Turning a Side Hustle into $250 Million

Imagine the famous beef stick Slim Jim. But without the harmful processed ingredients. 

Maldonado confided his entrepreneurial vision to his friend Ali: to craft a "healthier" meat stick that packed a protein punch while remaining low in calories, and still having the same flavor.

Weeks later, Chomps – a "better-for-you" spin on beef jerky becomes a side hustle.

The founders pooled together just $6,500 of their hard-earned savings to breathe life into Chomps. Which went towards funding that first make-or-break production run, hastily assembling packaging designs with a $99 photoshop subscription, building a bare-bones website, and running bare-minimum ads on Facebook to get the brand off the ground.

Priced at around $2 a stick, orders started trickling in almost immediately. Much to Maldonado and Ali's surprise, the company was profitable within its very first month of business.

The first year the founders sold about $50,000 worth of meat sticks. And sales doubled to $100,000 on the following year as they expanded into CrossFit gyms and independent stores.

In a way, Chomps came at the right time with the rising popularity of health consciousness among consumers and the endearment of diets such as keto and paleo in 2013.

But then, the biggest opportunity presented itself when the founders received a phone call. 

One of the executive daughters of Trader Joe’s was doing the Whole 30 diet and discovered Chomps. She becomes a fan and recommends Chomps to the higher ups at Trader Joes.

Maldonado and Ali receives a phone call. Sooner or later Chomps receives its biggest order to date.

Trader Joe’s had placed an order for a million beef sticks to be sold across 400 stores. 

This had a snowball effect as big box retailers such as Target, Whole Foods, and Walmart started reaching out.

Due to the massive distribution, in 2023, Chomps had generated nearly $250 million in retail sales.