says laughing.
More importantly, seasoned cast-iron cookware pulled the 106-year-old company back from the brink of bankruptcy. At the same time, with the rise of the Food Network and the popularity of celebrity chefs, Lodge cookware became the darling of the food world. Working chefs had long appreciated the unique qualities of cast-iron cookware—its heirloom durability, its superior heat retention, and its nonstick finish when properly seasoned.
The company’s growth in the new millennium and the renewed interest in cooking with cast iron have generated interest among a fifth generation of Joseph Lodge’s descendants. As Dick Lodge, the newest member of the Lodge family to join the company, points out, “The tremendous growth Lodge has had in the past decade is what created the spark for me. The minute I got down here to South Pittsburg and started my internship, the sense of growth and family pride made me want to work here even more.”
Dick is a graduate of the Lodge Family Internship Program, set up by the company to encourage the next generation of the Lodge family to work for the company. Participants rotate through Lodge’s 12 departments and then choose two areas of the company to specialize in. “At the end of the program, no one is handed a job,” Bob points out. “You have to come with your A game. If we have a job that matches your skill set, you’ll be offered a job. But there’s no silver spoon, no free lunch.”
Working in the Lodge foundry was an eye-opening experience for Dick. “It really made me fall in love with the company,” he says. “The heartbeat of what makes this company run is production. Getting to know the employees and seeing how much they love working here and how much they feel a part of it is something great to see.” At the end of his internship, he was offered a position as a second-shift manager in the foundry, a job he loves.
“How many companies have dared to make a product that not only lasts forever, but gets better with age?” Dick says. “Somehow it’s working for us.”
Interest in cast-iron cookware is greater than it has ever been, and Lodge has had difficulty keeping up with the demand in recent years. In 2014, the company completed the largest foundry expansion in its history, more than doubling its production capacity. “Did we add enough capacity to get us through the next five years?” Bob ponders. “Only time will tell.”
In the meantime, there’s still a lot of work to be done. “Cast iron still represents a small slice of the cookware industry,” he explains. “Young cooks need to be educated about the benefits of cooking with cast iron. There’s room for growth.
“When I see the passion of the young millennials we have working for Lodge, it just puts a smile on my face,” Bob says.
And what would his great grandfather, Joseph Lodge, say if he could see the company today?
With a catch in his throat, Bob admits, “I think he’d be proud.”
I met Bob Kellerman while working for Phil Zettler, owner of Vulcan Engineering around 1993. As a graduate Ceramic Engineer from Clemson University and an Engineer for Whirlpool and Maytag, Phil sent me to meet with Bob to discuss designing a Porcelain Enamel system for cookware. Bob was not interested at that time.
Since my Maytag and Vulcan days I started an engineering firm to design, build and start up porcelain enamel system Worldwide. My company located in Ooltewah, TN is listed below.
I would like to help design a porcelain enamel system for lodge.
Thank for the opportunity, Mike Horton Office 423-344-1550 cell 815-341-1024
Can you have someone to call me about designing and building a porcelain enamel system.
Thanks,
Mike Horton
Hi Mike! Thanks for reaching out. Any information about Lodge Manufacturing and how to contact them can be found at this link. Let us know if that helps. https://shop.lodgemfg.com/contact_us.asp