I always like finding out about little-known local companies that are quietly making waves in the food industry, like last week’s story of the rapid expansion of Waldo’s Chicken & Beer. I first encountered WILDE Chips a couple of years ago when we taste-tested their Nashville Hot Chicken as part of our (mostly silly) quest to find the best “Nashville Hot” products that weren’t chicken. WILDE didn’t technically qualify because they actually are a chicken product, a protein chip made using breast meat, bone broth, egg whites and flour, but they came out with the top scores in both flavor and cravability according to our august panel of whoever was in the Scene office and not particularly busy when I arrived with boxes of spicy stuff to be tasted, so there’s that.
I’ve continued to be a fan of their products and reached out to founder Jason Wright at his Nashville office late last year to find out more about his company. Wright is a serial food entrepreneur with a history of developing products like a granola offering and a meat-based protein bar when he lived in Boulder, Colo. Working closely with the Meat Science Department at Colorado State University, Wright developed his protein bar based on the fact that he used to take jerky and granola along on marathon training runs — so why not combine them both?
Apparently, there were reasons why not, because the bar was not well-received, and that company was short-lived. So Wright turned to his favorite comfort food while he regrouped: potato chips. This was a brave move, because the only aisle more crowded than the power bar aisle is probably the potato chips section, and national players dominate the category.
Undaunted, Wright developed his first chicken chip and spent the pandemic raising capital, patenting the equipment he designed and constructing a massive manufacturing plant in Winchester, Ky., outside of Lexington. Never one to think small, Wright designed the plant with the capacity to produce as much as $100 million worth of product, although he started much smaller than that.
Armed with that runway for expansion, Wright has grown WILDE into a major player in the protein snack segment, but that comes with other issues. Where would you look for WILDE Chips at your favorite local store? Salty snacks? That aisle is a rainbow of huge competitors. Sports nutrition? It was hard to imagine people seeking chips would search among the vast multitudes of power bars.
So depending on whether you’re shopping at Whole Foods, Target, Walmart or Sprouts, you’re likely to encounter WILDE Chips in different locations. And not every store stocks every flavor, so you might prefer to go online if you’re searching for your favorite from WILDE’s roster of flavors: Buffalo, Himalayan pink salt, sea salt and vinegar, Nashville hot, barbecue, spicy queso and his newest breakfast edition, chicken and waffles. Believe me, I’ve tried them all, and each flavor has its own ardent fans.
In the face of these challenges, Wright has managed to turn WILDE into a massive success, doubling business for three years in a row and landing distribution deals in more than 20,000 stores nationwide. Success breeds success, and WILDE has recently closed a new $20 million round of funding to help drive the brand’s expansion, innovation and new consumer engagement going forward.
In addition to private equity funders like KarpReilly (who led the round), The Family Fund and Grey Space Group, along with other existing strategic investors, Wright picked up commitments from two famous musicians. Native Louisvillager and rapper Jack Harlow is on board the WILDE train as well as fellow rapper MGK. (I had to use Google to figure out that he’s the artist formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly, but that’s still pretty impressive.)
When I spoke to Wright in November, he said that the plant was operating at a little over half of its capacity, and with a little investment to upgrade production and thrown some marketing fuel on the fire, that $100 million goal was in sight. It looks like this latest round might be exactly the boost he was looking for.
Congratulations to this Nashville-based success story! Look (everywhere) for some WILDE Chips and give them a try sometime.
