Over the past few years, Chomps has become the fastest-growing meat snack in America—despite the fact that it couldn’t keep up with its customers’ enormous appetites. “We've been living in this endless world of allocation where we can only fill so much of the demand,” says Rashid Ali, cofounder and CEO of the Chicago-based snack brand.

Not anymore. Consider Chomps unleashed. This year is the first, Ali says, where Chomps is up to the challenge and has enough infrastructure to produce enough meat sticks to satisfy the estimated 2 million it sells a day.

Founded in Naples, Florida in 2012, Chomps is on track to top $900 million in annual revenue this year, according to Forbes estimates—up from $660 million last year—with 10% of the meat snack market.

Its meat sticks—made with grassfed and finished beef, venison and antibiotic-free turkey—are resonating with consumers seeking on-the-go protein, particularly women, who make up about 70% of its customers. Chomps sticks can now be found in some 50,000 retailers, including Walmart, Target, Costco, Kroger, Publix and H-E-B.

According to Forbes estimates, Chomps is worth north of $1 billion—or more if it reaches $1 billion in annual revenue. Ali, 45, and cofounder Pete Maldonado, 44, control the majority of the company. Maldonado has an estimated 35% stake (worth at least $350 million) and Ali owns an estimated 20% (worth $200 million).

The cofounders say Chomps has been profitable since it was 30 days in, but its profitability is limited by the cut that its manufacturers take, as well as the impact of rising prices for beef and other key ingredients. Forbes estimates Chomps’ 2025 EBITDA was about $50 million, or an EBITDA margin of roughly 7%. Chomps declined to comment on its financials.

“Just having Chomps getting to the level where it is right now, and then on top of it, understanding that we've only scratched the surface of where it can go is just mind boggling to me,” says Maldonado, who moved from the co-CEO role to chairman last year. “Now is the first time we've got all the capacity from a production standpoint, and so now we get to find out really how high is high.”

Maldonado and Ali met thanks to mutual college friends who introduced them at a poker-themed birthday party in Chicago. Maldonado, a personal trainer, had an idea for a grassfed meat startup and the pair decided to go in together, with each putting up a modest $3,250. The business’ first iteration was a grassfed alternative to e-commerce meat boxes like Omaha Steaks. Called Logic Meatlocker, it was born out of the Crossfit exercise craze, which had many die-hards switching to high-protein diets.

“Everybody had one CrossFitter in the friend group and you would always look to them for advice,” Ali recalls. “It was almost like being an influencer before influencers.”

After six months with barely any sales, Maldonado had the idea to pivot to meat sticks–particularly because shipping dried meat instead of frozen products was less expensive and required far less capital. That way, they could bootstrap the business and it soon became profitable. “We learned how to manage our cash, build the business properly, and make sure we price it the right way,” says Ali.

Then at a critical moment for the meat snacks industry along came investors Carter and Courtney Reum, investors who later went on to cofound the Santa Monica-based M13 venture capital firm. The Reums’ had backed grassfed jerky brand Krave and did well when Hershey acquired the business for $240 million in 2015.

Maldonado reached out to the Reums around that time to see if they wanted to sample Chomps and learn more about the company, and, the next year, the brothers invested more than $500,000. “We thought we could help supercharge topline sales and marketing,” says Courtney Reum. “We wanted to get our hands dirty because we believed in the product, existing team and category.”

For its first four years, Chomps products were only sold online, and the cofounders kept their day jobs, with Maldonado in Naples selling commercial real estate and Ali in Chicago working in consulting and private equity. By the time the Reums invested, however, the side hustle had become a full-time job when Chomps secured its first retailer—Trader Joe’s—which decided to bring in Chomps as one of its few branded items in stores. Chomps ended 2016 with over $4 million in estimated revenue. “We have always been focused on depth versus breath,” says Ali.

For the next two years, Chomps focused on growth at Trader Joe’s, and then in 2018 added more retailers, including Albertsons, which helped bring revenue that year to an estimated $20 million. Then came Walmart, Meijer, Wegmans and Whole Foods.

“It allowed us to get far more sticks in a home,” recalls Ali. “It also allowed the product to not just be for the mom, but also for the full family. The dad's now eating the product. The kids are now eating the product. And it didn't cannibalize our single stick prices. We've always focused on unit economics.”

