Jack Link & family

About Me

Jack Link's eponymous meat products company sells 800 million packages of beef jerky, turkey jerky, meat sticks and other goods each year. Link's great-grandfather emigrated from Germany to Wisconsin in the 1880s, bringing with him his old-world recipes for sausages and smoked meats. His grandfather was butcher and his father raised cattle. In 1985, with the Link family's meatpacking business bankrupt, Jack Link was inspired to start producing jerky using his great-grandfather's 1880s recipes. Now Jack Link's is the top-selling jerky brand in America, with $2 billion in estimated annual revenue and 34% of the market. Jack Link became chairman in 2013 and his son Troy moved into the role of CEO. The Link family also owns a car dealership, an RV dealership, and ranch and farmland in Minong, Wisconsin, where the company is headquartered.