It’s been a wild ride for MEATER, and there’s more change happening this year. They were acquired by Traeger in the summer of 2021 for $100 million when everything was working in the grill industry.

Traeger paid $60 million in cash at close, with an earn-out tied to performance over the next two years for the balance. Traeger’s business struggled, as did the industry, through the earn-out period, but MEATER was a bright spot.

Shortly after the earn-out payment was settled, MEATER’s business started to struggle. The rest of the industry had caught up to the major selling features of their wireless thermometers, and the market became much more crowded.

This year, MEATER has been a drag on Traeger’s earnings. To try to turn the brand around and as part of their Project Gravity, they recently announced that they would be consolidating MEATER’s headquarters in the UK into Traeger’s headquarters in Utah. With that, they also eliminated the staff at MEATER.

Today, Traeger announced another big change for MEATER and Traeger in general. The president of MEATER, Jim Hardy, will be retiring at the end of the year.

He started with Traeger in March 2021 as their Chief Supply Chain Officer. From there, he progressed into the Chief Operating Officer role, then as President of MEATER in the summer of 2023.

To help with the transition, Jim Hardy will remain in a non-executive advisory role to Traeger from the end of the year until April 30, 2026.