Like a lot of retirees, Joe Traeger couldn’t walk away for good.

After he and his family sold Traeger Pellet Grills — the company he founded in 2006 — Traeger participated in charities such as serving free Thanksgiving meals with turkeys cooked on pellet smokers.

In recent years Traeger tinkered with new designs for pellet grills, something he invented in 1985.

In September 2018, Traeger and son Brian Traeger took new jobs with Dansons Inc., a rival to Traeger Pellet Grills.

Now the company that bears his name has filed lawsuits against Joe Traeger and sons Brian Traeger and Mark Traeger as well as Dansons, claiming the use of the Traeger name and likenesses in Dansons’ marketing are in violation of the purchase agreements they signed when they sold the company for $12.4 million in 2006.

Traeger Grills’ lawsuits do not specify monetary damages sought.

“We deny all claims made by Traeger LLC, as they are false and unfounded,” Dansons' president Jeff Thiessen said in a statement. “We will vigorously defend Dansons to protect our character and reputation.”

Traeger Grills has grown exponentially under its current ownership. In the past five years, Traeger has sold 2.2 million grills and amassed retail sales of $400 million in 2018.

From an idea to a brand

Joe Traeger started working in an uncle’s heating business, and he took over in 1962 at age 23, eventually bringing sons Randy, Mark and Brian into what became Traeger Heating.

The Traeger family purchased a long-dormant dairy farm in Mt. Angel, including a barn, silo and feed houses in 1982 from the Mt. Angel Abbey and converted the buildings into space for manufacturing and offices.

During a family Fourth of July barbecue in 1985, Joe Traeger’s gas grill caught fire while cooking chicken. Joe was so angry he kicked the grill off the deck, according to the Traeger Grills website.

The next day he started work on a barbecue for the home market that would use wood pellets.

When completed, it resembled the offset barrel smokers popular in Texas, but its heating element and gauges allowed cooks to regulate heat and smoke to cook. Traeger Grills sold its first commercial grill in 1988.

.

Traegers sell company in 2006

The family sold the assets of Traeger Industries in 2006 for $3.4 million, according to the lawsuit, and the intellectual property rights and names and likenesses of Joe, Brian, Mark and Randy Traeger for another $9 million.

The suit says Joe Traeger received $2.8 million, sons Randy and Mark Traeger each received $2.7 million and Brian Traeger received $664,000.

Traeger manufactured the grills in the company’s Oregon facilities until 2010, but started outsourcing manufacturing in China.

In 2013, 240 people worked for Traeger with 120 in its headquarters in Oregon.

Traeger Grills sold in 2014 and moves to Utah

Jeremy Andrus and private equity firm Trilantic Capital Partners purchased a minority stake in Traeger Grills in early 2014 and Andrus was made CEO. Andrus and Trilantic bought the rest of the company months later, according to an article he wrote for Harvard Business Review.

The company officially moved its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah in September 2015 and closed all Oregon operations in 2016.

Traeger Grills has grown to 450 employees and nearly $400 million in sales in 2018, up from $70 million in 2014, and has risen to the level where its grills are mentioned in the hallowed halls of barbecue in Austin, Texas.

Joe Traeger hired by rival Dansons in 2018

Joe Traeger visited Dansons' facility in Phoenix, Arizona to talk with president Jeff Thiessen about a charity in August 2018.

Dansons is a barbecue grill manufacturer started in 1999 by Dan Thiessen and his two sons. Among the brands of grills they manufacture are Louisiana Grills and Pit Boss, both of which make wood pellet grills.

In an interview with Patio & Hearth Products Report, Dansons president Jeff Thiessen said that meeting led to job offers to Joe and Brian Traeger.

The lawsuit alleges Joe Traeger reached out to Traeger Grills about jobs for he and Brian Traeger in September 2018.

“The terms were unreasonable and unacceptable to Traeger Grills,” the lawsuit states.

In 2018, Joe and Brian Traeger went to work for Dansons – Joe in product development and Brian as a divisional sales manager – and Dansons used photos of Joe and Brian Traeger and the Traeger barn in Mt. Angel in its announcement of the hiring and subsequent marketing material dated Sept. 21, 2018.

“Joe and Brian Traeger were hired in 2018 based on their personal talent, passion and experience in the grilling industry,” Dansons president Jeff Thiessen said in a statement. “They brought fresh ideas and concepts that we were happy to engage, and they have become a valued part of the Dansons family.”

Support local journalism: Stay on top of criminal justice news in Marion and Polk counties. Become a Statesman Journal subscriber and get unlimited digital access to stories that matter.

In that marketing material, it states Joe Traeger and Brian Traeger are not associated with Traeger Grills.

The lawsuits allege Traeger Grills sent a cease and desist letter to Dansons on Sept. 21, 2018, asking them to not use the Traegers in their marketing, but Dansons continued to use their names and likenesses. It's still on their web site.

The suit alleges on March 14, 2019 Dansons announced it would introduce a Founders Series of grills “brought to you proudly by Joe Traeger, the founder of the original pellet grill.”

Dansons files suit in 2019

On July 16, Traeger Pellet Grills filed a lawsuit against Joe, Brian and Mark Traeger in a Florida district court – Randy Traeger died in 2017 – alleging they were selling their brand and likeness a second time since selling their company in 2006.

That same day Traeger Pellet Grills filed a similar lawsuit against Dansons in Arizona District Court, alleging improper conduct and unfair competition on the part of Dansons for using the Traeger family members in promoting Pit Boss and Louisiana Grills.

The suits ask for unspecified monetary damages, and for the Traegers and the Traeger barn to no longer be used in marketing for Dansons.

“While we welcome fair competition, Dansons’ multi-year effort to copy Traeger through the illegal use of names, likenesses and unique design elements is confusing to customers and damaging to our company,” Andrus said in a press release.

bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or Twitter.com/bpoehler

Traeger Grills vs. Traeger timeline

1935 Traeger family moves to Mt. Angel

1959 Joe Traeger goes to work for uncle’s company, which will become Traeger Heating

1980 Joe Traeger develops heater using wood pellets

1982 Joe Traeger purchases what would become the Traeger Barn from the Mt. Angel Abbey

1985 Joe Traeger builds first wood pellet grill after a gas grill burns the family Fourth of July chicken

1988 Traeger Grills sells first commercial wood pellet grill

2006 Joe Traeger and sons Mark, Randy and Brian Traeger sell Traeger Industries to a Florida venture capitalist for $12.4 million

2014 Traeger Grills is sold to Jeremy Andrus and private equity firm Trilantic Capital Partners

2015 Traeger Grills moves its headquarters to Utah and brings five of 140 employees

2018 Joe and Brian Traeger take jobs with rival Dansons and are used in marketing

July 16, 2019 Traeger Grills sues Joe and Brian Traeger and Dansons over the use of their images

Other business news: