Country Archer Jerky Co., the number one meat snack brand in the natural and specialty channels, announced it is expanding again and plans to move to a new, larger meat snack facility down the road from its current facility, following a $12 million capital raise from long-time equity partner, Monogram Capital Partners. This investment from the Los Angeles-based private equity firm will support development and build out of a new state-of-the art meat snack facility, doubling Country Archer’s production capacity to meet rapidly growing demand for its products for the second time in less than two years.
Opening in San Bernardino in late Spring 2020, Country Archer’s new 72,000 square feet facility will allow for streamlined operations to meet consumer demand, cutting-edge manufacturing and facilitate on-going innovation. The move is fueled by the continued outperformance and strong growth of the brand’s clean-ingredient meat snacks. Country Archer has the top five jerky SKUs in the natural channel and the rate of growth is significantly outpacing overall jerky and meat snack growth, outperforming the natural products meat snacks sub-category by 295% and the category overall by 550%.
Founded on the core values of sustainability, authenticity and real-ingredients, Country Archer is committed to crafting real food to craft a better world. The brand is currently the fastest growing meat snack brand out of the top 15 brands in the U.S. Since launching, the company has expanded internationally into Canada and has built a robust portfolio beyond traditional jerky, including 100% natural turkey jerky as well as high protein, low sugar mini and full-size meat sticks.
“As we continue to grow at such a rapid pace, one of the most important things to us is that we retain what makes our brand so special – we’re a heritage company that is still making a craft product the exact same way that the artisan butcher who taught me did,” said CEO and Co-founder, Eugene Kang. “It’s critical to me that we manage every step of our unique process, from ingredient selection, to butchery, marinating, slow cooking and packaging, and owning our own facilities enables us to do that. Monogram has been an incredible partner from early on and shares the same values and vision in terms of sustainability, quality, and scaling in a smart way. We’re thrilled to work with them again to open our new facility doors in a few months.”
Just last year Country Archer secured an investment from Monogram Capital Partners, which helped to expand production at its current facility doubling output capacity. However, it quickly outgrew this space necessitating a larger scale operation to meet market demand.
“It’s rare to see a company experience such accelerated growth in a short amount of time and it’s been incredible to join Country Archer on this ride,” said Jared Stein, Co-founder and Partner at Monogram Capital Partners. “What is even more unique is to find a brand in this space that controls production. Vertical integration and owning quality control are key. With their commitment to manufacturing in-house and maintaining authenticity in their products, we are confident that Country Archer will prove to be an even bigger force in the meat snack space. We’re excited to help fund this next phase of expansion and continue to invigorate the meat snack category through innovation, clean ingredients and sustainability.”
Source: Country Archer Jerky