Chomps
Chomps sells clean-label meat sticks in 16,000+ US stores, riding the protein snacking boom.
On the record
Checkpoint: Country Archer's chicken stick launch, directly competing on Chomps' newest product line
The call
Chomps has built real scale and shelf presence, but Country Archer is matching its growth rate and door count in the same category right now.
Chomps makes and sells premium beef jerky and meat snacks in thousands of grocery stores and convenience shops. It is hard to copy because the company owns its own factories and has built relationships with 16,000 retailers, but Country Archer is doing the exact same thing faster, is already in twice as many stores, and is launching chicken products at the same time Chomps is. The one thing that could change everything is whether Chomps can grow its retail presence and launch new products faster than Country Archer before the market gets crowded with copycat brands.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI shapes ad targeting and demand forecasting for snack brands but does not replace a physical meat stick on a shelf. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Tyson Foods or Conagra clean-label stick lines. Big meat processors could launch their own clean-label sticks to defend shelf space Chomps has taken from jerky. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. 16,000+ retail doors at Walmart, Costco, and Target, plus owned manufacturing, make Chomps hard to bump off shelf fast.
What would change this call
Country Archer's chicken stick line launches and lands in major retailers around June 2026. Shows a direct rival matching Chomps' product timing and retailer access.
Country Archer's door count at a top-3 retailer (Walmart, Costco, Kroger) surpasses Chomps' door count there. Would confirm Chomps is losing shelf-space ground to its closest same-category rival.
A second Chomps product recall occurs within 12 months of the March 2025 metal-contamination recall. Would signal repeat food-safety issues that could push retailers or shoppers toward rivals like Country Archer or Jack Link's.
Country Archer's door count at a top-3 retailer (Walmart, Costco, Kroger) surpasses Chomps' door count there. Would confirm Chomps is losing shelf-space ground to its closest same-category rival.
A second Chomps product recall occurs within 12 months of the March 2025 metal-contamination recall. Would signal repeat food-safety issues that could push retailers or shoppers toward rivals like Country Archer or Jack Link's.
Key numbers
- $500M revenue in 2024
- 124% YoY revenue growth in 2025
- 16,000+ retail doors nationwide
Named risks
- Second material food-safety recall could damage trust after March 2025 metal-contamination incident.
- Country Archer overtaking Chomps in door count and growth rate at top retailers.
- Dependency on single co-manufacturer Western Smokehouse Partners for new Missouri plant.
- Revenue and EBITDA figures across sources range from $21M to $900M, indicating weak evidence quality.
- Beef price volatility compressing already thin (~7%) EBITDA margins.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Country Archer (Archer Meat Snacks) | contesting | 30,000+ doors vs Chomps' 16,000, ~90% growth, chicken launch June 2026 |
| The New Primal | contesting | Targeting $100M+ 2026 sales, 51% CAGR since 2022, Aldi nationwide rollout Jan 2026 |
| Conagra (Slim Jim) | gaining on | Legacy incumbent reportedly structurally barred from clean-label repositioning, stock down over 10% in past year per secondary source |
| Krave Jerky (Hershey) | losing to | Acquired by Hershey in 2015 for $240M at only ~$35M revenue, a much smaller exit benchmark than Chomps' current scale |
Questions people ask
- Is Chomps profitable in 2026?
- Chomps appears profitable on an operating basis, with an estimated 2025 EBITDA of roughly 50 million dollars, around a 7 percent margin, per an April 2026 industry newsletter estimate citing Forbes figures. This is a secondary estimate, not a company-disclosed audited figure, but suggests healthy unit economics at scale.
- Who owns Chomps?
- Chomps is privately held and founder-owned, started by Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali in 2012 in Chicago. Stride Consumer Partners bought an 80 million dollar minority stake in a deal that closed December 31, 2021, implying about a 200 million dollar valuation at the time.
- Could AI replace Chomps?
- No. Chomps' core business is physical, USDA-regulated meat manufacturing and retail distribution, both largely untouched by frontier AI as of 2026. Only back-office functions like marketing content and demand forecasting are exposed to AI tools, per available reporting.
- Is Chomps growing or slowing down in 2025 and 2026?
- Chomps grew 124 percent year over year in 2025 according to a March 2026 Retail Brew report citing company commentary, and reached an estimated 500 million dollars in annual revenue in 2024 per a December 2025 Inc. report, indicating rapid ongoing growth.
- Who is Chomps' biggest competitor?
- Country Archer (Archer Meat Snacks) is Chomps' closest rival, with an estimated 300 million dollars in 2025 revenue, about 90 percent year over year growth, and over 30,000 retail doors versus Chomps' 16,000-plus, and it launched competing chicken sticks in June 2026.
- Has Chomps had any product recalls?
- Yes. In March 2025, Chomps issued a voluntary recall of about 29,541 pounds of Original Beef Stick Mild due to metal-fragment contamination reports; no injuries were reported, per Today.com reporting dated March 21, 2025.
Timeline
- 2026-06-17Country Archer (Archer Meat Snacks) launches competing chicken meat sticks
- 2026-05-27Chomps chicken sticks (Original, Nashville Hot, Savory Breakfast) confirmed in market
- 2026-04-09Newsletter estimates Chomps selling 2 million sticks per day, ~900M revenue run rate
- 2026-03-10Retail Brew reports 124% YoY revenue growth for 2025 and breakfast positioning push
- 2026-01-15Chomps becomes Official Protein Partner of Ikon Pass across seven ski destinations
- 2025-12-22Inc. reports Chomps reached approximately 500 million dollars revenue in 2024
- 2025-04-24Chomps secures 100 million dollar revolving credit line from Wells Fargo
- 2025-03-21Voluntary recall of ~29,541 lbs beef sticks over metal fragment contamination
- 2022-01Stride Consumer Partners closes 80 million dollar minority investment (deal Dec 31 2021)
- 2012Chomps founded in Chicago by Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali
Revision history
24 July 2026
First assessed. Defensible for now. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Discover how Chomps meat sticks became a snack sensation (2025-09-16)
- Chomps and Stride Consumer Partners Transaction (2026-07-22)
- Chomps Secures $100 Million Revolving Line of Credit with Wells Fargo (2025-04-24)
- How a Meat Stick Brand Built on $6,500 Reached $500 Million (2025-12-22)
- How Chomps is pitching meat sticks for breakfast (2026-03-10)
- From side hustle to selling 2 million meat sticks a day. The Chomps playbook. (2026-04-09)
- We Are The Chompians LLC Asset Profile
- Chomps is a 2025 Inc. 5000 honoree
- 30K Pounds Recalled After Metal Found In Products (2025-03-21)
- Products, Competitors, Financials, Employees, Headquarters Locations (2026-05-27)
- Chomps Partners with Ikon Pass (2026-01-15)
- New Primal Set to Eclipse $100M Sales Milestone in 2026 (2026-01-15)