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Jack Link’s jerky turnaround grew a $1.6B empire after bankruptcy
The maker of beef jerky grew from bankruptcy protection in the 1980s to brick-and-mortar retail sales reported at about $1.6 billion in 2025.
Yahoo Finance outlines how Jack Link’s founders turned around a failing Wisconsin business by focusing on a more convenient, affordable beef jerky concept after the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
The article says Jack Link bought a slaughterhouse in 1978, but after filing for bankruptcy protection seven years later, he and his family experimented with ideas until a hunting trip sparked the jerky direction.
It adds that the beef jerky industry takes in about $5 billion per year, and that Link Snacks became a market leader while staying privately held, which it says helped the company remain innovative and expand by buying smaller Midwestern competitors.
Yahoo Finance also describes leadership changes, noting that Jack Link remains chairman at age 80 and his son Troy is the CEO, and it cites an early marketing push tied to a Sasquatch that grew sales by 47% over the first two years of the campaign.