Eugene Kang: Building a Beefy Business
From San Bernardino roots to Sriracha partnerships, it’s been a long, jerky journey for Eugene Kang and Archer (nee Country Archer), but the meat snack brand has fully arrived. That validates the belief that Kang had in himself when he and his aunt bought the business in 2011. Kang learned not just branding but butchering as well — and he’s built a vertically integrated, multi-protein source meat snack empire. It’s required some shifts — the brand is leaning into sticks instead of the leathery jerky that Kang called himself a connoisseur of when he first got into the business — but more than $300 million in sales later, things are looking pretty tasty indeed.