Stryve Foods Taps Frito-Lay Vet as Chairman
Meat snack company Stryve Foods, Inc. announced that Kevin Vivian is stepping into a new role as chairman. The organization’s board of directors elected the CPG veteran to serve in that key position during an expansion period.
Vivian will leverage his extensive industry knowledge and background, which includes a 32-year career at PepsiCo. For the last six years of his tenure there, he was SVP of national account sales and VP/GM of Frito-Lay’s immediate consumption business.
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Stryve’s most recent chair, co-founder Ted Casey, is concluding his term after helping the company build a strong foundation and hitting several important milestones.
“I would like to thank Ted Casey for his leadership and strategic contributions in his role as chairman and as one of the founders of the business. He has made an incredible impact in helping the company build its manufacturing capabilities and expertise so that we could develop our fantastic portfolio of brands,” said CEO Chris Boever. “Our products uniquely deliver on the growing consumer trends in snacking of protein, convenience, and the reduction of sugars and preservatives. That’s all made possible through our innovative, one-of-a-kind, manufacturing capabilities that were an outgrowth of Ted’s strategic vision in the early years of Stryve.”
According to Boever, Vivian will build on that vision. “We are emerging from the first two phases of our transformation, in which we focused on food quality, brand renovation, maximizing value through productivity, portfolio simplification, enhanced unit economics, and ultimately creating a lean operating culture ready to drive quality growth. Our next phase is centered around reaching profitability through quality growth. Kevin Vivian is the ideal choice to serve as the company’s chairman as we execute on the final phase of our transformation and delivering that growth promise,” he added.
Plano, Texas-based Stryve Foods produces a variety of air fried meat snack products under the brands Braaitime, Kalahari, Stryve, and Vacadillos. According to its first quarter financial report, net sales reached $4.6 million during that time frame, similar to the previous year.
