Traeger is a kitchen and grill brand headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1987.
When the Traeger family sold its grill company in 2006, the buyers paid more than $9 million, a later lawsuit says, for the exclusive and perpetual right to use the family's names and likenesses. Joe Traeger had run a family heating company in Oregon, and in 1985 he gave a grill the motor-driven auger that fed pellet stoves. Today Traeger is run from Salt Lake City.
Jeremy Andrus, the former Skullcandy CEO, invested in 2014 and took over as chief executive. A year later he moved headquarters from Portland to Sugar House, and the offices now sit in the Granary District. Contract factories in China and Vietnam build the grills, about 80 percent of them in China.
In 2018 Joe and Brian Traeger went to work for Dansons, which makes Pit Boss and Louisiana Grills. Traeger sued, and a December 2019 settlement permanently barred the family members and Dansons from using the Traeger names or the Traeger barn to promote other grills as genuine Traegers.
Traeger's app had 2.8 million active users in 2025, and a pellet sensor sends an alert when the hopper runs low. Somewhere in a Salt Lake backyard, a brisket is texting for more wood.
For about 20 years, until its patent expired in 2007, Traeger was the only company making pellet grills.
Traeger makes a great smoker. Easy to use, and the food comes out great.
Alex
