Cover image courtesy of Low and Slow Snacks

“We’re like a barbecue joint who smokes chips instead of meat,” is a tagline of Low and Slow Snacks, started six years ago in Dallas, TX by two Frito-Lay alums.

While there are plenty of corn and potato chips on the market, it’s unprecedented to find snacks that have been made using a barbecue smoker. Low and Slow Snacks makes all of its products by burning real hickory wood, using a proprietary process, and the company boasts the first-ever line of authentically smoked chips.

Big-brand beginnings
What started as a homegrown snack available at a handful of HEB and Albertsons stores only in Texas has expanded into more than 15 states, with many more on the way in the next few months.

The brand’s true origins date back to 2004, when Jared Drinkwater—the brand’s CEO, co-founder, and chipmaster—moved to Texas for a marketing job with Frito-Lay. There, he became instantly hooked on barbecue culture.

At Frito-Lay, he met Mike Zbuchalski, his now-business partner and former head of global R&D at the company. Zbuchalski is one of the foremost chip R&D experts on earth and an engineer by trade, says Drinkwater, and he spent 22 years as a senior R&D leader at both Frito-Lay and PepsiCo.

While Drinkwater and Zbuchalski didn’t discuss the possibility of smoking chips during their collective 29-year tenure at Frito-Lay, Drinkwater states the experiences they gained there were incredibly important to getting the business off the ground.

“[Frito-Lay is] an amazing company, and lots of our peers have gone on to senior roles at major retailers, which certainly helped [us] gain an audience early on. Having spent the past 20 years as a brand marketer, including seven at Frito-Lay, I acquired the skills needed to build brands with purpose, and have always loved the creative/design side of connecting with consumers,” Drinkwater comments.

The first sizzle
Fast-forward to 2019: Drinkwater was having dinner with a good friend (and now company co-founder, Paul) during a work trip to Tennessee, and they got to talking about snacks, and what they would do to craft the perfect barbecue chip.

“These past 20 years, I’ve logged thousands of miles visiting the top barbecue joints across the state, as well as taught myself how to smoke meat in my backyard,” he shares. “Focusing on barbecue sauce flavors, which is what everyone in the category does, didn’t feel right. Sauce, for those who know barbecue, is great, but the least important part of an authentic barbecue experience.”

Drinkwater adds, “To call anything real barbecue, one thing is clear—you have to smoke it ‘low and slow.’ I flew home, covered a bag of corn chips with a sweet rub I had in the pantry and threw them in my smoker…”

“More so, over 90% of consumers eat a barbecue-flavored something at least once a week. Barbecue is big everywhere, and [we] are excited to share the brand with lots of new markets in the years ahead,” Drinkwater says.

Experiments and standing out
Initially, Drinkwater rented a commercial smoker with Zbuchalski and Paul. They bought $500 worth of snacks at a local grocery store and ran each one through the machine.

“Every one of them was delicious. It took us over two years, and a ton of hickory wood in Mike’s backyard in Plano, Texas, to crack the code on a novel manufacturing process capable of smoking snacks at scale. Having now built a much larger production facility, we still learn something new during every run, just like I do when smoking a brisket,” Drinkwater says.

While the process was difficult, Drinkwater shares, Zbuchalski’s invaluable expertise helped the process of perfecting the snack making.

“While it might sound easy to burn wood and smoke snacks, it’s anything but, and we wouldn’t be here without [Mike’s] experience and ingenuity. I was extremely lucky to have him play a huge role in our journey from day one,” Drinkwater relates.

Low and Slow likes to think of themselves as a BBQ joint first, chip company distant second, he adds.

“Everything we do is designed to demonstrate our commitment to the craft, just like a pitmaster would. It’s why we use the word ‘rub’ over ‘seasoning,’ and why we won’t ever put something in a bag or jar that isn’t smoked with real wood,” Drinkwater explains. “The real power of barbecue is that it enables you to slow life down and connect with family and friends. I mean, where else can you go in the world other than a barbecue joint where people have been waiting in line for hours, and are still smiling? That’s why we do what we do. To give people a feeling of barbecue and connection, no matter where they might be.”

Drinkwater says he was once told if you can’t explain why your product is different in about three seconds, you’re going to have an uphill battle selling anything.

