Chicka Chew: If you want to be cool, eat Chicka Chew!
- KLS
- 7 minutes ago
- 10 min read
For the 258th feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with Chicka Chew and Founder, Lan Luong.
What is Chicka Chew Khô Gà?
Vietnamese dried chicken snacks made with antibiotic-free chicken breast. Simple ingredients. Baked not fried. High protein and bold flavor.
"Together Talks" feature 258: Chicka Chew presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA
What separates you from your competition? What have been the biggest challenges? Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur? What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most? Share a decision that you made that was detrimental? What is your why?
Story of how it was created?
Chicka Chew was really born out of our own family's need. My kids are very active and love sports. My son plays travel soccer, so between practices, games, and tournaments, he needs a lot of protein. I struggled to find a snack I felt good about giving him regularly.
Everything seemed to be either a sugary protein bar or highly processed jerky. I kept thinking, There has to be another option. Then I remembered Khô Gà.
Growing up in Vietnam, my grandmother used to make Khô Gà for me. It's a beloved Vietnamese dried shredded chicken snack that generations of families have grown up eating. So I thought, Why not make it for my son?
Of course, you never know with kids—they're your toughest critics. But I made it, and he loved it. My daughter loved it too.
Then my son started bringing it to soccer practice and sharing it with his teammates. They loved it. Soon, parents started asking me for the recipe. That was the lightbulb moment. I thought, Instead of giving parents a recipe and asking them to go through all this work, what if I could make the product for them? What if I could make their lives a little easier?
That's really how Chicka Chew began. We found a solution that worked for our family, and I realized it could be a solution for other families too.
What separates you from your competition?
When we started, we did a lot of market research because we knew we'd be entering the broader meat-snack and protein-snack space. But the more we developed Chicka Chew, the more we realized that what makes us different is exactly why we created it in the first place.
Chicka Chew starts with 100% chicken breast and simple ingredients. It's baked, not fried, and made using a completely different process from traditional jerky. We cook the chicken, shred it, marinate it, and then bake it to create this incredibly flavorful, satisfying shredded chicken snack.
Early on, I was worried that American consumers wouldn't know what Khô Gà was, so we initially tried calling it "chicken jerky." Then we started working with the food scientists at Drexel University's Food Lab, who were instrumental in helping us develop the product.
They told us, essentially, "This isn't jerky. Don't try to make it something it's not. Call it what it is. Own it." That was a turning point for me.
There was a time when many American consumers didn't know what kimchi was. Today, kimchi doesn't need to be translated into something else to be understood or appreciated. Why can't Khô Gà follow that same path?
So instead of trying to fit Chicka Chew into an existing category, we're proudly introducing people to Khô Gà—a Vietnamese dried shredded chicken snack—and hopefully helping create a new category within the meat-snack space.
We currently have two flavors.
OG Savory is our more approachable, kid-friendly flavor. It's sweetened with date syrup, with no refined sugar.
Tropical Heat - our legacy flavor- is inspired by the bold flavors of Southeast Asia, with lemongrass, ginger, chili, and kumquat juice coming together in every bite.
As we grow, our commitment is simple: wholesome snacks, bold flavors, and affordability.
What have been the biggest challenges?
The biggest challenge has definitely been educating consumers about what Khô Gà is. We knew that going in.
But strangely enough, our biggest challenge is also one of the most exciting parts of building Chicka Chew. How often do you get the opportunity to introduce people to an entirely new snack experience? Our job is really to get people to take that first bite. Once they tried it, the response was incredible.
The challenge is scale. Right now, there's only one of me. I can't stand in ten places at once introducing people to Khô Gà.
So we're doing it one sample, one farmers market, one social post, and one customer at a time. Hopefully, through conversations like this, social media, sampling, retail partnerships, and word of mouth, more people will discover Khô Gà—and fall in love with it the way our family has.
Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
Believe it or not, we only just launched. From idea to bringing Chicka Chew to market took about seven months. We're still very much in proof-of-concept mode, but the early response has been incredibly encouraging.
Our official brand debut was at the Fancy Food Show in New York, and the reception exceeded our expectations. We had retailers express interest in bringing Chicka Chew on their shelves, which was an incredible validation this early in our journey.
Our immediate priority is scaling production. We're actively looking for the right co-manufacturing partner who can help us increase capacity while protecting the quality and integrity of the product. If everything goes according to plan, our next major milestone is entering retail.
We're taking it step by step. Right now, the goal isn't to be everywhere. It's to build something people genuinely love—and then grow from there.
What were your concerns to transition to starting your own business?
Entrepreneurship has always felt very natural to me because I grew up in a big entrepreneurial family in Vietnam. I remember that during summer vacations, my sister and I would rotate between going to the beach and running our green tea and fruit juice stand. So entrepreneurship was never foreign to me. Starting my own business was always more a question of when than if.
I'm also incredibly fortunate to have the full support of my family. Entrepreneurial conversations have always happened naturally around our dinner table: What should we make next? What problem can we solve? What else could we bring to market?
That curiosity has always been part of our family culture. So when Chicka Chew came along, it didn't feel like I was suddenly becoming an entrepreneur. In some ways, it felt like I was finally doing something I'd been preparing for my whole life.
What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur?
One of the biggest lessons I've learned is how important it is to have the right people around you. When I started, I thought I had to figure everything out myself. I thought that's what entrepreneurs were supposed to do. I've learned that you can't build something meaningful alone.
You need mentors, advisors and people who have been where you're trying to go and are willing to tell you what they've learned. I've been incredibly fortunate to meet people who genuinely want to help—whether that's giving advice, making an introduction, or simply pointing me in the right direction.
