By Fred Delkin

 Memorial Day weekend traditionally launches America’s BBQ season and promises another upsurge in the economy of Mt. Angel, Oregon.  This small Willamette Valley burg built around a Benedictine Abbey erected here over a century ago is home to a family manufacturing enterprise earning international attention for its innovative product approach to outdoor grilling.

The Traeger clan got into metal products in the ‘30’s when patriarch Joe Traeger, Sr. established a metalworking shop in downtown Mt. Angel.  Three generations later, Traeger Industries is manufacturing and marketing some 6,000 unique outdoor grills per annum via a dealer network that includes outlets in Canada, Australia, Denmark and Italy.  Traeger has found its niche in a very competitive market by introducing wood pellets as a BBQ fuel.  The original Traeger metal shop produced furnaces and discovered compressed sawdust pellets as a clean-burning fuel alternative which added a new dimension to wood-burning stove technology.  Traeger eventually sold a successful stove business just as environmental concerns created a code-driven crimp in sales.

Accident mothers invention

Traeger lore credits adaptation of wood pellets to BBQing to Joe Traeger Jr.’s disgust with his inability to avoid scorching food on a new gas BBQ at a family picnic.  He reasoned that clean-burning pellets could be adapted to both grilling and smoking.  He now has four U.S. patents on unique grill design features.  The Traeger system is electrically driven, feeding pellets from a hopper to a firebox that creates a chosen level of indirect heat in a closed grill.  This avoids flareups from direct exposure of food to the heat source.  An electronic firebox starter eliminates the need for toxic starter fluids.  The pellets burn cleanly and impart a wood taste to food (Traeger offers a choice of wood flavors).

Versatility is another advantage of a Traeger grill.  A switching system allows the operator to grill, roast (bake) or smoke.  The manufacturer boldly claims “the best smoker on the market today!”  Pellet consumption is slow, offering a cost advantage over charcoal briquets.  Traeger cooker designs now include both residential and commercial units.  The home use models range in cost from $495 to $1,495. 

From bones to brew

Mt. Angel’s economy is not only enriched by the Traeger manufacturing payroll of 25 folk laboring in factory space that used to be the dairy for the Abbey.  The family (Joe Jr.’s sons Mark, Randy and Brian are involved in management) established Mt. Angel Brewing six years ago, converting a downtown storage building into a microbrewery and barbecue restaurant.  The latter serves as an ideal demonstration tool for Traeger grills.

This sleepy small town used to awake briefly each September for Oregon’s largest Oktoberfest that attracts an estimated 100,000 celebrants annually.  This activity inspired the Traegers to establish a more permanent tourist draw.  The family occupies an almost indispensable role in the community, having served as chiefs of the volunteer fire department, mayor and football coaches for the local high school.

Traeger accomplishments reached a new level of notoriety last year when a Traeger grill was prominently viewed in the Tommy Lee Jones-starring cinema epic “Rules of Engagement.” 

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 Traeger Industries website