‘We Smoke Chips’: How Low and Slow Plans to Turn the BBQ Chip Category on Its Head

Through its proprietary manufacturing process that smokes chips at scale, Low and Slow Snacks believes it has found the recipe for success in disrupting the barbecue chip category.

Founded in 2019 by former Frito-Lay VP of marketing Jared Drinkwater, the Dallas, Texas-based brand produces a portfolio of exclusively BBQ-flavored potato chips, corn chips and tortilla chips coated in Low and Slow’s signature secret rub and smoked using hickory wood. According to Drinkwater, Low and Slow was created to address a void for authentic barbecue snacks, with many major CPG players only focusing on capturing the flavor of barbecue sauce in their chips.

“The most important part of an authentic barbecue experience, whether it’s in Texas or elsewhere, isn’t the sauce; that’s almost an afterthought,” said Drinkwater. “It’s all about the smoke and the process that goes into it.”

After a years-long undertaking of cracking the code on its smoking process, Low and Slow partnered with a co-packer that allowed the brand to add a 3,000 sq. ft. smoke room to its facility. To fund the business, Low and Slow raised an undisclosed amount of private money from investors such as the founders of Belvedere Vodka and Talenti Gelato.

The brand, which made its retail debut last year, is currently available at retailers such as HEB and Albertsons banners like Tom Thumb across five states including Texas, Wisconsin, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Michigan. Low and Slow recently partnered with ACE Hardware, and later this month it will launch its chips in 301 Walmart stores throughout the Lone Star State.

Additionally, expansion into Missouri, Tennessee and Montana is slated for this summer. Low and Slow is being “super strategic” about the retailers, channels and markets in which it rolls out, said Drinkwater, to focus on the barbecue community first and foremost.

To help ramp up distribution, the Dallas, Texas-based company has tapped CPG veteran Randy Kruse as its VP of sales. According to Drinkwater, Kruse was one of the first salespeople at Dot’s Pretzels to help establish the brand’s nationwide presence.

“It’s such a wonderful validation point for the brand to get somebody like Randy to believe in what we’re doing so much so that he’s willing to jump on board and help us grow,” said Drinkwater. “He knows how to scale a brand nationally fast, which is what we want to do.”

Though the brand’s success will primarily “be determined at retail,” he said, Low and Slow is also eyeing opportunities within the foodservice channel. According to Drinkwater, multiple barbecue joints have reached out to the brand with the intention of serving Low and Slow chips alongside their sandwiches.

Looking ahead, Low and Slow will focus its second year in retail on storytelling with the objective of educating consumers about the brand’s unique smoking process by launching a shipper program and sampling at events within the barbecue community.

“We’re excited to see where we’re headed; you’ll start to see us pop up at a lot more stores across the country,” said Drinkwater.

Low and Slow may be located in Frito-Lay’s backyard, but Drinkwater said he doesn’t view the CPG giant as direct competition, even noting that he has “nothing but respect for that company.” Instead, Low and Slow’s primary objective is to construct a completely novel subcategory of salty snacks.

“We’ve smoked every snack on the planet, and [they’re] all pretty delicious. The possibilities are endless,” said Drinkwater, adding that the brand’s next innovation will be a hickory-smoked BBQ cheese puff likely to hit stores in the fall.

“We like to say that we’re just like your favorite barbecue joint, but we smoke snack food instead of meat,” he said. “Everything we do lives and breathes that barbecue culture.”