Since choosing to represent a different grill company on social media I’ve been asked so many times, “Why?” A lot of people assume it is all about money. Let me put that to rest right away. I’m not getting paid a single dollar by Green Mountain Grills.
Let me give a little history here to help explain that this decision was not an easy or overnight one.
I grew up thinking there were two types of grills in this world: A Traeger and a camping grill (usually a little portable weber). I’ve known Traegers for over 25 years. I’ve had my own Traeger for over 20 years. I’ve been representing them throughout my entire adult life essentially selling them by virtue of my praises and good tasting food forever. I spent the previous year as a “Traeger Influencer” on social media and have been successful in selling at least over 60 Traegers during that time. Those are the sales that I know about. I assume there are more.
Over the 25 years of having one in my family, I’ve seen the evolution of their BBQs both the good and the bad. I won’t go into any negatives though. I’m a business owner myself and know that there is no “perfect” product out there and even great products have issues sometime. I build computers and even though I use top of the line products, sometimes there are issues that need to be solved. Also, the people that I’ve had contact with over at Traeger are good people.
So why then, with all this history, did I say ‘bye’ to Traeger and ‘hello’ to Green Mountain Grills?
The answer is complicated to be perfectly honest, and I’ll answer that as best as I can.
The world of BBQ on social media is crazy! It’s addicting. It’s fun. The people that share this passion are pretty darn cool. We are from all walks of life and yet we get along well because of our shared love. We all look different and hang with different crowds, yet we all get along well because of our shared love. I’d say that is pretty darn cool.
Part of the craziness is trying new things… being inspired by others and stepping out of our comfort zone. My comfort zone has been the Traeger grill. But I’ve been longing to try other things: other methods of cooking, other grills. But then why another pellet grill? In addition to using a GMG now, I hope to be using other styles of grills as well. I really want to explore the world of ceramic grilling as well as Santa Maria style grilling. Both styles were outside of my range of interest until I went to a BBQ Bootcamp in Solvang California. Both of those styles of grilling were used the entire time while I were there.
So why GMG specifically with regards to another pellet grill? As you may know, there are many other pellet grills out there. I’ve done my research and I won’t bore you with my specific criteria, but Green Mountain Grills checked all the boxes. One of the simplest criteria I will tell you about though, is that they have a portable grill option that is truly portable. It has good grilling surface space and is quick and easy to set up while camping. My family goes camping often so this was high on my list.
Another thing that helped me in this decision is I’ve been able to test some of GMG’s equipment before going ‘all in’ and have to say that I am pretty impressed. Some of my first observations on their Davy Crockett are that the grill truly is portable. The legs fold down quickly and easily. It’s very sturdy despite the easily folding legs. My previous “portable grill” truly required two people to take the legs down.
The technology works flawlessly with my Android phone as well. On my first cook, I set up the Wi-Fi on server mode (cloud mode) and went and did some work on a house we are remodeling. I was able to adjust temperature from the other house which was about a mile away but could’ve been 100 miles…it wouldn’t have mattered. I got home and it was still chugging along, but my other grill errored out. (I had one rack of beef ribs on the Davy Crockett and another on my older grill). I also noticed that the temp stayed within a degree or two with what it was set at. There were no temp swings at all. I was really impressed. I’ve had two other brands of pellet grills prior to GMG and this is by far the most accurate and steady cooking machine.
All in all, I realized that I don’t need to be stuck on the same brand that I had been stuck on for the past 25 years. Just because it was good 25 years ago doesn’t necessarily mean I still need to use it and not explore other brands out there. I get it, people love to be loyal to one brand and loyal forever. I won’t criticize that at all. But for me, my loyalty prevented me from seeing beyond it and sometimes that’s a problem. I chose to look beyond it and truly believe I found something much better. That all being said, I’m not really leaving Traeger but welcoming Green Mountain Grills into my family and they are welcoming me into theirs. And I’m extremely happy with having Green Mountain Grills for the next 25 years.
Gage eat read.. Congrts on the GMG..