LEFT OUT IN THE COLD
Outdoor heaters in short supply as restaurants look to maintain business
“It’s the demand we’ve had for portable heaters since this business was started in 2003. We have five lines of portable patio heaters and all of them are backordered. We don’t expect to get any more until the end of the month at the earliest.”
Eric Kahn, director of operations and owner of Alfresco Heating
As Connecticut heads toward its first full winter in the COVID-19 era, demand for outdoor patio heaters is outstripping the ability of the state’s retailers to provide the warming devices.
Many retailers across Connecticut say they haven’t had any propane outdoor patio heaters in stock for at least a month or more.
“We haven’t seen any in months,” said Matt Petuch, a store manager at the R.W. Hine hardware store in Cheshire. Longtime retailer Porch & Patio on Boston Post Road in Orange won’t have any patio heaters available until the first week in November, according to an employee there.
“The demand for portable patio heaters is off the charts,” Nyree Pieck, co-owner of House of Warmth, a New Milfordbased retailer. “It’s been about a month since we had one in stock.”
Despite the lack of availability of portable outdoor heaters, interest in purchasing them surges every time there is a prolonged stretch of cold weather, she said.
“Last week, I was getting four or five calls a day,” Pieck said recently.
The problem is not limited to Connecticut, either. Retailers and distributors across the country report that patio heaters — some of which are free-standing and powered by propane — are in short supply.
“It’s the demand we’ve had for portable heaters since this business was started in 2003,” said Eric Kahn, director of operations and owner of Alfresco Heating, a distributor based in Novato, Calif., just north of San Francisco. “We have five lines of portable patio heaters and all of them are backordered. We don’t expect to get any more until the end of the month at the earliest.”
Even online retailers are reporting a surge in interest in portable outdoor heating units. Wayfair is seeing a 70 percent increase in searches for patio heaters compared to previous years, officials said.
Much of the demand for portable outdoor heaters is being driven by restaurant owners scrambling to retrofit their business for outdoor dining late into fall and beyond, especially as indoor occupancy rates remain limited due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Ninety-five percent of the calls we are getting are from restaurants,” Pieck said.
Some retailers said the reason for the shortage is the result of poor planning by distributors. Others said a dearth of domestically-based manufacturers contributes to the problem.
Kahn said both distributors and manufacturers misjudged the demand for the portable heaters.
“The demand just wasn’t foreseen,” he said. “People went forward on the assumption that indoor dining would open up more than it has.”
Uncertainty associated with the pandemic and the evolution of social distancing guidelines led officials at Sunglow Industries, a distributor in Newport News, Va., “to keep our inventories at last year’s levels,” said Graham Reed, a vice president with the company.
“The next availability (of portable outdoor heaters) for us is late November,” Reed said.
Kahn said there currently is only one domestic manufacturer of propane-fired patio heaters, Infrared Dynamics in Yorba Linda, Calif.
“We’re hearing they are experiencing a shortage of components, so we don’t know when we’re going to get our next order from them,” he said.
The lack of available heaters has hit the restaurant industry hard. And in cities across the country that experience cold weather, government officials are doing what they can to help restaurant owners extend their outdoor dining seasons as much as possible.
Officials in Buffalo, N.Y., last month changed the rules governing use of portable outdoor heaters by restaurants. The heaters now be used, but only in spaces that are not closed-in.
New York City also approved the use of propane patio heaters at commercial establishments. Previously, city officials permitted them for home use only.
Portland, Maine, officials are considering a request by bar and restaurant owners to allow outdoor dining through the end of the year. Currently, the city only allows it through the end of October.
Officials in Washington, D.C., have launched a $4 million grant program to assist restaurants as they winterize their outdoor dining areas and maintain outdoor dining operations through the colder months. Restaurants will be able to get grants of up to $6,000 through the program.
Propane patio heaters are not the only option, just the most flexible in terms of implementation. There are electric heaters as well as natural gas-powered heaters, which require the installation of pipelines to deliver the fuel.
Because the portable propane outdoor heaters are in such short supply, Pieck said she is recommending fire tables to customers as an outdoor warming alternative that is more readily available. Some fire tables operate using propane as a fuel source.