Honest Comparison
Stittsworth vs Chomps
Butcher-shop snack sticks vs CPG-branded snack sticks. Different product, different category. Here’s how to think about both.
Written by Stittsworth. Biased — but honest about where Chomps wins.
Chomps is a CPG snack brand. Their pitch: meat sticks built around the Whole30 / paleo / keto / AIP market — grass-fed beef, free-range turkey, no sugar, no nitrates, certifications front-and-center. They built fast distribution through grocery and online and they’re very good at what they do.
Stittsworth makes snack sticks the way a butcher shop has made them for generations — ground meat, real seasoning blend, stuffed into natural sheep casings, smoked low in our smokehouse, vacuum-sealed. Different product. Different mouthfeel. Different positioning. Both have a place.
Side By Side
The table.
| Dimension | Stittsworth | Chomps |
|---|---|---|
| Business model | Family butcher shop since 1940 | CPG snack brand, founded 2012, mass retail focus |
| Where they're made | Stittsworth's Turtle River smokehouse — we make everything ourselves | Contract-manufactured by partner facilities |
| Casing type | Natural sheep casings — actual snap when you bite | Collagen casings (edible plant + collagen blend) |
| Marketing positioning | "Real butcher meat" | "Healthy snacking" — Whole30, paleo, keto, AIP |
| Where to buy | Online at stittsworthmeats.com, Bemidji retail counter | Wide grocery distribution, Amazon, Costco, online |
| Convenience | Ships frozen, vacuum-sealed, shelf-stable unopened | Shelf-stable at room temp, designed for grab-and-go everywhere |
| Sourcing claims | Sourced from Midwest farms, processed in our shop | 100% grass-fed beef, free-range turkey, antibiotic/hormone-free |
When Chomps is the Right Call
When we’d say buy them.
- · You’re strictly Whole30 / paleo / keto / AIP and need certified-compliant sticks. Chomps is built for that.
- · You want them everywhere — gas stations, airports, every grocery store. Chomps has the distribution.
- · You want a brand built around clean-label marketing and snack-aisle convenience.
- · You don’t care about the casing snap, the smokehouse character, or who made the stick.
When Stittsworth Wins
When we’re the right pick.
- · You want a snack stick that tastes like real butcher-shop meat, not a CPG brand interpretation.
- · You want the natural sheep-casing snap — the audible bite that disappeared from most mass-market sticks decades ago.
- · You want to support a 4-generation family butcher shop, not a venture-backed CPG.
- · You’re stocking the cabin, the deer stand, the fishing boat — you want sticks in volume from one source you trust.
- · You want short, recognizable ingredient lists.
- · You’re ordering the sticks alongside brats, summer sausage, bacon, and the rest of the meat case — not as a one-off snack purchase.
The Distinction
Snack-aisle vs. butcher-counter.
Chomps is a snack-aisle product. It’s designed to be a portable protein hit between meals, branded around health certifications, distributed where people grab snacks.
Stittsworth’s snack sticks are a butcher-counter product. They’re made next to the brats and summer sausage. They have the texture and bite of real butcher work. The brand is the shop, not the certifications. Different category at the conceptual level.
Try real butcher-shop snack sticks.
Made in our Bemidji smokehouse. Sheep casings. Short ingredient list. Read more in our snack stick guide.
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