Checkout Chats: Jason Wright, Founder of Wilde Protein Chips

Jason Wright launched Wilde brands in 2018, introducing a brand new product to the market. The early days had their challenges, particularly around manufacturing the product. His initial plan did not pan out, leading to significant changes in their production approach. And by 2020, the necessity for their own manufacturing facility became evidently clear, a move that has since propelled the company to double its revenue annually from 2021 onwards.

Owning a manufacturing facility has been a game-changer for Wilde. Jason admitted that the journey was hard and something he didn’t envisioned initially (can’t imagine many founders do!), but the move from outsourcing to in-house production allowed Wilde to innovate freely and control their entire process, crucial for maintaining the quality and uniqueness of their products.

Wilde recently scored a $20 million Series A extension that I think underscores its promising future. Our conversation delved into the recent strategic decisions shaping the future of Wilde, particularly their use of the new funding to amplify brand visibility, enhance their team, and expand production capabilities. Jason also hinted at exciting developments in their innovation pipeline, aimed at introducing new products to the market. 👀

Wilde has capitalized on the growing consumer interest in protein-rich foods. Sticking to their core of nutrient-dense ingredients of chicken breast and egg white, they are committed to expanding within the savory snack sector, steering clear of the sweet protein snack trend.

One unexpected aspect of their success has been the popularity of their snacks among children, particularly flavors like buffalo flavor chip. Wilde's hitting it off with everyone—from gym junkies to busy parents on the lookout for healthy snacks for their kids.

Looking ahead, Jason is enthusiastic about exploring potential collaborations with iconic brands to enhance Wilde's flavor offerings. We talked about the possibility of partnering with brands like Chick-fil-A or Frank's RedHot. I think Frank’s would be incredible!

Below is the full transcript of my conversation with Jason Wright, where we explore these topics and more about the journey and future of Wilde! 😁

Interview Transcript

Nate Rosen I think the growth of Wilde over the past few years has been really impressive. I remember seeing it at an Expo at one point, just like learning about it for the first time.

And then all of a sudden it's everywhere. But, you know, would love to hear a little bit about your recent growth, and what has gone into that.

Jason Wright Yeah, for sure, man. We started Wilde in 2018.

And, you know, it's a product that's never been done before. In 2018, I launched it and I had no idea how I was going to manufacture it.

But I had this product that, you know, I really believed in and I was excited to show it. And I had an idea on how I thought I would manufacture it. And I can assure you that was not the way we manufacture it today.

And so fast forward, the first three years of Wilde, I mean, there was a big question mark. It was, you know, could we actually pull this off? There was a lot of start and stop.

There was trying to figure out how to actually manufacture it, how to talk about it.

But what we decided in 2020 is that we had to go build our own manufacturing facility if we were going to actually, you know, scale this product. And so we opened our manufacturing facility in ‘21. And since ‘21, Wilde has doubled in revenue every year.

So we doubled in ‘22. We doubled in ‘23. And today we're pacing to double again.

So a lot of people will say Wilde is just blowing up. I don't know if you want to use that word, but, you know, like really, really showing success. But I look at it as this big bowl of spaghetti because there was a lot of turns and twists before we got to this point.

Nate Rosen No, that makes a lot of sense. Wow, owning your own manufacturing. That's tough.

It's a lot of work. Did you ever envision owning your own manufacturing in like in your lifetime?

Jason Wright No, Nate, I did not. So, you know, when we started this, I thought we would take it to a pork rind facility. And we would, you know, crisp and season and bag there.

And that just wasn't the case. You know, there's two pieces to Wilde. One side is where we actually bring in fresh chicken breast and we process.

We call that the Wilde potato. That's the way of making the Wilde potato. And I always knew I would have to do that, but I could find a co-man probably to do it.

And then I thought, you know, hopefully I could partner with a pork rind facility to do the crisping part. But reality was I couldn't find a co-man to do either. And there was a lot more complicated steps in both processes.

And I knew in 2018 at the end that we were going to have to go do this ourselves if we were going to really make a go of it. And I never envisioned running a manufacturing facility. And, you know, it takes a lot to run a manufacturing facility.

And I'm glad we did it. And I'm glad we're here today. But if you tell me in day one the challenges you'd go through, you know, I think I probably would have had second thoughts about doing it.

Nate Rosen Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, it's expensive.

It's time consuming. It's probably nerve wracking.

So I’d love to chat about the recent funding. So congrats on that, for one. That's big.

How do you plan to utilize the new funding going forward and sort of like what specific areas of the business do you think the funding will sort of help develop and expand?

