Chomps Raises a Reported $80M
Meat stick producer Chomps announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Stride Consumer Partners to finance the next phase of its growth.
According to a LinkedIn post by CEO and co-founder Peter Maldonado, Stride is the brand’s first institutional partner. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, though Bloomberg pegged the round at $80 million. According to a Stride press release, the deal process took six months and Chomps vetted 60 potential partners.
“I’m so stoked to announce that after 9+ years of building Chomps as a bootstrapped start-up, we made a huge decision that Rashid [Ali] and I strongly believe will allow us to accelerate growth and reach our lofty goals sooner,” Maldonado wrote in his LinkedIn post. “The opportunities have never been greater but we realize the same is true for risk.”
Founded in 2012 by Maldonado and Ali (COO), Chomps has “more than $100 million dollars in retail revenue,” according to the release. The Chicago and Naples, Florida-based company sold its meat sticks online and in Trader Joes for the first seven years of the business, before it began expanding to over 18,000 stores, including Walmart, Whole Foods Market, Walgreeens, Stop and Shop and Foxtrot.
Unlike other meat snack brands that have started with jerky before diversifying into adjacent categories, Chomps has focused on meat sticks from day one, hoping to steal share from market leader Slim Jim. In the years since, competitors like Country Archer, New Primal, Chef’s Cut and Stryve have all either launched or expanded distribution.
The press release noted that Chomps will use the capital to “accelerate innovation, brand-building, and distribution.” Maldonado also said that Stride will help the brand with its operations, after “a very difficult year in terms of supply chain issues.” New “fiber-based snacks” are also in the works, according to Bloomberg.
The deal mark’s the firm’s first food and beverage investment. However, Stride’s management team is composed of former partners from Castanea, a firm whose portfolio included a number of food and beverage companies including Jeni’s ice cream, Yasso, Fuze and Essentia.
“We’re taking an offensive move in the category by further amplifying the Chomps brand and gaining access to industry leaders that will allow us to continue to strive toward our mission and to level up our amazing team,” Ali said in the release. “Stride trusted Chomps’ founders to retain control of the business, while working together to aggressively accelerate our strategic initiatives.”
William Blair & Co., Piper Sandler Cos. and Giannuzzi Lewendon advised Chomps on the transaction.
