One of their friends in Missouri had mailed them meat sticks made by Kevin Western, a Greentop local who made the snacks for fun and sold them around town.
In December 2012, Maldonado and Ali started selling Chomps' first product — the original beef jerky stick — on its website.
Trader Joe's placed an initial order for a million meat sticks to stock in over 400 stores.
Chomps started selling meat sticks in Trader Joe's, its first national retailer, in July 2016.
Building a jerky empireOnce Chomps started selling its sticks in Trader Joe's, other stores quickly followed, including Whole Foods, Target and Walmart.
Persons:
Pete Maldonado, Maldonado, Rashid Ali, Slim Jims, Maldonado craved, Ali, Chomps, Here's, — Maldonado, Kevin Western, Gene Woo Kim Maldonado, you'll, —, Joe's, Rashid, Clint Boland
Organizations:
Facebook, taco, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, CNBC
Locations:
Chicago, Long, Greentop , Missouri, Missouri, Greentop, Naples , Florida, U.S, Joe's, Naples