Jason Wright Yeah, I mean, the funding is definitely to grow brand awareness. It's to really push the brand out into the market. It's to build team.

So, you know, none of this is possible without a phenomenal team. Right. And, you know, because we manufacture as we hit certain hurdles of growth, you know, we are constantly, you know, investing back into the manufacturing facility for capacity.

It'll also allow us to, you know, open up kind of our innovation pipeline, things that we've been working on that we want to bring to market. It's not ready, but this would help support that effort.

Nate Rosen Amazing. I'd love to like chat a little bit more about the innovation pipeline. Obviously, I'm sure there's a lot that you cannot share.

But I think in terms of the innovation, are you exploring other sort of let's call it niches? Because, you know, the protein category in general has been really blowing up over the past few years. I mean, you see there's the sweet side, there's more savory side.

There's like everything protein has been really hot. Are you sort of doubling down on marketing to sort of the consumer who wants high protein? Or is there sort of another angle that you're thinking of coming at it from?

Jason Wright You know, Wilde stands for that nutrient dense first ingredient. And so for us, that's chicken breast and egg white. And so, you know, you'll continue to see that in products that we launch.

I would say we would stay on the savory side. Within the chip aisle, you know, maybe I would say within salty snacks for sure. Whether that's a chip or a cracker, those things fit into our wheelhouse.

What you would not see Wilde do is like the sweet side of protein. That's not where we play. We really play in the salty, savory side of protein.

You know, as far as the protein amount, I mean, we really think 10 grams is a great number. You know, I'm not saying that we wouldn't play with something higher or even slightly lower in the future. We'll just see how it's set to see where that kind of nets out.

Nate Rosen I'm curious about your like sort of your customer base and your audience. Has there been anything that surprised you about who's purchasing the products?

Has there been an audience that like you never thought would be buying the product that is actually currently buying the product a lot?

Jason Wright You know, I mean, listen, early on fitness foodies and still to this day is they look for product like that delivers protein, some kind of positive benefit. So that was kind of a given. You know, I'm surprised that we have a lot of females buying, but females with kids.

I'm surprised to see some of the flavors that kids are attracted to. I always thought chicken and waffle could be a kid friendly item. But our number one flavor is buffalo, and it does have a little spice to it.

But that's a big kid friendly flavor. You know, I kind of wanted to believe and hope that it would happen that moms would want to give kids Wilde because wild, you know, is a benefit. Kids love chips and instead of eating just empty calories, empty, you know, snacks, they could eat a snack with substance and Wilde could deliver that.

And so my hope was that they would give, you know, their their kids wild. And we're seeing that come true now. And I'm very grateful for it.

Nate Rosen That's awesome. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I think something I've seen sort of a gap in the market on is like food sort of geared towards kids in any capacity.

I think there's I personally think there's a wide open market to like have good products that are targeting kids in particular. Obviously, your current lineup is sort of agnostic. But do you plan on doing any like sort of kids snack line?

Jason Wright I don't think we will. I don't want to confuse the brand with being a kid brand. I just you know, we we do know that moms are using it, you know, for kids snacks.

So, you know, that very grateful for. I doubt that we come out with a kids line. You know, I think you could see a product that let's call it like a mini.

So a mini could could could really fit that, you know, single serve and smaller, which could be viewed more. You know, it's something that moms would give kids, you know, there would be more to kids.

Nate Rosen Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I would love to know what sort of trends in the food industry right now you think are really important. And I think subsequently, like how would how is Wilde food sort of positioning themselves within that within that lineup?

Jason Wright Yeah, I mean, listen, when I look at trend right now, I see this wave of protein washing through all the categories. And while it's right there, you know, on trend at the forefront, you know, we we deliver nutrient dense first ingredients. You know, we like to call ourself a snack substance.

And I don't think that that kind of protein wave is going away anytime soon. I think people, you know, you know, maybe in the past they thought about protein as something that wasn't as tasteful as a normal snack. But proteins come so far.

Yeah. And a future of protein just going to get bigger and bigger. And I think we all know that, you know, eating protein is better for the for your health.

And I just continue to see that trend continuing to wash through, you know, all the categories. I just came back from Dubai and Germany. And I can tell you that both of those markets are developed in protein and in a lot of categories, you know, in in the in the yogurt category there.

They have huge protein call outs. So not think about a just a Greek yogurt. But, you know, here in the U.S., you don't really see a big protein call out on just Greek yogurt. But there there's a big protein call out. And so, you know, you just see that now around the world where people know that, you know, 100 percent carb is is not not, you know, not the most healthiest option that you can you can choose.

