From gas stations to grocery giants, Archer is redefining snack aisles across America.

Eugene Kang went from student to CEO of Archer—formerly Country Archer—after sampling exceptional jerky on a road trip. Learn how this brand is leading the meat snack revolution.

Most road-tripping college kids return with things like sunburns, indigestion and hangovers. But when Eugene Kang came back from a college-break swing through the Grand Canyon in 2011, he carried along something completely different: a company.

"We stopped at a roadside stand and picked up jerky—it looked very homemade," says Kang, the chief executive officer and founder of Country Archer, a leading meat snacks brand that recently rebranded to just Archer. "It was the best jerky I'd ever tasted. I asked who made it and they pointed me to a small co-packer in Southern California."

At the time, Kang says he was "doing nothing—just trying to figure out what to do with my life."

The company had 10 employees and no succession plan. It served as a labor of love for the owner. Kang, who describes himself as a jerky connoisseur, immediately began making plans to buy it.

He acquired the family-owned co-packer in 2011. Ever since, Kang's life path has spilled out before him—no more aimlessness. Fast forward nearly 15 years, and Archer finished 2024 with $200 million in sales, representing growth of 90% over 2023. This year it's on track for $300 million.

What was a 2,000-square-foot facility now claims 72,000 square feet, with 200 employees. More than 30,000 retailers carry Archer products, most of which rely on grass-fed beef (it also has a turkey meat snack). The company is currently launching its first national marketing campaign to achieve Kang's goal of reaching $500 million in sales within the next few years.

Continued below…

"I had zero experience," Kang says. "My family, immigrants from South Korea, owned gas stations. I worked in that business for a long time"—and that's also where his jerky connoisseurship blossomed.

Archer's success is helping to drive momentum in the overall meat snack category. That global market today is projected to expand from $9.56 billion in 2024 to $16.57 billion by 2033, with a healthy 6.3% CAGR. The jerky segment alone is projected to hit $8.76 billion by 2030, with a 6.64% CAGR, according to Research and Markets—and Archer is the No. 1 jerky brand in the marketplace, Kang says.

The category's growth aligns with consumer passion for high-protein snacks in general. The high-protein snack market, with $24 billion in sales currently, is expanding at three times the rate of the broader $126 billion snacking market, according to Circana.

Demand for portable, easy-to-munch snacks packed with protein and low in sugar is clearly rising—and clean labels like those on Archer products make the attraction even more enticing. For consumers juggling family and fitness goals, as well as those experiencing appetite suppression due to GLP-1 prescriptions, meat snacks increasingly serve as on-the-go options.

It was jerky that got things going with the brand. But in 2017 Archer introduced meat sticks. And that line, Kang says, marks a pivot. After the meat sticks launch, Archer really took off.

Read on for more