America's oldest cast-iron cookware manufacturer revitalized its business by adding one step to its 124-year-old process

• Lodge Cast Iron has been making cast-iron cookware at its Tennessee foundry since 1896, making it the country's oldest surviving cast-iron manufacturer.
• Before 2007, all of Lodge's cast iron came unseasoned, meaning consumers would need to bake oil into the iron to create the natural, nonstick cooking surface that also prevents it from rusting.
• Interest in quality cookware has soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as many people are spending more time at home rather than eating out. Lodge says it is seeing five times the demand compared to before the pandemic.

Home cooks are obsessed with this cast-iron skillet that hasn't changed much in 124 years. But what has changed about Lodge Cast Iron is the secret to its recent success.

The Lodge family has been making these cast-iron skillets in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, since 1896. Now, Lodge Cast Iron is not only the oldest surviving cast-iron maker in America, but the largest.

US retail sales of cast iron cookware hit $176 million in 2018, according to a report by HomeWorld Business.

Lodge says the demand for its products has been overwhelming as COVID-19 drives consumers to spend less money at restaurants and more at their grocery store. The company said demand has soared to five times what it was before the pandemic.

Before 2007, all of Lodge's cast iron came unseasoned, meaning consumers would need to bake oil into the iron to create the natural, nonstick cooking surface that also prevents it from rusting. A well-seasoned cast-iron skillet can last for generations.

Seasoning a pan on your own takes time and effort, something many home cooks didn't want to bother with when other pans, like Teflon-coated steel and aluminum, were more convenient and widely available.

So Lodge added the seasoning step at the foundry level.

Adam Feltman, associate brand manager at Lodge Cast Iron, said that having the cookware come pre-seasoned was a game changer for the company.

"It incentivizes people to want to cook with cast iron that haven't ever before. And that includes that younger audience," he said.

And even as this younger generation keeps business booming in the short term, Lodge isn't just focusing on how to meet the demands of today.

"We're always thinking about what's next, what's down the line five years from now, 20 years from now, 100 years from now," Feltman said." Even though we have this product that's been around since the 1800s, we're thinking about, well, where can cast iron take us into the future?"