Slim Jim (snack food) facts for kids
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A packaged mini Slim Jim stick
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| Type | Meat snack |
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| Owner | Conagra Brands |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1929 |
| Previous owners | General Mills GoodMark Foods, Inc. |
| Tagline | Snap into a Slim Jim! |
Slim Jim is a popular American meat snack. It's sold all over the world and made by a company called Conagra Brands. These snacks are super popular in the United States, making over $575 million in 2015! About 1 billion Slim Jim snacks are made every year, and they come in at least 21 different kinds.
Contents
The Story of Slim Jim
How Slim Jim Started
The very first Slim Jim was invented in 1929 by a person named Jack Comella in Philadelphia. In the 1940s, he and his partner, Adolph Levis, hired a meatpacker. They wanted to make the snack in bigger amounts for everyone to enjoy.
Changes Over the Years
In 1967, Jack Comella sold his company for about $20 million to General Mills. General Mills moved the production to Raleigh, North Carolina. They combined it with another meat company they owned to create Goodmark Foods.
Later, in 1982, General Mills decided to sell Goodmark Foods. Four executives from Goodmark, including Ron Doggett, bought the company. Ron Doggett became the president. Then, in 1998, a big food company called Conagra bought Goodmark.
The Slim Jim you eat today is a bit different from the original one. Lon Adams, who worked for Goodmark, created the current recipe in the 1990s.
A Factory Accident
Production of Slim Jims was stopped for a short time after an accident. On June 9, 2009, there was an explosion and fire at the factory in Garner, North Carolina. Sadly, some workers were hurt. Conagra reopened the factory about six weeks later.
Because the factory could only make half as many Slim Jims, Conagra asked other factories to help. One of these was in Troy, Ohio. The original factory in Garner closed on May 20, 2011.
Fun Advertising Campaigns
Slim Jim is famous for its exciting commercials! The slogan "Snap into a Slim Jim!" was first thought up for a comedian. But then, the idea changed to use WWF (now WWE) wrestlers. The Ultimate Warrior was the first wrestler to appear in a Slim Jim TV ad in 1991.
Macho Man Randy Savage
From 1993 to 2000, a famous professional wrestler named "Macho Man" Randy Savage was the main spokesperson for Slim Jim. In every commercial, he would shout, "Need a little excitement? Snap into a Slim Jim!" This campaign made Slim Jim super popular, especially with teenage boys.
Other famous people who have been in Slim Jim ads include rapper Vanilla Ice and wrestlers like Bam Bam Bigelow, Kevin Nash, Edge, Bianca Belair, and LA Knight.
Creative Characters
Another campaign featured the "Slim Jim Guy." This was an actor, Demetri Goritsas, who played a human version of a Slim Jim. He would cause funny chaos inside people's bodies after they ate the snack. His slogan was "Eat me!" These ads were meant to be silly and fun.
Slim Jim ads were also shown a lot on TV channels like MTV, ESPN, and wrestling shows. Slim Jim was also one of the first sponsors of the ASA Pro Tour, which was a competition for aggressive inline skating.
In 2005, Slim Jim ads showed a character called the "Fairy Snapmother." This character looked like a tattooed rocker with wings and had a funny, edgy humor that young guys enjoyed. Another campaign showed "hunters" looking for a made-up animal called a "Snapalope" in convenience stores. The Snapalope was a puppet made out of Slim Jims!
Online Fun
In 2008, Slim Jim launched a website called "SpicySide.com." It encouraged people to create an online character and "fight" their friends in a virtual town called Spicy Town. Slim Jim also worked with a video artist to make a funny video based on the game World of Warcraft.
Since 2012, Slim Jim has used social media to advertise. They use internet humor and popular memes to connect with people online. They even have an unofficial slogan called "Long Boi Gang," which refers to the snack itself. The Slim Jim account often comments on popular meme pages and has become quite popular this way.
Slim Jim also sponsored race car drivers Bobby Labonte and David Green. They won the NASCAR Busch Series championship in 1991 and 1994.
What's in a Slim Jim?
A 2009 article listed some of the things found in a Slim Jim. These include beef, mechanically separated chicken (which is chicken meat removed from bones), and other ingredients like salt and spices.
Even though Conagra calls Slim Jim a "meat stick," it's actually a lot like a fermented sausage. This is similar to foods like salami or pepperoni. In these foods, good bacteria and sugar work together to make lactic acid. This makes the meat firmer.
Ingredients like sodium nitrite are added to keep the meat from turning gray. Also, hydrolyzed soy contains monosodium glutamate, which helps with flavor.
Different Kinds of Slim Jims
Slim Jim has made many different versions of its famous snack. Some of these products are made with higher quality meats. These include tender steak strips and beef jerky.
The tender steak strips come in three different flavors. The beef jerky comes in four flavors: an original flavor, two spicy flavors, and one smokin' apple flavor.
See also
