Slim Jim (snack food)

History

Al Levis alongside his brother-in-law and partner Joseph Cherry invented the first Slim Jim in 1929, in Philadelphia. In the 1940s, they hired a meatpacker to develop the product for production. In 1967, Levis sold the company for about $20 million to General Mills, Ron Doggett moved to Raleigh in 1969 as he was named corporate controller of the newly formed entity, and was later the company's Vice President of Finance. Until 2009, the former Jones Sausage plant in Garner, North Carolina was the only facility in the world which produced Slim Jims.

The product Levis created is different from the one produced since the 1990s, with Lon Adams (1925–2020) developing the current Slim Jim recipe while working for Goodmark.

Production was interrupted after an explosion and fire on June 9, 2009 heavily damaged the plant in Garner, killing three workers and a subcontractor worker. Conagra reopened the plant six weeks after the incident. Since it could only produce at about half of its original capacity, ConAgra arranged for other facilities to produce Slim Jims including a facility in Troy, Ohio. On May 20, 2011, the facility in Garner closed, the same day that the company's former spokesman "Macho Man" Randy Savage died.

Advertising campaigns

The advertising campaign was developed at North Castle Partners in Greenwich, Connecticut, by Tom Leland and Roger Martensen, under the creative direction of Hal Rosen. The "Snap into a Slim Jim!" concept was originally intended for comedian Sam Kinison, but his legal team didn't permit it. Hal Rosen then suggested using WWF (now WWE) wrestlers, and The Ultimate Warrior was selected for the kickoff spot. In addition to a TV spot, The Ultimate Warrior also recorded several radio commercials for Slim Jim in 1991. From 1993 to 2000, advertising for the product heavily featured professional wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who served as spokesperson. Each commercial would close with Savage bellowing "Need a little excitement? Snap into a Slim Jim!". The campaign not only boosted overall sales but also raised Slim Jim’s profile among teenage male consumers, a demographic that remains at the heart of its following to this day. Other notable commercials have included rapper Vanilla Ice and wrestlers Bam Bam Bigelow, Kevin Nash, Edge and recently Bianca Belair, LA Knight and Jey Uso. In June 2025, WWE and Slim Jim announced a multi-year partnership extension which includes Slim Jim being the center ring sponsor of Raw and the Slim Jim branding being featured on all folding tables across all WWE tentpole programming.

A subsequent campaign featured Slim Jim Guy (played by actor Demetri Goritsas), a human personification of a Slim Jim who would wreak havoc on the digestive system of anyone who ate it and used the slogan "Eat me!" These ads personified the irreverent personality of the brand and were also from North Castle Partners. He also appears as unlockable character in the video game Dave Mirra's Freeestyle BMX 2.

Slim Jim advertisements were also heavily featured on MTV, ESPN, and WCW. Slim Jim was one of the earliest sponsors of the ASA Pro Tour (the aggressive inline skating tour) from 1997 to 2000. The ASA Pro Tour was a qualifier for ESPN's X Games.

In 2005, Slim Jim advertising featured the Fairy Snapmother, described in a Conagra press release as "a character resembling a tattooed rocker with wings – and a familiar MTV-type of humor young males enjoy."

Another campaign depicted hunters hunting a fictitious "Snapalope" within convenience stores using urban camouflage. The Snapalope is a deer-like puppet made from Slim Jims.

In 2008, Slim Jim launched the website "SpicySide.com", encouraging consumers to get in touch with their "Spicy Side" by creating an avatar and fighting their friends in an online landscape called Spicy Town. Slim Jim also partnered with a well known Machinima artist Myndflame to develop a World of Warcraft parody.

As of 2012, the company uses social media as a method of advertisement, using internet humour and memes to gain popularity online, creating an unofficial slogan of “Long Boi Gang” (referring to the snack itself). The Slim Jim account frequently comments on popular Instagram meme pages, and has gained a fair amount of popularity through this alone.

Slim Jim sponsored Bobby Labonte and David Green when they won the NASCAR Busch Series championship in 1991 and 1994, respectively.

Ingredients

A 2009 Wired article listed some of the ingredients as beef, mechanically separated chicken, lactic acid starter culture, dextrose, salt, sodium nitrite, and hydrolyzed soy. They note that although Conagra refers to Slim Jim as a "meat stick", it resembles a fermented sausage, such as salami or pepperoni, which uses bacteria and sugar to produce lactic acid, lowering the pH of the sausage to around 5.0 and firming up the meat.

Sodium nitrite is added to prevent the meat from turning gray, and hydrolyzed soy contains monosodium glutamate.

Varieties

Slim Jim has launched several spin-off products of its main brand. These products are often of higher quality than the original Slim Jim, using premium meats. Such products include both tender steak strips and beef jerky.

The tender steak strips come in three flavors. Its companion beef jerky comes in four flavors: an original flavor, two spicy flavors, and one smokin' apple flavor.

References

References

1. LaVito, Angelica. (October 13, 2022). "Conagra is revamping the Slim Jim brand: Think office, not gas station". [[CNBC]].
2. Trotter, Greg. (November 16, 2016). "Slim Jim knows you've given up its meat sticks, and it wants you back". [[Chicago Tribune]].
3. Gnau, Thomas. (June 11, 2018). "Ohio factory produces a billion Slim Jims a year". [[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]].
4. Hansell, Saul. (March 25, 2001). "Adolph Levis, Entrepreneur And Philanthropist, Dies at 89". [[The New York Times]].
5. "Ron Doggett". North Carolina Business History.
6. (February 15, 1999). "ConAgra Inc. buys GoodMark Foods Inc. for $225 million". American City Business Journals.
7. (June 10, 2009). "ConAgra explosion kills two; dozens hurt: Ammonia fumes drifted over the plant, complicating recovery efforts; badly burned workers are hospitalized.". The News & Observer.
8. (3 December 2020). "Lon Adams, Who Gave the Slim Jim Its Flavor, Dies at 95". The New York Times.
9. (July 28, 1996). "Slim Jim: Present at the Creation". The New York Times.
10. Staff, JournalNow. (24 November 2009). "4th victim of blast at Slim Jim plant dies".
11. Burns, Matthew. (June 9, 2019). "Scars finally healing decade after Garner ConAgra plant explosion". Capitol Broadcasting Company.
12. (September 17, 2009). "Slim Jim plant to cut 300: ConAgra cites June explosion". The News & Observer.
13. (19 May 2011). "Slim Jim maker closes Garner plant Friday". WRAL.com.
14. (24 August 2023). "How Randy Savage Saved The Slim Jim Brand". mashed.com.
15. Glass, Jeremy. (26 August 2020). "How Slim Jim went from bar snack to backpacks—with a little help from Macho Man". thetakeout.com.
16. Wilkinson, Matthew. (26 August 2023). "Slim Jim 'Ecstatic' With LA Knight, Also Requested Former Champion". WrestlingInc.
17. Ucchino, Rick. (June 1, 2025). "WWE And Slim Jim Expand Partnership To Bring New Tables Into The Fold During Matches".
18. {{IMDb name. 0330983
19. "1997 ASA Pro Tour Sponsors – Thank You!". aggroskate.com.
20. (Nov 14, 2005). "SNAP! Slim Jim's Fairy Snapmother Flies Into Convenience Stores {{!}} Conagra Brands".
21. WIRED Staff. (24 August 2009). "What's Inside a Slim Jim?".
22. "Slim Jim beef jerky". Snack Memory.