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The chip aisle hasn't changed in a long time. Same ingredients, same formats, same trade-off between taste and nutrition that consumers have just learned to accept.
Beckett Kitaen and his co-founder George weren't willing to accept it.
BUFFS is a crunchy, puffy snack made primarily from grass-fed beef — built to scratch the same itch as your favorite bag of chips, without the empty carbs. We sat down with Beckett to talk about building a category-disrupting product before it even ships, the hard lessons of trusting the wrong people early on, and why his best business partner might be an AI.
The Product and Audience: What is BUFFS and who is it for?
We've created the first truly addictive, innovative snack in the beef snack category. A crunchy, puffy snack that is made primarily out of grass-fed beef, along with a few other clean, natural ingredients. Our target customer is individuals who eat clean or are trying to eat cleaner and recognize the value of high quality, animal-based protein, but are tired of boring meat sticks and jerky — they want something they can snack on like they're a kid again.
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The Spark: When did you launch, and what made you say "I need to build this"?
My co-founder George and I were eating a bowl of chips. They were so damn addicting and we couldn't stop. However, we felt guilty eating a snack that was just empty carbs that wouldn't really provide any nutritional value. We thought, if we could replicate the texture of a snack that we love and crave, but make it out of high quality, animal meat, we'd have the snack of our dreams. It was only a matter of time before we realized that others would love it too.
The Launch: You're still pre-launch — how have you built buzz before shipping a single bag?
We've been able to garner over 600 pre-orders due to social media hype. We basically just test a bunch of different hooks on trial reels until we find one that works well. Then we post the video knowing that the hook is engaging and the video will probably do well. I think people are interested in our product and concept, so we focus on that and it tends to reach the right people.
The First 100: How did you find your first customers?
Just being authentic on social media has allowed us to gain not just customers, but people who truly believe in us and want to see us succeed. We try to be honest with customers about what's going on in the company as we try to launch our product, and with that creates connection to our audience.
The Advice: What would you tell a first-time founder in their first 90 days?
Start telling yourself NOW that you're "the founder of x company." Make it real in your mind that this is your all-in goal, and things will come to you. Talk to everyone possible and just be a sponge. Learn by doing. Put one foot in front of the other and don't look side to side — pretty soon you'll look back and be shocked at how much distance you've covered. The biggest thing is to not burn out, but be grateful for the process and enjoy it.
The Reality Check: What is the hardest part of this journey that people don't see on social media?
The hardest part is decision-making. We've made some bad decisions early on trusting "professionals" to do the work for us. In reality, you can't always make the right decision, but you just need to gather as much information as you can, and be ready to jump ship if needed. Don't trust anyone to do anything for you. Always try to do something yourself first, so that you can better understand what you actually need help with and can better vet someone who you will then pay to help.
The Milestone: What has been your biggest "we made it" moment so far?
We definitely have not made it yet, but there's been a lot of support that has been exciting. Some of the coolest stuff is seeing big-time influencers and celebrities who I've been following for a while follow our Instagram or even reach out to us.
The AI Trend: How have you used AI to help your business grow?
ChatGPT is my best friend. I have more data in my recipe, commercialization, and operations project in ChatGPT than can fill an entire textbook. My AI knows everything about our formulation, COGS, decisions I've made in the past, scale scenarios, and more. It has helped me with a lot of difficult decisions because it has a lot of data and context to actually understand the situation well. ChatGPT also was a massive part of formulating the product itself. A creative mind that can feed ChatGPT ideas allows for extreme innovation — it's like having a food scientist that I can talk to on the daily.
The Horizon: What should we be excited to see from BUFFS in the next six months?
Hopefully within the next six months we will start to roll out into high-end grocery stores like Bristol Farms and Erewhon. Our main focus will be DTC so I look forward to gaining more and more followers across platforms and continuing to grow an amazing brand. We want to be more than just a product, but a team that people can trust and a company that people want to be invested into.
The Recommendations: What are your favorite under-the-radar brands right now?
On the CPG side, PWR Up is an amazing product I'm obsessed with, and the new Prima bars are off the charts — as are Rello protein bars that have creatine. I'm so out of the loop on tech and gear to be honest, haha.
The Shop: Where can readers find BUFFS?
Pre-orders are live at eatbuffs.co and will ship by the end of Q2.
The Connection: Where is the best place to follow along?
Follow along on Instagram at @eatbuffs.
Callahan's Take
BUFFS has all of the indicators of a category disrupting product. In CPG, most "innovation" is really just iteration. Pull out the seed oils here, swap in a better-for-you ingredient there. What Beckett and George are creating in BUFFS isn't that. They didn't tweak an existing product. They built a new one from scratch, right in the middle of the chip aisle. It feels different, it feels new.
The label is clean. No seed oils. And the macros actually hold up: 170 calories, 12G protein, 7G carbs, and 1G sugar per bag. They're launching with three core flavors — Original, Cheesy, and Sriracha — which is a tight, smart lineup for a brand finding its footing.
Great branding has become table stakes in CPG. Every founder knows it, every investor expects it. But BUFFS isn't just clearing that bar, they're raising it. The name is sharp, the aesthetic is dialed in, and the whole thing feels like it was built to own a shelf, not just sit on one.
