How A Family Business Went From Bankrupt To $1.6 Billion/Year In Sales
Jack Link's transformed from a bankrupt family meat business in 1985 into a $1.6 billion snacking empire by creating the beef jerky category, leveraging existing manufacturing infrastructure, and executing a wildly successful Sasquatch marketing campaign. Under CEO Troy Link's leadership, the company has grown through strategic acquisitions, product innovation, and expansion into new markets.
Summary
Link Snacks originated in Minong, Wisconsin, where Jack Link's great-grandfather established a sausage-making tradition in the 19th century. The family operated multiple businesses including a slaughterhouse that filed for bankruptcy in 1985 when Jack was 40 years old. During a hunting trip with his teenage son Troy, Jack was inspired to manufacture jerky after Troy purchased expensive jerky at a store. They resurrected a family recipe and utilized existing smokehouses and equipment from their previous sausage business to produce their first batch.
The company benefited from existing infrastructure and advantages: they already had smokehouses, slicing and stuffing equipment, and abundant meat supply from their sausage operations. Rather than competing in established categories, they created an entirely new beef jerky category as the market lacked competitors devoted exclusively to meat snacks. By the time Troy completed college in 1993, the company was generating $25-30 million in annual revenue with one nationally distributed product (beef steak and cheese combo pack).
Growth accelerated through the late 1990s and 2000s as consumer interest in protein-based diets increased, particularly following the Atkins diet craze. The company expanded manufacturing facilities in Minong and acquired competing businesses to gain additional production space. They innovated with bagged jerky products and broke through the $5 price point, eventually selling larger formats like 10-ounce and "pounder" bags for $20.
A major turning point came in 2006 when Link Snacks invested $10 million in the "Messin' With Sasquatch" campaign created by Minneapolis ad agency Carmichael Lynch. Targeted at 18+ demographics across ESPN, Comedy Central, and Discovery, the campaign went viral on YouTube. Within two years, sales grew 47%, proving that the company's marketing needed to reflect its identity as a family-owned, innovative brand rather than corporate America positioning.
Subsequent growth included the 2014 acquisition of Unilever's meat snacking division (expanding into UK and Europe), the 2019 purchase of Golden Island Jerky from Tyson Foods (adding Asian-inspired products), and the 2025 opening of a $450 million manufacturing facility in Perry, Georgia capable of producing 820,000 meat sticks daily. As of December 2025, Link Snacks controls approximately 33% of the $5 billion brick-and-mortar meat snacking sector, with $1.6 billion in documented U.S. retail sales (potentially exceeding $2 billion when including Amazon, Costco, and international sales).
Troy Link, now CEO, attributes the company's success to vertical integration (controlling processes from cattle to consumer), quality control, continuous innovation, and maintaining the family values that guide decision-making. The company faces ongoing challenges including volatile beef commodity pricing and tariffs on imported beef, which reached record highs in 2026.
Key Insights
- Jack Link created the beef jerky category by accident because he already possessed the manufacturing infrastructure from his failed sausage business—smokehouses, slicing equipment, and meat supply—which he could repurpose rather than build from scratch.
- Link Snacks waited until reaching $300-400 million in annual revenue before launching serious advertising campaigns because initial attempts failed, and Troy realized the company needed marketing that reflected its identity as a family-owned, fun, innovative brand rather than corporate positioning.
- The 2006 Sasquatch campaign delivered immediate and measurable return on investment with a 47% sales increase within two years, despite the company spending $10 million on ad buys—validating that being "in the center of the bullseye" with targeted messaging was critical for continued growth.
- Troy Link says the company should be doubling minimum every ten years and plans to expand into more product categories under the Link Snacks umbrella, indicating that current meat snacking dominance is viewed as a platform rather than the endpoint for growth.
- Link Snacks maintains that controlling everything from cattle to consumer gives them accountability and a single place to look when problems arise, suggesting that vertical integration drives both quality control and operational responsibility.
Topics
Transcript
[0:06] Imagine you own a small family business that has just declared bankruptcy. You're trying to figure out what to do next. How would you reinvent yourself? Well, if you're Jack Link, the founder of Link Snacks, inspiration might strike on a hunting trip with your son. We were out hunting, and we didn't get nothing. It was really a cold day. And so we stopped at the store, and Troy bought 4 or 5 pieces of jerky, and I said, wow, that's expensive. "Well," he said, "if you don't like the price, go home and make some." That first batch of jerky was the first step in a [0:36] business strategy that grew Links Snacks and its most popular…
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