“Fortunately for us, we can explain how we’re different in exactly three words: ‘We. Smoke. Chips.’ No one is going through the great lengths we do to smoke products with real hickory wood, so we think we have a decent head start,” he relates. “It’s impossible to get the smoky taste and aroma our products provide with seasoning alone. The real challenge is to ensure every consumer touch point helps tell our authentically smoked story, which we’re doing by constantly refining our packaging and display cases to make them work as hard as they can.”

New products and expansion
Drinkwater says the company’s Hickory Smoked BBQ Cheese Puffs is its best seller, and he has a few ideas why.

“A couple of hypotheses for this. First, while it has roughly the same ounce weight as our other SKUs, it’s our biggest bag—puffs are big—which helps with value impression on shelf. More importantly however, we just think there is a latent love for cheese puffs and the subcategory hasn’t seen much platform, non-flavor innovation in a long time,” he theorizes.

Since the brand launched its Cheese Puffs in October 2024, they have been the company’s steady favorite among consumers, followed by its Hickory Smoked BBQ Potato Chips.

“During our initial R&D work, we found cheese puffs absorb smoke very well—but not too much—and that blend of sweet and smoky cheesy flavor really resonated with early testers. It’s a huge category ripe for disruption and perfect for our barbecue-loving audience,” Drinkwater shares.

Consumers can currently find Low and Slow products in 300 Walmart stores across Texas and over 2,000 regional grocery stores such as Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, and Fareway, among others. In addition, last month the brand rolled out its smoked potato chips in the checkout lanes at 1,500 Home Depot stores across the U.S.

“We are also rapidly expanding distribution within the ACE Hardware network, who has over 4,000 locations in the U.S. It’s been incredible to see the strong reception we’ve received from the distributor and retailer communities, a testament to our mainstream yet truly unique selling proposition (and tasty smoked products),” he adds.

Drinkwater says the company is eager to grow its presence within the c-store channel, as well, as he believes the smoked barbecue snacks are a perfect fit for the traditional c-store customer.

“You’ll see us pop up in thousands of c-stores this summer and announce several other big distribution partnerships in the months ahead. Additionally, given the smaller footprint of those stores, it’s a little easier for emerging brands like ours to stand out when given the opportunity,” he notes.

What’s next
Last April, Low and Slow Snacks hired Randy Kruse as its first-ever vice president of sales. Kruse joined the team from Hershey, where he managed the DSD sales network for Dot’s Pretzels.

“Having been one of Dots’ first sales hires and a key piece of their meteoric growth, Randy brings extensive industry experience to our team and knows how to scale a new snack brand fast. He’s been an incredible addition and I love working with him,” Drinkwater says.

“Landing such an accomplished and seasoned industry veteran further validates the potential of our unique and proprietary platform to smoke snack food at scale, and I couldn’t be more excited to have him join the team,” he adds.

In terms of expansion, the company is currently focusing on its cheese puff and potato chip offerings.

“This month, we’ll be rolling out our newest product, a Hickory Smoked Cheese Puff covered with a jalapeno rub. We are also working on a third flavor of Cheese Puffs in addition to a second flavor of potato chips, with both hitting stores later this year. You can follow our journey on Instagram, @lowandslowsnacks, to see what we’re smoking next,” he notes. “Additionally, our authentically smoked platform gives us license to innovate across the entire store, not just in snacks, which is exciting.”

When asked where he sees the company five years from now, Drinkwater responds that he hopes Low and Slow Snacks will experience growth similar to Dot’s Pretzels.

“As any CPG founder will tell you, five years is like two lifetimes. That said, I truly think we have a chance to become a Dots 2.0 of sorts. In February, I had the great privilege of having dinner with Dot and Randy Henke, the founders of Dot’s Pretzels. I was inspired listening to their stories centered around hard work and great-tasting products, which turned into one of the biggest snack success stories since Herman Lay—they took a sleepy category (pretzels) and turned it into something exciting,” Drinkwater explains.

“We have a long way to go, but if we continue to execute our go-to market playbook, figure out new ways to share our smoked story, and put consistently good/unique products in each of our Low and Slow bags, I’m confident we can get there.” SF&WB