Link Snacks, Inc., the Minong, Wis.-based manufacturer behind the Jack Link's beef jerky franchise, has extended its Rare Breed pet treat line onto Chewy, the dominant U.S. e-commerce platform for pet specialty retail. The move broadens Rare Breed's national distribution footprint and places its 3-ingredient, human-grade beef and pork treats in front of Chewy's subscription-heavy, repeat-purchase customer base.
Rare Breed is positioned in the premium, clean-label tier of the pet treat segment. Its formulation — real meat, flaxseed, and vinegar, with no fillers or artificial additives — mirrors the ingredient-transparency trend that has reshaped human snacking and is now migrating into the pet food aisle. Link Snacks has not disclosed AUV-equivalent velocity figures, slotting investment, or SKU count at launch, but the Chewy listing makes the brand accessible to millions of households nationwide with no brick-and-mortar store trip required.
The pet treat category broadly has benefited from the same premiumization tailwinds driving better-for-you growth in commercial foodservice channels. Operators and CPG manufacturers alike are watching consumer willingness to pay up for traceable protein sourcing — a dynamic equally visible in limited-service restaurant LTO strategy and in the burgeoning human-grade pet food segment. Chewy's auto-ship model, which drives a significant share of its gross merchandise volume, gives Rare Breed an embedded repeat-purchase mechanism that traditional retail end-caps cannot replicate.
For Link Snacks, the Chewy listing represents a logical channel extension for a brand built on the company's core protein-processing competency. The parent company's manufacturing infrastructure and American-sourcing narrative align with Rare Breed's positioning. No franchisee or area development structure applies here — this is a direct CPG retail play — but the distribution logic mirrors asset-light expansion thinking: reach more consumers through an established platform rather than building proprietary retail infrastructure.
No financial guidance, unit-volume targets, or promotional cadence has been disclosed alongside the launch announcement. Observers in the pet specialty trade will watch Chewy search placement, customer review velocity, and any subsequent mass-market or club-channel expansion as indicators of how aggressively Link Snacks intends to scale Rare Breed beyond its current footprint. The brand's coverage by the Food & Beverage Magazine network reflects broader editorial interest in how protein-manufacturing incumbents are leveraging brand equity into adjacent better-for-you product launches and premium pet food channels.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.