Nate Rosen Right. Makes a lot of sense. I don't know how much you've been sort of keeping up with a lot of the food and beverage brands, but there's been a lot of interesting brand collaborations happening over the past few months, past few years, like just Hidden Valley Ranch has been doing a thing with a lot of brands.

Is there a dream collaboration that you have? I'm assuming really in terms of flavor. Is there anybody you're like really looking to to work with that sort of put out into the ether and maybe can make happen?

Jason Wright Yeah, you know, listen, I think Frank's would probably be right up there. You know, Frank's would be good.

Nate Rosen Frank's would be really good.

Jason Wright Frank's would be good. You know, I could I really could see some good, clever marketing there. You know, I think Louisiana Hot, I'm drawing a blank on the on the brand.

But, you know, I think something that people naturally would would would put on, whether it's chicken wings, whether it's just a snack. Yeah, probably the Holy Grail. Now that I think of that, it could be like Chick-fil-A.

Right. You know, the sauce of Chick-fil-A. I think that would be awesome.

But I think, you know, the way there are many different ways you can use wild. And I really think that using it as a dip and having some kind of whether it's a hot sauce or Chick-fil-A sauce partner with it. I mean, for me, that would be like the Holy Grail, you know?

Nate Rosen I also feel like Nando's would be really good. Nando's sauce.

Jason Wright Yeah, you're right. That would be.

Nate Rosen Yeah, that'd be a fun one.

Jason Wright Flyby Jing would be a good one.

Nate Rosen Flyby Jing would be amazing. You could probably make that happen overnight.

Jason Wright Yeah. You know, with it there, that that yeah, that could be that could be a possibility. You know, it just it just both brands have to have to be on the right, you know, sink.

And and and then you got to get a retail behind it, you know, that would that would that would highlight it and launch it for you. So, yeah, we we it's something definitely on our radar. We definitely are looking for a partnership that we can bring some fun and flavor to the category.

Nate Rosen Yeah. Makes a lot of sense.

I think you did something interesting with your brand. You built manufacturing. You started this from clearly it sounds like a passion for this type of product.

You felt like there was an opening in the market. Do you have any advice for sort of some aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own business within the CPG and food and beverage industry? Sort of what would you do differently if you were starting today?

Jason Wright You know, how much time you have? You know, first thing I would do differently is I would I would build my own manufacturing from day one challenges that, you know, it takes a lot of credibility and it takes a lot of, you know, in order to get investors to believe in going to build a manufacturing facility without proof of concept, that really takes a lot. So we needed proof of concept.

But I think we you know, we spent a lot of time just learning and not knowing what we didn't know. We're knowing what I know now, you know, after proof of concept, you would immediately went into building your own facility with a product like this. You know, I would encourage entrepreneurs to to to really think about manufacturing their own product, especially if it's if it's unique and if it's differentiated enough.

You know, the pain points are you're investing a lot of money in equipment and overhead. But the beauty of that is you control your own process. You keep it proprietary.

And then as you start to scale the business, you don't have a middleman that is taking margin from you. Right. You know, you you once you get there, you can operate at a decent margin where when you're working with a co-man, you know, multiple things are happening.

One, you're obviously giving them a margin. And then to, you know, your secrets or their secrets. And, you know, it gets out in the trade pretty fast.

So, you know, my encouragement is don't be afraid to go and do it yourself. Internally, we preach our we preach the message and make it your own story. Go your own way.

And I would just encourage all entrepreneurs to look at, you know, you know, look at that as an option of doing it yourself, because it does bring a lot of controllability to to the to the product and to the to the company and to the brand.

Nate Rosen I also think something that you've done very well is real innovation. It's like a new product, new sort of category set.

That's hard to do. CPG these days, like a lot of things have been made and they've been making them for 100 years. It's hard to innovate.

So props to you. And I also have a lot of other friends who are founders and operators and like the guys at Chubby Snacks, they just built their own manufacturing and have seen just a lot of good growth from that.

Seems like there is a lot of benefit from from owning that side there, you know, owning their manufacturing. And then obviously, like you can always white label for somebody else and manufacture probably a whole slew of different products with the equipment that you have. So I totally see how that is a benefit.

Awesome. Is there anything else you sort of want to let me know? Anything else I might have missed?

Jason Wright No, I think you nailed everything. Yeah. I mean, I think you asked all the great questions.

Yeah, I think you nailed it.

Nate Rosen Awesome. Appreciate it!

Yeah. If there's anything else, let me know. Thank you again.

Jason Wright All right. Thank you.