Curly's Foods

What Curly's Foods does

Curly's Foods is a U.S. packaged meat brand specializing in fully cooked, ready-to-heat hickory-smoked BBQ products including pulled pork, pulled chicken, and baby back ribs. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Smithfield, VA, the company is a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, Inc., with its operating entity sponsored by Smithfield Packaged Meats Sales Corp. The core production technology centers on slow-smoking pork, chicken, and ribs over hickory wood for several hours, with products positioned as hand-pulled (never shredded) for restaurant-quality texture. The portfolio is organized into four categories: traditional BBQ (pulled meats with sauce), World Flavors (Korean BBQ pulled pork, Thai sweet chili pulled chicken, chimichurri pork carnitas), Sauceless variants, and Ribs, packaged in 6-24 oz retail formats.

The company's business model is retail packaged foods sales through mainstream U.S. grocery retailers, with national distribution covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Revenue is generated via unit-pricing at standard grocery price points through physical storefront sales, supported by a store finder on the brand website. Curly's serves time-constrained retail consumers seeking authentic smoked BBQ flavor without the hours of traditional preparation. Marketing channels include the brand website with a 44+ recipe database, social media (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter), recipe influencer partnerships, and consumer promotions such as the 'Curly's for Life' sweepstakes. The go-to-market motion is consumer-direct retail, with product-led positioning centered on convenience and flavor differentiation.

Name

Curly's Foods

Legal name

Smithfield Packaged Meats Sales Corp.

Website

https://curlys.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Curly's Foods is a U.S. packaged meat brand under Smithfield Foods producing fully cooked, hickory-smoked BBQ pulled pork, pulled chicken, and ribs for retail grocery consumers seeking convenient ready-to-heat meals across all 50 states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Packaged BBQ Meats

NAICS

Fruit and Vegetable Canning, Pickling, and Drying (31142)

SIC

Sausages & Other Prepared Meat Products (2013), Meat Packing Plants (2011)

akta.pro primary industry

Cooked/Ready-to-Eat Pork Products (Fully Cooked, Sliced, Diced) (AFANABAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Shelf-Stable Processed Meats (Canned, Retort Pouches, Jerky/Meat Snacks) (AFANAEAJ), Smoked Meats & Seafood (Hot/Cold Smoking) (AFANAEAB), Refrigerated Meat & Seafood (Processed/Packaged) (CRADACAK)

Keywords

• BBQ meat products
• Hickory smoked meats
• Packaged ready-to-eat meats
• Pulled pork products
• Retail packaged foods

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Retail Packaged Foods Sales: Curly's generates revenue through the sale of packaged, fully-cooked BBQ products sold at retail grocery stores nationwide. Products are sold in various sizes (6-24 oz packages) through mainstream grocery retailers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Curly's Foods produces and sells fully cooked, hickory-smoked BBQ meat products—including pulled pork, pulled chicken, baby back ribs, and globally-inspired flavored variants—through retail grocery stores nationwide. All products are slow-smoked over hickory wood for hours, hand-pulled (never shredded), and packaged in 6-24 oz sizes for consumers to heat and serve in minutes.

Product overview

Curly's Foods is a ready-to-heat meat products brand under Smithfield Foods, offering a portfolio of Hickory-smoked BBQ products including Pulled Pork, Pulled Chicken, and Baby Back Pork Ribs. The product line is organized into four categories: (1) BBQ - traditional smoked pulled meats and ribs with sauce, (2) World Flavors - globally-inspired products including Korean BBQ Sauced Pulled Pork, Thai Style Sweet Chili Sauced Pulled Chicken, and Chimichurri Sauced Pork Carnitas, (3) Sauceless - plain smoked pulled pork for consumers who want to add their own sauces, and (4) Ribs - Baby Back Pork Ribs. All products are hickory-smoked for hours and fully cooked for quick heating and serving. The company positions itself as offering 'restaurant quality' products that are 'always pulled, never shredded.'