Chomps thrived during the pandemic with annual revenue reaching $100 million. That milestone came as competitors were going through a stress test. Krave floundered at Hershey—its founder, Jon Sebastiani, eventually bought the company back in 2020 through his private equity investment firm Sonoma Brands, and then acquired a second jerky line, Chef’s Cut. Another jerky producer, Stryve, went public through a SPAC merger in 2021, and has nearly imploded. The unprofitable company currently trades as a penny stock. But Chomps has continued to grow. “We knew that having too much cash on the balance sheet would change the way we think about the business,” says Ali.

At that point, Maldonado, as CEO, and Ali, as chief operating officer, sold a minority stake in Chomps to Boston-based Stride Consumer Partners for $80 million, in a deal that valued the startup at $300 million, according to Pitchbook.

“There still are a lot of products out there that don't check nearly as many of the boxes that Chomps does,” says Stride partner Juan Marcos Hill. “It's really hard to put a ceiling on how far they can take it.”

But Chomps has challenges ahead. Under Maldonado and Ali, who became co-CEOs in 2023, Chomps raised debt that year and the year following with Newport Beach, California-based SG Stonegate Capital, according to Pitchbook. Chomps then secured a $100 million line of credit in 2025 with Wells Fargo.

Much of that capital goes towards competing in one of the most competitive categories in the entire food industry. While Chomps is currently well ahead of the sales of other emerging brands, including the next biggest competitor, California-based Archer ($300 million in estimated 2025 revenue), there are dozens of other emerging brands vying for the shelf space that Chomps and Archer have won over the years.

“A lot of these brands are fly-by-night,” says Ali. “Maybe they get a big surge and then they just fizzle and I don't want that to happen.”

Last year, for example, 81% of Chomps' growth came from buyers new to the meat snack aisle. “That is unique to the set,” says Ali. “Before Chomps, the legacy brands were very masculine. They were speaking to a certain demographic. What Chomps was able to do through the stick format was bring a lot of new consumers in. We're winning through a story of incrementality versus trying to steal share from the other folks.”

“When you're talking to a retail buyer, that's what you want,” he adds. “You don't want someone that's going to trade dollars in a set. You want to bring in this new consumer.”

Yet Chomps is also facing pressure from retailers with their own private labels. Chomps recently got more competition at Costco and Target after both retailers started manufacturing their own meat sticks. Jerky, which Jack Link’s ($2 billion in annual revenue) and Archer sell in addition to sticks, is harder to replicate.

Insiders say Chomps has also hired bankers to find out what its exit options are, though Hill and Ali both say that Chomps isn’t looking for a quick sale for short-term gain. That could be an IPO or an acquisition. Any acquirer would have to be willing to spend a substantial amount, at a time when many publicly traded food conglomerates are struggling and may not be able to pay up. Conagra, for instance, maker of legacy brand Slim Jim and emerging brand Fatty’s (which it acquired in 2024), has seen its stock slide over 10% in the past year.

Any potential acquirer would also need a robust strategy around manufacturing. Chomps’ profitability is impacted by its deal with Missouri-based Western Smokehouse Partners, which opened a new facility exclusive to Chomps in July 2025. Another will open in Nebraska in 2027. That means, for the long-term. Chomps or any potential suitor could want to acquire Western, too, or build its own factory. Chomps declined to comment on any potential transaction.

As Chomps works to keep its core customers satisfied, the business is now expanding into breakfast snacks. The business learned that some of its most fervent customers felt guilty about starting their day with a stick, so Chomps launched a Savory Breakfast flavor this month to, as Ali says, “give them permission.” It will be sold at Target starting in April as well as online.

“People are already eating Chomps in the morning, but they're not proud about it. They're almost embarrassed,” says Ali. “It's very light. It's tasty. It's craveable. That opens up a part of the day.”

Moving deeper into convenience stores is also up next. Chomps is currently sold at 12,500 gas stations and other small retailers, including Wawa, Love’s and, as of February, some 3,000 7-Eleven locations. Says Ali, “We're just cutting our teeth, easing into it to make sure we know what we're getting into.”

"In 10 years, when someone sees the Chomps logo, they'll immediately recognize and trust it,” adds Maldonado. “We're not looking to build another better-for-you brand. We're creating best-for-you.”

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