On Thursday, Ryan Wood, owner of Sweetwood Smoke & Co., reflected on his business’s 14-year run in the Yampa Valley and his hopes to see it become a legacy brand after selling it to Conagra Brands in August.

“Sweetwood started on our ranch, and we had been running that business for the better part of 14 years and hit a home run with the FATTY (Smoked Meat Sticks),” Wood said. “We just felt like the offer from Conagra, the valuation and knowing that this is somebody that would be a great steward of the brand going forward and a company that that would have the ability to take it forward for decades to come was important to me.”

Wood said Sweetwood had been talking to Conagra for several months.

“We saw (Conagra) at shows, and they had shown interest in the brand for quite some time,” Wood said. “Anytime you start a company like Sweetwood, I think, ultimately the goal is to create a brand that has a lot of value and stickiness in the market. We were able to do that with FATTY for sure.”

Daniel Hare, senior director of communication and external relations at Conagra Brands, said meat sticks and protein snacks are a high-growth area for consumer products right now, and the acquisition of Sweetwood will complement what the company already offers with two of its other products — Dukes and Slim Jim.

“The acquisition of FATTY Smoked Meat Sticks is another step in reshaping our portfolio for faster growth,” said Sean Connolly, president and chief executive officer of Conagra Brands, in a statement. “Adding a premium brand such as FATTY to our growing, better-for-you snack portfolio is consistent with our strategic focus on the snacking and frozen categories.”

Wood, co-founder of Under Armour, started Sweetwood Smoke & Co. in 2010 on a ranch north of Steamboat Springs.

“It was a great environment for us to start the company and the brand on the ranch,” Wood said. “We went through a lot of different phases of the company in terms of selling beef off the ranch, migrating it to a shelf-stable product into our jerky and bars, before we eventually landed on the FATTY halfway through our company life. … We really kind of put everything we had behind the FATTY, and that’s what really drove all the growth over the last six or seven years.”

The sale was finalized in early August, and Wood said Sweetwood is currently working through a nine-month transition period. Sweetwood has five Steamboat Springs employees including Rebecca Fix, who has been with the company since day one.

“She was an important part of our success, and I couldn’t have done it without her,” Wood said.

He added that during the past two months, as the new owners have been integrating the brand into Conagra, they have really seen the value of the Steamboat Springs employees, and Wood hopes there will be opportunities moving forward.

“More than anything else we love Steamboat. We love our team in Steamboat as well as our other team members that work for us around the country,” Wood said. “I’m super proud of the outcome and am looking forward to what’s next.”