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Korean BBQ Sauced Pulled Pork Hand-pulled, slow-smoked pork finished with sweet and savory Korean BBQ flavors. Part of the World Flavors line featuring global cuisine-inspired products, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Thai Style Sweet Chili Sauced Pulled Chicken Hand-pulled white meat chicken that is slow-smoked and finished with a sweet, tangy Thai sweet chili glaze. Part of the World Flavors product line, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Chimichurri Sauced Pork Carnitas Hand-pulled from tender, slow-smoked pork cuts and finished with chimichurri sauce. New World Flavors product line offering, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Pulled Pork Hickory-smoked pulled pork simmered in Curly's famous BBQ sauce. Authentic Hickory Smoked BBQ product, always pulled never shredded for true restaurant-quality flavor, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Pulled Chicken Cooked to perfection with Curly's famous sauce, this hickory-smoked pulled chicken is fully cooked and ready to heat and serve, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Bold & Spicy Pulled Pork Hickory-smoked pulled pork with a special bold and spicy BBQ sauce. Fully cooked product from the BBQ product line, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Sauceless Pulled Pork Hand-pulled from the finest cuts and slow-smoked to deliver tender, flavorful meat with no sauce - perfect for making it your own. Part of the Sauceless product category, sold at retail grocery stores.
• Baby Back Pork Ribs Baby Back Pork Ribs made from the finest cuts and slow smoked for hours with hickory smoke and seasoning, delivered with BBQ sauce for unforgettable flavor in minutes, sold at retail grocery stores.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Smithfield Packaged Meats Sales Corp.coreOthers · 6 June 2026Smithfield Packaged Meats Sales Corp. is the parent company and official sponsor of Curly's Foods. The company is headquartered in Smithfield, VA and operates as part of the Smithfield Foods portfolio of meat brands.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Tyson Foods: Large-scale protein and prepared foods manufacturer with retail-ready refrigerated smoked and pulled meat products under the Tyson, Jimmy Dean, and Hillshire Farm brands. Direct competitive overlap with Curly's across grocery retail prepared meat sets.
• Hormel Foods: Major packaged foods incumbent with extensive prepared meat portfolio including pulled meats, deli items, and refrigerated entrées. Overlaps with Curly's in fully-cooked refrigerated meat category through brands like Hormel and Skippy, and competes for the same grocery shelf space.
• Perdue Farms: Major poultry producer with retail-ready cooked, seasoned, and refrigerated chicken products including pulled chicken. Overlaps with Curly's pulled chicken SKU and competes in the same grocery cooked-protein segment.
• Pilgrim's Pride: Major poultry and prepared meats processor with growing retail prepared-product portfolio including chicken-based heat-and-serve items. Overlaps with Curly's on ready-to-heat cooked chicken and competes for the same retail protein occasions.

Direct peers

• Eckrich: Smoked and prepared meats brand offering hickory-smoked sausage, pulled meats, and deli proteins across U.S. grocery retail. Directly comparable to Curly's on the prepared smoked-meat value proposition and channel positioning.
• Sweet Baby Ray's: BBQ sauce brand with expanding prepared-meat presence; competes directly with Curly's in sauced pulled pork and chicken categories in the refrigerated meat aisle of grocery retailers.
• Hatfield Quality Meats: Specialty prepared pork products manufacturer offering hickory-smoked, fully-cooked ribs, pulled pork, and BBQ meats in retail grocery channels. Closest direct competitor to Curly's on prepared BBQ pork SKUs and channel.
• Jack Daniel's (Pulled Pork - Lynchburg): Licensed prepared pork brand offering hickory/mesquite smoked pulled pork and ribs in grocery retail. Directly comparable to Curly's on smoked pulled-pork positioning, flavor-branding strategy, and channel.
• Cook's Pork (Hormel): Cooked pork ribs and smoked pork products brand under Hormel Foods; directly competes with Curly's Baby Back Pork Ribs and pulled pork SKUs on refrigerated grocery shelves.

Others

• Smithfield (Margret's, etc.): Parent company's other prepared-pork brands; sibling rather than competitor, but share retail shelf sets, manufacturing, and corporate strategy with Curly's and represent the most operationally comparable prepared-meat brands in the same portfolio.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/bbqcurlys
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/curlys-foods-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Curly's Foods