2025 was a tough year for the outdoor cooking category as a whole. We had the same consumer challenges but then a high tariff environment was thrown on top of it.

Traeger does grill manufacturing in southeast Asia, so the tariffs greatly shrunk their gross margin. This left them to create a plan to shrink the size of their business and make up for the reduced gross margin in less operating expense, and preserve as much income as possible.

That created a ton a work and stress on the business. It also wasn’t a business factor that the executive team could reasonably control.

All of that, no doubt, went into the decision from Traeger’s board to award CEO Jeremy Andrus and CFO Joey Hord with discretionary bonuses for the year.

However, the Board decided to award Jeremy Andrus, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, and Michael Joseph (Joey) Hord, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, discretionary cash bonuses equal to $956,250 and $270,938, respectively, due to their significant contributions to the Company in 2025 and to promote retention.

Jeremy Andrus had his compensation structure amended in April of last year with a salary of $750,000 and a bonus target of 150%, or $1,125,000. Previously, he didn’t receive a salary and he was compensated based on stock performance.

When Joey Hord took over as CFO his base salary was set at $425,000 with a bonus target of 75%, or $318,750.

Both executives are key for Traeger to continue with their right-sizing strategy. Not paying an annual bonus wouldn’t be great for retention and the continued turnaround of the company.

Jeremy Andrus was instrumental in building the Traeger brand into what it is today. From the high highs in 2021 to navigating all of the downturn over the past four years, he’s seen it all.