Stryve Founder Departs Meat Snack Company as It Considers Move Into Pets

Joe Oblas, has departed Stryve Foods, the meat snacks company he co-founded in 2017.

According to an SEC filing dated October 21, Oblas’ resignation was effective immediately. “Mr. Oblas’ resignations were not the result of any disagreement between the Company and Mr. Oblas,” the filing stated.

“My passion is in the nutritional world, probably a little bit more than the snacking world. So I’ve been looking for an opportunity to be able to chase that,” Oblas said to NOSH in an interview this week. “[It’s] not that I don’t believe in the long term success of the business. I love Stryve and the people there…I want to see everything through and I’m still a significant shareholder in the business.”

At the time of the filing, Oblas was the company’s chief growth officer (CGO), working on innovation and sales, and served on its board of directors. Oblas held the role of CEO or co-CEO from 2017 through 2021, growing the company to over $40 million in sales, he said. Former Hain-exec Chris Boever took over the role in June.

“Having well north of 100 employees is just not my passion.” Oblas said. “My passion is building a brand. My passion is the creative side, the strategic side… from start to what we could call ‘professionally managed.’”

Oblas plans to join or found an early stage company — though he would not disclose details — and stated CGO role was not backfilled to conserve capital. The company declined to confirm if this choice was part of its previously announced saving plan or who exactly would assume Oblas’ responsibilities.

“We are streamlining and leveraging our existing talent and assets and are confident that our current structure supports the business,” Boever said in an email to NOSH. “Research, quality, and innovation is a crucial part of everything we do at Stryve and our current structure supports this.”

Founded by Oblas and Ted Casey, Stryve became a public company after it merged with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Andina Acquisition Corp. III in 2021, citing its self manufacturing, as a key point of differentiation. The company acquired fellow meat snack brands Kalahari Biltong and Braaitime in 2020 and 2018, respectively.

When asked if in retrospect he would choose to take the company public again, Oblas said it would depend on the company’s board and the economic climate.

“In an environment like we’re dealing with right now, where there’s just so much negativity, it’s some level of just beating every single day,” Oblas said of the current financial markets. “You can’t go out there and just tell people what you’re doing and what you’re working on without a whole production of issuing a press release, and so on. You can’t have these candid conversations.”

At the time of the IPO, the company produced biltong under Kalahari, Stryve and Braaitime and carne seca under Vacadillos. It also sold a line of beef-derived collagen powders and protein powders under the brand Stryve Nutrition.

Previously the founder and leader of nutrition company ProSupps, Oblas, along with Kalahari founder Tyler Noyes, were two of the key drivers for the Stryve supplement line. With Noyes departing in September and Oblas no longer at the company, the future of the nutritional products remains unclear, with Boever declining to comment.

“We are working through some thoughts of what we’re going to do with Stryve Nutrition going forward,” Oblas said.

One of his last projects at Stryve involved helping develop a line of pet foods, he told NOSH. The company filed for the trademark “Two Tails” in May. Made from whole cuts of muscle, Oblas said that the line is part of Stryve’s strategy to utilize as much of the cow as possible and offer pets a clean-label, high protein option.

Boever could not confirm the launch, citing SEC regulations, but on the company’s last earnings call in June, he told analysts the company’s innovation platform would have to be pushed back from the back half of 2022 into 2023.

The pet market has seen rapid growth, particularly in the last few years as pet adoption increased during the pandemic. Research firm NielsenIQ reported that in 2021, each month saw at least 9.9% dollar growth, on average.

Moving into a new category would seemingly conflict with what Boever has said on recent quarterly earnings calls, during which he emphasized a focus on Stryve’s core products as a means of achieving profitability. Oblas confirmed the company has struggled with supply chain disruptions over the last year, going from “very strong margins” to negative margins last quarter.

“The lessons learned from our second quarter’s performance highlight the need for transformational change,” Boever said on the company’s June quarterly earnings call. “[A] restructuring plan [has added] key elements not previously contemplated. We will simplify the organization, and the portfolio, introducing a productivity initiative that will attack costs through disciplined project management and continuous improvement.”