Inside Le Creuset’s VIP Factory-to-Table Sale in San Jose

It’s 8:35 a.m. in San Jose, and already over 100 people are waiting in a line that wraps around a building at South Market and Balbach streets. It’s not an IRL sneaker drop or a line for a concert. Instead, this is the line for the VIP session of Le Creuset’s Factory-to-Table sale — or FTT, for those in the know. By the looks of the line outside the South Hall of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, everyone here is very much in the know: Folks have all sorts of paraphernalia in preparation for the event, some are comfy and sitting in camping chairs, others have wagons, pull carts, and reusable totes in tow, all ready for that all-important Le Creuset haul of enameled cast iron pots, salt and pepper shakers, and more (lots, lots more).

Christy Horton drove 11 hours from Prescott, Arizona, to attend the San Jose sale, and she and her friends were the first in line at 4 a.m. that morning. It’s her third FTT, and their crew are pros. They’ve come with the aforementioned camping chairs and wagons, and they’ve readied their cars nearby for a post-sale meetup. “It is overwhelming the amount of stuff that’s there,” Horton says.

The fandom behind Le Creuset is different from, say, the fandom behind viral items like Trader Joe’s mini tote bags or the latest TikTok Shop drop. The Le Creuset crowd is one that is dedicated to quality; many at the sale point out that their love affair with the cookware company has to do with the products’ longevity. These pots and pans stand the test of time — and, famously, if they don’t, then Le Creuset’s Limited Lifetime Warranty covers a replacement. That’s not to say your tote bag isn’t of high quality, but talk to me again when those brands hit their 100-year anniversary, like Le Creuset does this year. It takes an entire explainer to suss out reasons why Le Creuset strikes such a deep chord with fans despite the hefty price tag on its enameled cast iron pots, which can range from $165 at the lower end to $800 on the higher, larger end.

But at these FTTs the barrier to entry lowers, and items go for 40 to 60 percent off their usual price, with discontinued products and colors becoming Easter eggs at the sale, adding to the excitement. The events also fold in extra elements of surprise: Part of the appeal of a $30 VIP ticket for the first day of the sale — besides getting early access to the merchandise — is the option to purchase a $50 mystery box after buying $150 worth of product. The mystery box guarantees at least $350 worth of merchandise, typically a mix of cast iron products, plates, salt and pepper shakers, you name it, and plays into the internet phenomena of unboxing videos. Horton says that some sales regulars believe that “the crowd that has quote, ruined it, by going on TikTok,” noting that TikTok videos of mystery boxes being unpacked have dramatically increased the popularity of FTTs. “It went from where you used to be able to get tickets, and now it’s sold out in four minutes,” she says.

Tack on the fact that these FTTs only happen three to four times a year, in different cities, and it’s perhaps not a surprise that many travel far and wide for these events; buyers arrived from as far off as Arkansas, and even Alaska to get to the San Jose event on Thursday, April 10. Locals also spent time on the road to get there, driving in from Sacramento and Napa to the South Bay.

Le Creuset has become a heritage brand in most people’s minds, where the long-lasting quality of the pots can lead to discussions on who will get the collection in the will. FTT second-timer Kara Crochett, from Sacramento, has an eight-year-old Le Creuset set from her first sale in Charleston and already knows who will inherit her pots. “I tease my daughter all the time that I was gonna will my Le Creusets to my grandson,” Crochett says. “But now she saw Meghan [Sussex’s TV show, With Love, Meghan], and she wants me to will them to her. Like, no, they go to my grandsons.” Crochett adds that she wonders whether With Love, Meghan isn’t also exposing the brand to a broader Black and Brown audience like herself.

True Creusetheads seem to speak a language all their own. It can be dizzying for the casual Le Creuset fan trying to parse through it all. There’s learning what the Sauteuse is. How designer Sheila Bridges intersects with Le Creuset. What a petal braiser is. What “artichaut” means. The brand stays relevant with collabs, pop-y color drops, and even fun shapes, like the pumpkin-centric Harvest Collection, which comes with a pumpkin-shaped lid, furthering the appeal and creating a shorthand around it for those who ravenously follow the company.

Inside the sale

In the moments before the doors open at 9:30 a.m., Le Creuset employees are buzzing about the cavernous South Hall, putting the final touches on the merchandise. A DJ on one side of the room sets up, playing some early 1990s Bryan Adams to kick things off for the team. About 40 percent of the floor is dedicated to cast ironware situated on tables closest to the door, with display pots sitting atop stacks and stacks of product underneath: Dutch ovens, braisers, sauciers, cocottes, in round and oval, and in various colors. The big, high-ticket items, an employee says, are the 5.5-quart braisers and round ovens, the most popular size in the U.S. Each table displays what percentage is taken off the sticker price next to a handy chart — $500 pots go for as low as $300 on the 40 percent tables, $300 pots go down to $180, and so on. Beyond those pots are rows and rows of Le Creuset’s other products; walking the floor, one can see everything from $1,000 multi-pot cast iron sets (retailed at $1,600), metal bakeware, ceramic bowls, dog bowls, cups, kettles, stock pots, tagines, crocks, butter dishes, and more. It is overwhelming.

