At 22 years old, Eugene Kang bought a tiny jerky business from an 80-year-old butcher he met on a road trip. It was doing about $500K a year and relied entirely on private-label production. Over the next fourteen years, he rebuilt everything — the brand, the manufacturing, the product strategy — transforming it into Archer, one of the fastest-growing companies in meat snacks.

From navigating USDA operations as a first-time founder, to unlocking national retail doors through a licensed Sriracha SKU that flipped early “no’s” into “yeses”, Eugene grew Archer into a projected $500M brand by 2026, with 90% YoY growth in 2024. In this conversation, he breaks down the operational grind, the rebrand from Country Archer to Archer, and how sticks became the engine behind one of the biggest category expansions in modern snacking.

Make sure to check out Archer at: https://archerjerky.com/

Check out my new book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kRKGTX

Watch our mini-doc - Starting Small: The Raw Truth Behind Entrepreneurship and the American Dream: https://youtu.be/eHuq93wIxs0?si=eDB-ycngvWNapRLO

Visit Starting Small Media: https://startingsmallmedia.org/

Subscribe to exclusive Starting Small emails: https://startingsmallmedia.org/newsletter-signup

Follow Starting Small:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingsmallpod/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Startingsmallpod/?modal=admin_todo_tour

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/cameronnagle