Marketing Examined - 🔍 $10m/yr Selling Meat Chips?

What’s up y’all?

The other week I saw a tweet about a Shopify brand with insane growth. It was from a guy named Mark Ritz talking about his company called Carnivore Snax. 

Since 2019, Carnivore Snax has grown from a $200k to $10m+ run rate. Wild.

Curious about their story, I shot Mark a DM and he agreed to sit down for a chat. He was incredibly candid, sharing numbers and explicit tactics to build a profitable DTC food business. 

There are 3 big ideas I took away from our conversation:

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Here’s a quick no-background:

DTC food is a notoriously difficult business. 

Costs are high, margins are tiny, and operations are intensive to manage. The gamble is often to pour into acquisition in the hope of banking subscription revenue.

But there is a graveyard filled with companies that failed at this strategy. 

If you find product-market fit, however, the payoff in customer loyalty and eventual distribution can take you to the moon. 

That’s the story of Carnivore Snax. 

In 2019, Mark Ritz co-founded Carnivore Snax with Instagram influencer @Syltabor. 

It was a timely launch - because carnivore diets have exploded in popularity since 2017.

A common thread we see in successful DTC growth stories: high average order value.

Carnivore Snax blended ROAS last quarter was 3.28. 

One major reason: a strong AOV. 

• First purchase AOV is $89 (~2 units). 

• Returning customers spend an average of $119 per order. 

A higher returning AOV is a strong signal of product-market fit. 

It’s also critical to fueling ad budgets. 

Here’s how their ad spend breaks out across different channels:

• FB = $56,000/mo

• Google = $32,000/mo

• TikTok = $36,000/mo

They generate ~ $900k in new orders from this ad spend and have built a subscriber base of 1,400 with $186,000 in MRR. 

This is the equation for a business with the opportunity to reinvest in growth, which is exactly what they’re doing. And with their current production capacity, Mark forecasts up to $30M in annual revenue in the near future.

Mark attributes most of the companies’ success to two things:

1. Product Quality

2. Brand

Sure, the ads are performing great. But that’s because of an excellent product that fits with their target audience.

Carnivore Snax customers can thank co-founder @Syltabor for that…

“She built the product herself. She’d done the carnivore diet for 3 years before we launched and built a great following. We leaned into her audience and networked heavily.”

The initial affinity from die-hard fans got them off the ground, but continuously focusing on brand has turned that traction into rocketship growth.

Mark knows their audience well and plays into it across the board. Every ounce of messaging focuses on one thing: clarity.

Whether it's education about the benefits of a carnivore diet or dispelling myths about the vilification of meat, Carnivore Snax wants its customers to be dangerous in a debate.

Arm them with information to become a grassroots brand ambassador. Not to mention their text communications - my personal fav:

“Is that a New York Strip in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? Boom! Yes! We went there! Ok, I'll show myself out.”

Legends.

With so many apps flooding the Shopify Ecosystem, it's easy to get distracted from the core elements of growing a DTC business.

1. An excellent product

2. Ad creative that resonates

3. Basic media buying

4. Strong retention practices

These will take most businesses pretty far.

The fancy stuff can come later.

Carnivore Snax only recently rolled out subscription plans and still doesn’t even do bundles.

No listicles, advertorials, or anything.

Not to say those tactics aren’t important - just that you can generate 8 figures with solid fundamentals.

Personally, I’m excited for when they do. A hero product, ~$150 for a 4-unit sampler bundle could CRUSH for this brand.

I know I’d buy it.

For now, Carnivore Snax is optimizing for warehouse efficiency, nailing delivery times and customer experience.

And it's certainly working because their customers keep coming back.

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Mark and Syltabor have built a business with incredible DTC fundamentals.

Their products serve a growing but underserved demographic and have high margins and strong repeat purchase rates. Combine that with relentless execution on fulfillment and brand building and it's easy to see why they’ve grown so quickly.

Interested in tasting Carnivore Snax for yourself? Grab some here with promo code “EXAMINED” for 10% off your first order!

Catch y’all next time ✌🏻