He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (1:10)
When I got a new car, I thought my insurance premium would increase and empty my bank account, like if Fetween won the lottery.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:17)
I've invested most of my winnings in chicken tenders because they're bomb.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:20)
But bro, I bought a house and it's sick, bro.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:23)
I'm thinking the floor is going to be all trampoline, bro.
With the helipad on the roof, the contractor said it's structurally unsound. They're just being babies.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:32)
But switching to Geico saved me hundreds, so my bank account is safe.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:35)
It feels good to save some hard-earned cash. It feels good to Geico.

**Nilay Patel** (1:42)
Hello and welcome to Decoder. I'm Nilay Patel, Editor-in-Chief of The Verge. Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. It's the 4th of July and this is our annual grill episode. We invite the CEOs of outdoor cooking companies onto the show to explain just how their businesses kind of look like every other business. And this is a very special edition of our grill episode. Today, I'm talking to Roger Dahle, the CEO of Weber Blackstone, a full circle moment for Decoder. Roger was our first ever grill CEO on the show, back when he was the CEO of just Blackstone. He started the company in 2008, but these griddles exploded in popularity during the pandemic, when videos of smash burgers went relentlessly viral on TikTok. The company grew so fast and so furiously that Roger was able to buy Weber a couple of years ago, a legacy company that had fallen on hard times. Fun fact, we wanted Roger on the show last year to talk about that deal, but it was stuck in antitrust review at the Federal Trade Commission. So Roger and I talked about all that, what competition review entails for a merger of grill companies, and what it takes to manufacture these products overseas and import them to United States in an age of high tariffs, even higher energy prices, which are pushing consumers down market. Of course, we also talked about what it means to merge with Weber, a storied company with iconic products that have gotten really stuck in its ways and pretty siloed. Roger seems very eager to break those silos down and create a new company with a new culture. Like I said, there's a lot in this one, including whether or not the chip market is affecting Weber's connected thermometer business. It's pure Decoder bait through and through. Roger was great in this one. Can't wait for you to listen to it. There's Roger Dahle, CEO of Weber Blackstone. Here we go.
Roger Dahle, you're the CEO of Weber Blackstone. Welcome back to Decoder.

**Roger Dahle** (3:32)
Thank you. Good to be back.

**Nilay Patel** (3:34)
I am thrilled to have this conversation. Five years ago, 2021, we thought it would be so fun to talk to grill CEOs in the summer, because one of our theses here in Decoder is all these companies have the same problems, and it's the summer, and we should go talk to grill companies. And at the time, we made a list of all the companies we wanted to talk to, and we put Weber at the top, because they were the big brand name. And they said no, and I was like, we gotta talk to Roger at Blackstone, because I'm watching TikTok every day, and Blackstones are going viral on TikTok.
And so we start with you, you were first ever guest in this series, and now you're the CEO of Weber. And I feel like that is just about as perfectly full circle as it gets. So thank you so much for coming back.

**Roger Dahle** (4:14)
Yeah, I didn't see that coming when we talked a couple of years ago.

**Nilay Patel** (4:17)
A lot has happened.
Weber was bought by Private Equity. You had a SPAC that came and went, you didn't go through with it, and you bought Weber. Let's just talk about how all of this came together. Blackstone has been around since 2008 We won't go through the whole history. People can go listen to that episode if they want to. 2008, you started it, you went super viral in 2021 You did a lot. How did you end up in the position to combine with Weber, which really turned out to be more of an acquisition?