Kevin Quinn went to London expecting to do what he did best — pitch Traeger Grills’ “wood-fired flavor” to shoppers the way he had countless times at American Costco stores, drawing people in with the welcoming smell of wood pellets and the promise of backyard grill mastery.

Instead, he said, he found himself in a taxing routine: twelve-hour days at a Costco, an hour-long commute each way to his hotel and three days of travel that were unpaid.

After three weeks of pitching Traeger grills — demonstrating how to use their pellets, rubs and sauces and sharing the cooking camaraderie the company celebrates as the “Traegerhood” — he sold just six grills, he said, and went home with $963 for 252 hours of work.

“I nearly went broke,” said Quinn, of Kansas City, Missouri, who worked for Traeger

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