Could Slim Jim be facing a better-for-you challenger? The team behind Chomps thinks so, and 2022 saw it taking a serious bite out of the convenience store stalwart’s customer base.
Founded in 2012, Chomps has kept its eye on this prize by focusing on what it does best: meat sticks. While other meat snack brands launched with jerky, only adding sticks later, Chomps has focused on this one subsegment of the set, and managed to not only outlast and outperform much of the competition but now be sold in over 18,000 doors.
That meaty growth led to the company’s $80 million fundraise earlier this year, which was based on a $100 run rate for the last quarter of 2021 and gave the company a $200 to $300 million valuation. Despite offers for a full buyout, co-founders Peter Maldonado Rashid Ali remain as majority stakeholders. The brand has a commitment to diverse hiring as well. Earlier this year it added former Perfect Snacks president Elizabeth Carter to its board of directors via a relationship with The Women on Boards Project.
With an eye on becoming a billion dollar brand, Chomps not only plans to add to its leadership team and co-packer network in 2023, but also expand directly into Slim Jim’s core channel: c-stores.
