This family business went from bankruptcy to $1.6B/year in sales

This family business went from bankruptcy to $1.6B/year in sales The Link family's story begins of Minong, Wisconsin, where Jack Link's great grandfather, Chris Link Jack Link's great-grandfather a German sausage maker, settled in the 19th century. Jack Link Founder, Link Snacks @JacklinksJerky it was all big pine trees and people came here and homesteaded. And then I came along and then Troy came along. Jack Link Founder, Link Snacks @JacklinksJerky owned several businesses, including a car dealership, a general store and a slaughterhouse, bankrupt in 1985. He was 40 years old when he filed bankruptcy. Troy Link CEO, Link Snacks @JacklinksJerky manufacturing site as a family. You needed to do something that could make money more things than meat snacks too. We tried frying We tried making Rice Krispie bars. We tried all kinds early on. It was around that time when Jack and Troy, then 15 years old, took their fateful hunting trip and decided to go full steam into the jerky business. We dug up my grandpa's recipe in our smokehouse, the first time we made jerky. And it turned out so good that we said we can sell it. The Links say that at that time, many food companies their whole brand to the snack. When we started the jerky business, there was no category. there was no machinery. So we made our own machinery and developed a category, with my son. We were already and bratwurst and landjäger and a lot of for the grocery store. So we already had smoke houses. a lot of slicing stuffing equipment, and we had a lot of meat. So this is an inside round. 100% trimmed. Everybody loved them and everybody wanted to buy them. we just started coming up with more ideas and more ideas and more flavors and more sizes and more ways to serve the consumer need.