Emerging Brands Podcast · 2026-06-22 · 28 min
Jason Wright, Founder and CEO of WILDE Protein Snacks, has completely redefined what protein snacking can be by building an entirely new category from scratch. Driven by a mission to rethink food after growing up around carb-heavy cooking and family diabetes, Jason spent nearly a decade in trial and error to create a crunchy, flavor-packed snack made from real chicken breast. Today, WILDE Protein Chips have scaled into over 30,000 retail doors including Whole Foods, Costco, Kroger, and Walmart, surpassing $100M in sales, with their highly anticipated WILDE Protein Crackers rolling out nationally to mark the brand's next major expansion phase. Jason and I explore what it really takes to manufacture a product that has never existed before. He shares his hands-on journey from building custom machinery and partnering with university meat science departments to opening a dedicated USDA-certified facility to maintain complete product control. Jason opens up about the grit required to sustain a decade of product development, the logistics of managing massive retail scale, and how he keeps pushing the boundaries of food innovation without ever compromising on flavor or quality.
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