In July 2021, Traeger went public on the New York Stock Exchange at roughly $18 per share. By late 2025, the stock -- traded as COOK -- had fallen to $0.79. In November 2025, NYSE sent Traeger a delisting warning because its share price had remained below $1.00 for 30 consecutive trading days. The company launched a restructuring program called Project Gravity, cutting staff, abandoning direct-to-consumer sales, and consolidating pellet mills.
None of that is necessarily a company's death sentence. But it raises a question that every Traeger or Pit Boss owner should think through: what happens to your warranty and parts supply when a major grill brand is fighting for its financial life?
What Financial Pressure Does to After-Sales Support
When a company is restructuring, the first things to thin out are the cost centers. After-sales support -- warranty claims, replacement parts, customer service staff -- is a cost center. According to Traeger's 10-K annual filing, Project Gravity involved layoffs, operational consolidation, and the exit from direct-to-consumer channels. These are the exact support infrastructure layers that process warranty requests.
Traeger's own warranty language acknowledges this risk explicitly: the company reserves the right to replace defective parts with "new or refurbished parts, in Traeger's sole discretion on an as available basis within ninety days." On an as available basis. When parts inventory is managed by a company under financial duress cutting costs aggressively, that phrase carries more weight than it did in 2021.
This is not speculation. Pellet grill forums are full of owners describing extended wait times for warranty parts. One Pit Boss owner documented a four-month wait for a flame broiler replacement -- a critical component that rendered the grill unusable -- before the warranty period had even expired.
The Legacy Parts Risk Is Real
Most pellet grill controllers, induction fans, and auger motors are proprietary. They are not interchangeable across brands, and often not across generations of the same brand. A Traeger Pro 780 from 2020 uses a different controller than a 2023 Ironwood. When a company discontinues a product line or consolidates manufacturing, legacy parts for older models quietly stop being manufactured.
According to Traeger's 2025 annual report, the company estimated approximately 2.7 million Traeger grills sold in the United States between 2020 and 2025. That is a large installed base of grills that depend on a financially stressed company's ongoing parts supply. Owners of grills outside the warranty period are already dependent on the aftermarket. Even owners within warranty are subject to "on an as available basis" language when parts run low.
This is what happens when any durable goods company runs into sustained losses. The $115.2 million net loss Traeger reported for fiscal year 2025, on top of an accumulated deficit of over $800 million, signals a company managing cash tightly. Parts inventory is one of the first places that tightening shows up for owners.
The Broader Lesson for Pellet Grill Owners
This is not unique to Traeger. The pellet grill category grew explosively during the pandemic, with multiple brands expanding rapidly. Post-pandemic normalization hit them all. Weber went through bankruptcy proceedings in 2023. Pit Boss parent Dansons has faced its own customer service volume challenges. The category is maturing fast, and some brands that expanded aggressively may not sustain the support infrastructure they built during peak years.
The practical implication is simple: if you own a pellet grill -- any brand -- the calculus on protecting the unit you have has shifted. Replacement is getting riskier and more expensive. Parts availability for older models is declining. Assuming a warranty will cover you is less reliable than it was three years ago.
What This Changes About How You Manage Your Grill
The value of protecting what you own goes up in direct proportion to how uncertain replacement has become. A mid-range pellet grill that costs $600 to $900 today is more expensive to replace than it was in 2022, and the path to a warranty claim is longer than it used to be.
Protection that extends the physical life of the unit -- particularly the exterior finish, which is among the first things to fail visually and structurally -- becomes a better investment as the replacement market gets less predictable. That is where something like Grillacoat fits: a one-time application that protects the powder coat, stainless, and enamel surfaces from the UV, moisture, and grease exposure that accelerates exterior degradation.
Keeping a grill looking and functioning like new for longer is not just aesthetics. It is a hedge against a parts and warranty environment that is materially less reliable than it was at the category's peak.
The Bottom Line
Traeger is not necessarily going under, but the trajectory of a stock from $31 to $0.79 -- and the operational choices that come with that pressure -- are signals worth reading. Every major pellet grill brand is feeling some version of this pressure. The era of frictionless warranty support may be shorter than owners expected when they bought their grills.
Protect the unit you have. Grillacoat ships free, applies in 10 minutes, and creates a multi-year bond that means fewer things to replace even when parts are available.