The $12m capital raise from long-time equity partner, Monogram Capital Partners, is being used to expand a 72,000 square feet facility situated down the road from its current factory in San Bernardino, California.
According to SPINS-IRI data, the snack producer’s clean-ingredient meat snacks trajectory growth makes it the fastest growing meat snack brand of the top 15 brands in the US.
Country Archer has the top five jerky SKUs in the natural channel, outperforming growth by 295%. The brand also significantly outpaced the overall jerky and meat snack growth by 550%.
Heritage company
“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.”
Incredible ride
This is not the first major investment Country Archer has secured from Monogram Capital Partners.
Last year, a $10m capital input from the Los Angeles-based firm helped to double production at its current facility, but it has now outgrown this space necessitating a larger scale operation.
“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.”
Country’s Archer’s facility is expected to be fully operational by late Spring 2020.
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.
Country Archer products are crafted with USDA-inspected 100% grass-fed beef and antibiotic-free turkey and pork, and are free of nitrites, MSG, gluten, antibiotics and added hormones.
The snacks are sold in more than 25,000 conventional, natural, mass, and convenience stores across the US.