How arson led to a culture reboot at Traeger, with CEO Jeremy Andrus

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Jul 4, 2022

In a captivating discussion, Jeremy Andrus, CEO of Traeger Grills, shares his unique journey from tech to culinary leader. He reveals how a disastrous arson incident sparked a culture reboot that tenfold increased revenue. Topics include Traeger's innovative wood pellet grills, the significance of community engagement, and navigating supply chain challenges. Jeremy discusses the shift toward IoT products and ambitious goals of reaching a billion dollars in revenue, showcasing the brand's resilience and commitment to enhancing the cooking experience.

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ANECDOTE

Traeger Discovery

Jeremy Andrus discovered Traeger, a 27-year-old, $70 million grilling company.
Despite initial disinterest in the grilling market, Traeger owners' passion intrigued him.

INSIGHT

Passion-Driven Acquisition

Andrus prioritized customer passion over financial metrics when acquiring Traeger.
He believed that genuine brand energy is crucial for building a successful consumer brand.

ANECDOTE

Arson and Cultural Reset

After acquiring Traeger, Andrus faced various challenges, including arson at a warehouse.
This incident led him to realize the company culture was broken and needed a reset.

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Happy Fourth of July to our listeners in the States. Decoder is only a year old, but we’ve decided a Decoder tradition is that every summer, we’re going to do an episode about the outdoor grill industry, which is gigantic and growing.

Last year, I talked to Roger Dahle, the CEO of Blackstone Products, a griddle company that blew up on TikTok and actually went public a few months after we talked.

This year, I’m talking to Jeremy Andrus, the CEO of Traeger, which makes beloved wood pellet smokers with all sorts of features — the high-end models even have cloud connectivity so you can control them from your phone. Traeger also recently went public; the company says it will book between $800–850 million in revenue this year.

The Traeger story is fascinating: the company was around for 27 years and not growing very much when Jeremy bought it with the help of a private equity firm and became the CEO. He had no background in cooking; he had previously been CEO of Skullcandy, the headphone brand. His early run as CEO of Traeger was a bit of a nightmare, culminating in an arson of a truck at one of Traeger’s warehouses. Jeremy responded by cleaning house, replacing most of the team, and moving the company from Oregon to Utah.

Since then, Traeger has grown its revenue by 10 times and hopes to close in on a billion dollars in revenue soon. But, it has all the challenges that come along with shipping big, heavy hardware products through the supply chain crisis, looming recession, and changing consumer behavior as one version of the pandemic seems to be ending and people are spending their money on travel instead of home goods. Jeremy was game to talk about all of that; we really got into it.

Links:

How Traeger's CEO Cleaned Up a Toxic Culture

Jeremy Andrus Found Success With Skullcandy. Now He Hopes To Do It Again With Traeger Grills.

Traeger buys wireless thermometer company Meater

Jeremy Andrus Found Success With Skullcandy. Now He Hopes To Do It Again With Traeger Grills.

Traeger's stock opens 22% above IPO price, to value the grill market at $2.6 billion

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22953717

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

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