I've also learned that nothing ever goes exactly according to plan. You can create the best roadmap in the world, but something unexpected will always happen. Entrepreneurship teaches you to adapt without losing sight of where you're trying to go.
And perhaps most importantly, I've learned the power of persistence. There will be days when things don't go your way. You'll hear "no." Something you've worked incredibly hard on won't happen as quickly as you'd hoped. You still have to show up the next day. If you truly believe in what you're building, you keep putting one foot in front of the other.
What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?
People always say that entrepreneurship means you get to be your own boss. That's true—but there's another side to it.
The buck stops with you.
In a corporate environment, you're accountable to someone else. As a founder, every decision ultimately comes back to you.
Even if I didn't personally make a mistake, if I gave the direction or approved the decision, I own the outcome.
That's something I actually appreciate about entrepreneurship. You get to own the wins, but you also have to own the mistakes. There's an incredible sense of freedom in that—but also responsibility.
Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?
One of my biggest lessons has been learning to trust myself more.
This is my first time building a company in the U.S. and my first time in the food industry. Naturally, there were areas where I didn't feel confident. Social media was one of them. I came from a generation where I wasn't personally very active on social media, so my immediate reaction was, I'm not good at this. I need someone else to do it. Because of that insecurity, we spent a meaningful part of our early budget outsourcing social media.
Looking back, I would have approached that decision differently.
I learned that just because someone is excellent at one part of branding doesn't necessarily mean they're excellent at every part of building a brand. If you're going to bring in outside expertise, you have to make sure you're hiring someone who truly specializes in the problem you need solved.
But the bigger lesson was personal. I had underestimated my own ability to learn.
Today, I manage much more of Chicka Chew's social media myself. It's not always perfectly polished, but it's real. People see the journey as it's happening—the wins, the mistakes, the farmers markets, all of it. And interestingly, we've seen more engagement because people connect with that authenticity.
Now my approach is: first, get my hands dirty. Learn it. Understand it. Then, if we need outside expertise, bring in someone who is truly great at that specific thing.
I've learned to give myself a chance before deciding I'm not capable of something.
What is your why?
My biggest why—the thing that carries me through the emotional roller coaster of being a founder—is my kids. I want them to see what it looks like to believe in an idea and have the courage to pursue it. I want to show them that they can follow their dreams, their convictions, and their beliefs—but also that they should enjoy the process of bringing those dreams to life.
At the end of the day, if Chicka Chew teaches my kids that, then I've already accomplished something incredibly meaningful.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
There isn't just one moment because Chicka Chew has been a family adventure from the very beginning. My son helped come up with the Chicka Chew name and our slogan: "If you want to be cool, it's Chicka Chew." Both of my kids were involved in reviewing and approving the final Chicka mascot. They helped us move into our commercial kitchen—opening boxes, organizing shelves, whatever needed to be done.
But recently, something happened that made me incredibly proud.
My son went to soccer camp and, naturally, brought Chicka Chew with him. During snack time, the other kids started asking what he was eating. So he gave them his own Chicka Chew sales pitch. And because he's a pretty good midfielder, apparently part of his pitch was:
"I'm strong and fast because I eat Chicka Chew."
Best sales pitch I've ever heard. By the end of camp, he had sold 22 bags.
What made me even prouder was hearing how he did it.
When one kid hesitated at our $8.99 price, my son decided to sell it for $8. Then when that kid finished the first bag, my son offered him another one at the same price. He came home telling me about his pricing strategy and repeat customer.
I was absolutely floored and thought, Look at what he's learning!
He was selling, negotiating, reading his customer, building confidence and solving problems. That moment brought the whole journey full circle for me. Chicka Chew started because I wanted to make something better for my kids. Now they're helping build it alongside me.
If everything stopped tomorrow, I could look at that moment and say: I achieved my why.
What do you want people to know about Vietnamese food?
Be curious about Vietnamese food.
There's so much more to Vietnamese cuisine than phở, coffee, and bánh mì. Vietnam has an incredible snack culture that many American consumers haven't had the opportunity to experience yet.
Khô Gà is part of that culture. With Chicka Chew, I hope we're opening a small door into that world—introducing people to something they may never have tried before while honoring the food I grew up with.
Khô Gà may be the first Vietnamese food tradition I bring to a broader audience, but I don't think it will be the last. I already have ideas for what could come next.
My bigger passion is to help elevate Vietnamese cuisine and share more of its flavors, traditions, and stories with people who haven't experienced them yet.
There's an entire world of Vietnamese food beyond the dishes people already know. I want people to be curious enough to discover it.
Piece of Advice
If you have that nagging dream—the idea that keeps coming back to you—and you genuinely believe it solves a real problem, Go For It!
You don't have to know everything before you begin. You will learn. You will make mistakes. You will change directions. You will discover things about yourself that you never would have learned by staying comfortable.
Building Chicka Chew has taught me that the process of pursuing an idea can be just as meaningful as the outcome.
So if that dream keeps tapping you on the shoulder, don't spend your life wondering what if? Start.
Promo Code
Purchase from their site, Chicka Chew, and use promo code below:
KLSCHICKACHEWCOOL -> 10% off!
Community Callout
Torah Torres - Adventure CPG
They are building something incredible trying to disrupt the food distribution industry by offering a membership base. Hence, keep the products cost low, and ultimately lower price for consumers. We need to support and amplify this.
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Chicka Chew and Founder, Lan Luong, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!
Comments