But as the clock ticks closer to opening time, workers huddle up for a pep talk. Le Creuset employees are flown out from across the country to set up FTTs, one tells me.

As the doors open, eager shoppers stream in, grabbing a provided cart and filling it eagerly (but discerningly). The DJ flips to higher energy tracks to meet the mood of the room: “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, “Good as Hell” by Lizzo, “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse. An employee takes the mic and becomes a sales hype person on the floor, pointing out certain colors or sales — “Teal is 50 percent off!” she yells to the crowd — as everyone turns to see what she’s pointing to.

Niki Williams

There were no obvious professional chefs in the mix, but there were serious home cooks who were ready to put their new pots through its paces. Kristy Franchiseur flew in from Arkansas to attend her first FTT in San Jose, and by mid-morning, she was pushing a cart filled with pots and pans and was searching for a set for her newly engaged daughter. When asked about her haul, Franchiseur explains that she and her husband own a farm and she regularly cooks three meals a day for six people. “This is my dream cookware,” she says. Her first planned meal for her pots and pans? “I want to make a big old pot of chicken and dumplings,” Franchiseur says.

Others were shopping for friends and family and wrote down detailed lists of everyone’s wants: Emily King drove to San Jose from Napa to meet with her friend Jenevieve Beaulieu from Oakland, and together, their two carts were filled to the brim by about 11 a.m., nearly 90 minutes from when they first arrived. They are both hip to the mystery boxes and plan to pick up two on the way out. “It only makes sense since you’re already spending [so much],” King says. “We’re investing in our future,” Beaulieu jokes. They also weren’t professional chefs, but instead labelled themselves as “intense hobby cooks,” with King saying she “only” made 11 pies for Pi Day.

The CVS receipt, but make it Le Creuset

Niki Williams

Once the feeding frenzy mindset of the sale wanes outside the South Hall doors, there’s a mix of pride and sheepishness on purchases out in the pickup area. One group proudly showed off their receipts, which ranged from $832 at its lowest to $1,386 at the highest. Helpfully, some smartie at the Le Creuset factory decided to show the amount saved, via the receipt, in case regret settles in: One shopper showed off their $1,240 receipt that boasted a savings of $599. But others do feel the sting and weren’t willing to be forthcoming with the amount they purchased. When one couple was told that the highest amount they saw on a receipt that day was the aforementioned $1,386, the husband simply said, “We topped that,” and left it alone.

Mystery boxes and Le Creuchella

Or, it’s about the friends we made along the way

While some might pack up and head home with their haul, the mystery boxes have inspired some organic, consumer magic in the parking lot. Mystery box swaps have begun cropping up at these pseudo-Creuset conventions. As the lore goes, a group of Le Creuset fanatics traveled to an East Coast FTT sale and were staying at the same hotel; a swap of mystery box goods took place, and by the time the next sale popped up in Phoenix in February 2023, it had become a full-on tradition. Someone pitched the idea of setting up another trading post at a nearby hotel, but when the nearest hotel turned out to be too far away, Phoenix locals Shannon Katt and Mike Barter brought in their RV to the convention center parking lot instead and set up some tables. Soon the news was posted to a Le Creuset Facebook group, and it became a popular trading spot, with one attendee dubbing it Le Creuchella, after the popular festival.

The rules of Le Creuchella are simple: Everything is a straight trade, and no money changes hands. The members stay in touch via the Facebook group, and they post messages about upcoming FTTs, planning out their next swap. There’s now even a site, lecreuchella.com, to keep up with the group, as members travel to various FTT events.

“It’s very supportive,” says Katt from the center of the San Jose Le Creuchella grounds (i.e., a nearby parking lot). She travels to the sales with her sister, Rebecca Katt, who was with her at the trading post. “I’ve been collecting for a while, so I know all the colors, I know all the shapes. There will be people here who, this is their first piece, and they have no idea what they just pulled out of that box. We have seen collectors’ pieces pulled out of mystery boxes, and people didn’t know what they had until the group was like, ‘Oh my god!’”

Meanwhile, “I have more Le Creuset than I could ever want,” Horton says. Rather than continuing to stock her kitchen, she drove out to San Jose to meet with her Le Creuset group, buy some specialty Dutch ovens for others, and get a mystery box. Her plan with her goodies was to take her mystery box back to Prescott and donate it to a women’s shelter to help someone get their start on a new home. In her off time, she also takes part in a Le Creuset cooking club, where members make lasagna and paella with their treasured cookware.

Le Creuchella now is a scene unto itself, and it’s become a whispered fact among new attendees that this is where to go after the sale for unboxings and trading. A group of cars are circled up in the parking lot, trunks open with water, cookies, candy, some fruit, and, of course, Le Creuset merchandise. Boxes are opened inside Tesla frunks, in the back of SUVs, and on the ground. Packing papers spilling everywhere as onlookers ooh and aah over each item that’s lifted out. Some have blankets out with their wares displayed, in case someone wants to trade, and a few swaps do happen: a Harvest Collection pumpkin Dutch oven for two smaller pots, and so forth. But there’s also a tailgating aspect to it, a chance for online friends to see each other in person and catch up.

It’s this wholesomeness that lured Horton and her crew to the front of the FTT line at 4 a.m. When asked what makes her want to travel for these sales, Horton simply replies, “Friends.”