When Dan Bellrichard faced losing his job in 2016 unless he left his beloved small town of Decorah, Iowa, he made a bold choice. With his wife expecting their third child, he decided to bet on himself and his community by launching Sogo Snacks, a premium meat snack business, from their home.
“I wanted to stay in Decorah - it’s just an awesome community. But in a small town, you have to create your own opportunities,” said Bellrichard. “I knew that to make it work, we needed to reach customers far beyond Iowa.”
Drawing on his experience in the grass-fed beef industry, Bellrichard saw an opportunity for clean-label products made from grass-fed beef, free-range turkey, and natural pork. From day one, Bellrichard turned to Amazon’s store to connect with customers across the country. Starting with just himself, he steadily built the business using Amazon’s tools for small sellers. Starting with just himself, he steadily built the business using Amazon’s tools for small sellers.
“Amazon is extremely user-friendly. I used to spend a lot of time at Seller University going through the tutorial videos on how to best optimize my campaigns and store listings,” he explained.
Those early days meant balancing parenthood with building a business. “I would take my daughter in a backpack when she was a baby. I’d print Amazon orders, fulfill them with her right there, and bring them to the post office,” he said. As order volume grew, Bellrichard transitioned to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), allowing him to focus on product development and marketing while Amazon handled storage, shipping, and customer service.
Using Amazon Ads, Bellrichard could precisely target customers searching for premium, clean-label snacks. He leveraged A+ Content to showcase Sogo’s commitment to quality ingredients and share their small-town success story. These tools helped transform their Amazon store from a startup venture to a six-figure business.
“For the first five years, Amazon was a major part of our business,” Bellrichard noted. “Now it’s closer to 65-75%, but that’s not because we’ve decreased what we’re selling with Amazon, it’s because we’ve grown our brand.” Retailers discovered Sogo Snacks through their Amazon store, first as customers themselves, then as buyers for their stores. Today, their products appear in stores across California, Colorado, Arkansas, New York, and Chicago.
Success has transformed both family and community life. Bellrichard’s wife has left her nursing career to join the business full-time, managing their expanding product line and retail relationships. The infant daughter who once rode in his backpack is now in third grade, with sisters in 10th and 11th grade, who process orders with their high school friends. Beyond family, Sogo Snacks now contracts with a local meat locker to produce all their products, helping that business grow alongside them. The company supports at least five other businesses through its operations, from packaging suppliers to local farms. Their future, and the future of their community, drives Bellrichard forward.
“I want Sogo Snacks to be an option for my daughters as they get older,” he explained. “A place where they can work and earn money, but also more easily follow their passions without feeling like they’re taking a huge risk.”
According to Amazon’s 2024 Small Business Empowerment Report, Bellrichard’s success mirrors a broader trend in rural America, where independent sellers in small towns grew their Amazon sales more than 30% year-over-year. In 2024 alone, independent sellers employed over 2 million people in the US to support their Amazon-related businesses.
Looking ahead, Bellrichard continues to explore new Amazon tools and services to fuel growth. But his focus remains on the same goal that sparked this journey. He’s building a future for his family in the town they love. Thanks to Amazon’s seller tools and technology, that dream is now reality.