The Carnivore Bar offers a modern twist on pemmican, a traditional Native American food made from dehydrated beef, salt, and animal fat. Their protein bars contain three main ingredients, including grass-fed beef, salt, and tallow.
In addition to catering to those on specialized diets, The Carnivore Bar appeals to people with busy lifestyles. It’s also perfect for travelers, outdoor enthusiasts, and professionals who need a convenient, wholesome meal replacement.
Military personnel are a key audience for The Carnivore Bar. The founder, a veteran, created the product with service members in mind, inspired by his own experience eating low-quality field rations. The company offers a 20% discount to U.S. service members as part of their mission to provide real, nutrient-dense food to those who serve.
The Carnivore Bar
Promoting a lifestyle first, products second with influencers
For The Carnivore Bar, the mission has always been bigger than just selling protein bars. “We’re trying to bring real food back into people’s lives,” says Joshua Perrault, the brand’s Marketing Director.
“At the end of the day, it’s not about selling the bar itself. It’s about selling the lifestyle around it – removing sugar from your diet and letting go of the taste for fake foods.”
Affiliate marketing became a natural choice for supporting this vision. By partnering with influencers and content creators who already share similar values, The Carnivore Bar could effectively communicate their message to the right audience.
Affiliate marketing also offered a practical solution for a small business like The Carnivore Bar.
With tight profit margins due to their commitment to using high-quality, grass-fed ingredients, the company couldn’t afford the high upfront costs of traditional advertising.
Instead, influencers were paid based on performance, meaning the company only spent money on actual sales generated.
The Carnivore Bar chose UpPromote for its simplicity and efficiency. As Marketing Director Joshua Perrault shared, “With other apps, yours is basically the most streamlined. I like it a lot. It’s easy.”
Joshua also praised the platform’s customer service, calling it “amazing.” The support team’s responsiveness ensured a smooth experience, allowing The Carnivore Bar to focus on growing their affiliate network.
UpPromote’s user-friendly design and excellent support made it the perfect choice for managing their program effectively.
Compared to other brands, yours is the most streamlined. I really like how easy it is – no need for excessive permissions. With other platforms, I often get logged out and have to deal with authentication codes. I understand it’s for security, but it just takes so long. With you guys, it’s been really easy. And your customer support is just amazing.
Joshua Perrault – Marketing Director at The Carnivore Bar
Finding the right partners to “sell” a real food lifestyle
The marketing director shared with UpPromote that The Carnivore Bar wants to guide people towards a healthier lifestyle.
And we’re trying to bring real food back into people’s lives. So at the end of the day, I guess it’s not about selling the bar itself — it’s about selling the lifestyle around it, where you’re trying to remove sugar from your diet and eliminate the craving for fake foods.
When recruiting influencers for their affiliate program, The Carnivore Bar prioritizes building genuine relationships. Most of their outreach happens on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter).
The Marketing Director explained, “We actually have an active campaign where I reach out to people who look like they would want to try us out.”
The brand specifically targets individuals in the carnivore and animal-based communities who align with their mission. They often begin with a simple message:
Hey, have you tried our product before? If not, we’d love to send you some to try.
The Carnivore Bar willingly sends free samples, allowing influencers to experience the product firsthand. If they enjoy and love the product, the team then invites them to join the affiliate program.
Within UpPromote, merchants can set up automatically sending gifts to affiliates as soon as they join the program or manually offer sample items to some high-performing partners.
When the network is full of passionate advocates, the Carnivore Bar can also see a higher chance of sales returning to the store.
Joshua prefers this method over open affiliate sign-ups which often attract coupon websites or deal hunters. “We don’t want that. We want people that have actually tried us and want to preach us,” he explained.
The ingredients contained in The Carnivore Bar
Reward influencers based on their impact
With the help of UpPromote, The Carnivore Bar built different affiliate programs with different commissions. Standard influencers start with a 10% commission. If they consistently generate significant sales, they’ll receive a 15% commission.
Segmenting their affiliate program allows The Carnivore Bar to reward performance without overstretching their budget. Affiliates who perform well are motivated by higher commissions, while new affiliates can start at a manageable rate and work their way up.
As a small business, we don’t have a big budget. When working with affiliates, many of them want upfront payments in addition to commissions. But we can’t offer that much; we usually raise the commission to 15% or 20% to keep the affiliate or influencer on board. That way, we don’t have to pay too much out of pocket, and they can earn more just by shouting us out.”
Joshua Perrault – Marketing Director at The Carnivore Bar
Support influencers with knowledge and free products
The Carnivore Bar always tries to support and educate their influencers, ensuring they are well-informed and aligned with the brand’s mission.
Each month, the brand provides influencers with detailed updates about their products, including information on ingredients, their health benefits, and how they support a healthy, animal-based lifestyle.
The brand encourages influencers to promote the products in their own authentic style, allowing them the freedom to share their personal experiences. Testimonials, videos, and social media posts are common ways influencers showcase the bars.
For content creators willing to post in exchange for free products, such as a box of bars, The Carnivore Bar considers this a valuable trade-off. Even if immediate sales are not generated, the content helps build brand awareness and establishes a presence in their niche.
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Results
Since launching their affiliate program with UpPromote, The Carnivore Bar has achieved impressive results.
- The number of affiliates grew from 50 to 500 in just over a year, with a goal of reaching 1,000 in the near future.
- Affiliates now account for 40% of the company’s total revenue.
More importantly, The Carnivore Bar has built a loyal community of affiliates who are passionate about the product and their mission. Genuine relationships help lay a strong foundation for the brand’s continued growth.
Ellie Tran, a seasoned SEO content writer with three years of experience in the eCommerce world. Being a part of the UpPromote team, Ellie wants to assist Shopify merchants in achieving success through useful content & actionable insights. Ellie's commitment to learning never stops; she's always eager to gain more knowledge about SEO and content marketing to create valuable content for users. When she's not working on content, Ellie enjoys baking and exploring new places.
