Conagra Brands has expanded its portfolio of meat snacks with the acquisition of Sweetwood Smoke & Co.

Set up in 2010 by athlete Ryan Wood in Colorado, Sweetwood Smoke produces a range of meat sticks smoked with hickory wood under the Fatty brand in flavours such as pepperoni, teriyaki and buffalo chicken.

The ‘Fatty 2oz’ and ‘Fatty 3oz’ sticks are made with grass-fed beef and antibiotic-free pork, and are also free-from gluten, sugars, nitrates and MSG. They are sold in US retailers and online at Amazon.

Conagra, the Chicago, Illinois-based snacks, frozen foods and alternative-protein supplier, already has the Duke’s smoked meats brand in its portfolio, a business it acquired in 2017.

Sean Connolly, Conagra’s president and CEO, said: “The acquisition of Fatty Smoked Meat Sticks is another step in reshaping our portfolio for faster growth. Adding a premium brand such as Fatty to our growing better-for-you snack portfolio is consistent with our strategic focus on the snacking and frozen categories.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Wood, who is Sweetwood Smoke’s CEO, will remain on board.

"I'm looking forward to working with Conagra to make Fatty products available to more people with big appetites for meat sticks,” Wood said.

“As a lifelong athlete and adventure enthusiast, I have always valued convenient, high-protein snacks, made with quality ingredients, which is why we created Fatty.”

New York-listed Conagra said today (9 August) that its financial guidance for the year will be unchanged by the Sweetwood Smoke acquisition.

The outlook for fiscal 2025, presented in July, is for Conagra to generate organic sales of flat to down 1.5%. The Healthy Choice meals maker saw the metric fall 2.1% in the previous year to 26 May.

Conagra also said the adjusted operating margin for the new year would likely be in a 15.6% to 15.8% range, a tad below the 2024 result of 16%, which marked a 34 basis-point improvement on the prior 12 months.