Jack Link's purchases snack business, launches higher-end jerky brand

Jack Link's has purchased the meat snack business of Grass Run Farms, a deal coming soon after Link's introduction of a new jerky brand called Lorissa's Kitchen.

Both moves are aimed at broadening Jack Link's reach into more higher-end jerky markets.

Minong, Wis.-based Jack Link's, which has a sizable presence in downtown Minneapolis, this week bought Grass Run Farms' snack line from meat giant JBS for an undisclosed price. Grass Run Farms gets its beef from a network of Midwestern farms that specializes in raising grass-fed cattle

Grass Run's snack business includes jerky, beef sticks and summer sausage, all produced from cattle raised without antibiotics and added growth hormones. Grass Run, known for producing high-end beef, was founded by husband-and-wife Iowa farmers who sold to JBS last year.

Link's will buy beef from Grass Run, and produce the snacks at its own plants. "This is a supply chain move," said Troy Link, Jack Link's CEO, noting that grass-fed beef is a limited resource in the U.S.

Jack Link's is the nation's leading beef snack company, its jerky products ubiquitous in convenience stores and other retailers.

Grass Run snacks "are more of a specialty product," Link said.