Traeger Pellet Grills plans to close its Redmond plant, leaving nine employees out of work.

“It’s tough news,” said plant manager Rich Evans. “Nobody here really saw it coming.”

Employees were notified on Friday, March 17 that the plant would close May 31.

The plant had as many as 17 employees in recent years, but that number slimmed to 10 by the time of the announcement. Nine of those jobs will be eliminated this month, while one employee will stay on longer to sell off equipment.

The plant, located at 601 E. Antler, first produced plywood under the ownership of Crown Pacific. In 2010, it shifted to producing wood pellets under the ownership of Pacific Pellet. That company sold the plant to Traeger in 2019 for an undisclosed sum.

Evans said that under Traeger, employees in Redmond produced close to 20,000 tons of wood pellets for grilling and home heat a year.

Evans said Traeger said that the reasons for closure included excess supply on the market and that it became more expensive and complicated to ship raw materials to Redmond.

Traeger did not return calls for comment as of press time on March 22.

Evans has worked at the plant since 2009. He said the small crew had grown into a tight family, many of them working at the plant well before Traeger purchased it.

He said that employees are now on the lookout for new work as many — including Evans himself — want to stay in Central Oregon. He said employees being let go have experience in manufacturing, operating heavy machinery, shipping, logistics, management and more.

“It’s a good crew of people,” said Evans. “My goal now is to get them to places where they can find good work and competitive wages, so they can take care of their families.”

Evans said anyone who could be interested in hiring some of the workers can call him at 541-588-0287.