Meat sticks, beef jerky, and similar animalistic snacks have attracted consumers looking for a convenient protein boost. While sales have been somewhat flat in recent years, the category has one thing in common with many others, as reported in SF&WB’s recent State of the Industry coverage: products offering better-for-you benefits (high protein content, clean ingredients list, etc.) have stood out.

One of those BFY standouts is LK Snacks; the brand has innovated with all-natural formulations not yet typical to the category. To learn more, we connected with Emily Arthurs, senior director with LK Snacks. According to Arthurs, the brand began as a family affair.

"Lorissa Link, our founder and chief mission officer, came at developing these meat sticks from two spaces,” Arthurs relates. “One: the family history of making incredible, premium, high-quality meat snacks; two, her youngest son has severe food allergies.”

The child’s allergy diagnosis reportedly changed the way Link looked at food, especially packaged products, Arthurs says. She saw the kid being left out at school, parties, and other environments where he wasn’t able to enjoy the same snacks and treats other children got to chow down on.

“Lorissa really wanted to create something that anybody and everybody would want enjoy and want to share,” Arthurs says. “She focused on flavors and texture that exceeded expectations, especially with the meat stick. Meat sticks have been around for a really long time, and there's some really good ones, and there's some not really good ones—she wanted to make sure that these meat sticks went beyond expectations.”

Link’s meat-snack mission involved lots of trial and error, as well as diligent testing to ensure the products were safe for allergy kids like her son to eat. The product development process and exacting quality standards, Arthurs says, were fueled by the family’s decades of experience in the meat treat field.

“When you've been making meat snacks for 40 years, you have ways of doing things that are very efficient,” Arthurs explains. “When we source our meat, we're looking for humanely raised, grass-fed and finished beef, free range poultry that's organic and humanely raised. The fat-to-protein ratio is a little bit more. We use multiple facilities, and we have to continuously think about how we are working with our third-party validators and certifiers—that’s different than what any other meat snack producer, is doing today.”

In addition to working to offer safe snacks and peace of mind to consumers and families facing allergy concerns, the company places emphasis on products that deliver stand-out taste, starting with its four sticks.

“We have our original Smoke Show, which hits those smoky notes that are just quintessential when it comes to meat snacks,” Arthurs says. “We also have our Heat Seeker, with just the right amount of heat, unlike any other kind of jalapeno-flavored meat sticks—it tastes like there’s fresh jalapenos chopped right in there.”

The next in the brand’s four core products is Herb-A Licious, which uses turkey as its meat base.

“I call it Thanksgiving in a stick,” explains Arthurs. “There are great herbs, just a little bit of tang and wonderful flavor.”

Finally, there is the stick Arthur says is her favorite: Chicka Boom, which infuses chicken sticks with the on-trend flavor of chili crisp.

“It’s made with our chicken, which is organic, free-range poultry, using thigh and leg meat, which gives it just that right amount of flavor you would get from a roasted chicken,” she relates. “Then it’s the best chili crisp, with a really nice heat…we found a flavor that’s trending across multiple categories and made a great-tasting meat stick that has great texture as well.”

Along with the sticks, the company offers its jerky—according to Arthurs, it is made with the same premium ingredients and attention to quality as the other items in LK Snacks’ portfolio.

“It gives you a really good bite—it almost has that old-school jerky texture, like rip and tear. It's a good smoked jerky. I'm a stick eater, but the jerky gets rave reviews and has great texture without all the added things that you get from a lot of other brands, right—no sugar, no MSG, no preservatives.”

The company rebranded from the original name, Lorissa’s Kitchen, in 2024, Arthurs shares. What hasn’t changed, and won’t anytime soon, is the original aim to provide allergy sufferers and their loved ones with a safe, premium snack that tastes great, she says.

“Flavor is important to us—we are always going to be developing and looking at new flavors and bringing flavor to the category, and specifically to an underserved group,” Arthurs announces. “We're excited to bring new flavors that are Top 9 allergen-free and gluten-free. We want to be a leader within meat snacks.”

Related: Good Housekeeping reveals Best Snack Awards winners