# Singing Pastures and new meat stick brands carve white space while Chomps hits $200M in sales

*Challengers win by positioning tighter: grass-fed venison, no beef, single species—while the category adds $100M annually.*

By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC.
Published 2026-06-11.

Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/singing-pastures-and-emerging-meat-snacks-challengers-2026-06-11t15-3
Subject: Singing Pastures and emerging meat snacks challengers
Tags: positioning, meat snacks, category strategy, product differentiation, niche marketing, cpg

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Singing Pastures launched grass-fed venison sticks in 2023 while Chomps crossed **$200 million** in annual revenue, according to Modern Retail. The meat snack category is growing fast—adding roughly **$100 million** per year—but new entrants are avoiding head-on competition with incumbents by positioning around ingredient purity, single-species sourcing, and narrower claims than the broad "better-for-you" messaging that built the segment.

The play: position against the category leader's weaknesses, not its strengths. Chomps and Archer built distribution with grass-fed beef, simple ingredients, and clean labels. New brands like Singing Pastures and others profiled by Modern Retail are winning shelf space by going tighter—venison instead of beef, no-beef-at-all turkey or pork sticks, regenerative farming certifications, or single-ranch sourcing. The positioning isn't "better than Slim Jim"; it's "different from Chomps."

This works because the meat snack buyer is fragmenting. The shopper who wants convenient protein is now subdividing into the carnivore dieter, the sustainability-first consumer, the game meat enthusiast, and the parent seeking cleaner kids' snacks. A brand that tries to speak to all four dilutes its message. A brand that picks one and positions hard can own that micro-niche while the category grows around it. Modern Retail notes that retailers are allocating more shelf space to meat snacks, which means room for multiple brands if each has a defensible story.

The mechanism is category maturity. Early in a product category, the winner is the brand that builds the category—Chomps did this by making grass-fed beef sticks a grocery staple. But once the category is established and growing, the next wave wins by splintering it. The customer base is large enough that a **5 percent slice** of a **$100 million annual growth** category is a **$5 million brand**—enough to fund operations and prove traction for retail or investment.

The steal for a small physical-product brand: find a high-growth category where the leader has scaled on a broad claim, then position against a single ingredient, sourcing method, or customer segment the leader doesn't own. If you're launching a meat stick, don't compete on "grass-fed beef." Go elk, bison, or single-ranch lamb. If you're in another category—say, coffee or skincare—apply the same logic. The leader built the market with "organic"; you position on "single-origin Ethiopia, woman-owned co-op." The leader says "clean ingredients"; you say "one ingredient, nothing else."

Cost line: this doesn't require a media budget. It requires a tighter product story and the discipline to say no to retailers or customers who want you to be more general. Your first **1,000 units** go to the customer who cares deeply about your specific claim—carnivore subreddit, hunting forum, regenerative ag Slack. You win by being the *only* option for that buyer, not a *better* option for the Chomps customer. Once you own that segment, you expand adjacently. Modern Retail's reporting shows this is working: new brands are getting placement because retailers see differentiated SKUs as category expansion, not substitution.

The broader pattern: in any growing category, the second wave of winners doesn't out-muscle the incumbent—they out-position it. The leader's scale becomes a liability because scale requires appealing to the middle. You win the edge, and the edge is where the growth comes from once the middle is served.

## The takeaway

Position tighter than the category leader—single species, single farm, single claim—and own a profitable micro-niche in a growing market.

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## Publisher

**Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339.
Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**.

- Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about
- LLM context: https://www.pops4.com/stash/llms.txt
- MCP endpoint, for AI agents: https://mcp.pops4.com/mcp
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- Catalogue: 70,000+ products, 200+ brands