Through the CREATE program, Beckett Kitaen turned classroom learning into a consumer-ready snack brand ahead of graduation.
December 18, 2025
By TCU Neeley School of Business
When Beckett Kitaen talks about launching a snack company while still in college, he doesn’t describe a perfectly timed plan or a polished blueprint. He talks about jumping in.
“I’ve always wanted to start my own company,” Kitaen said. “There was never a perfect product or a perfect time, so my co-founder and I decided to go all in and learn by doing.”
That mindset, paired with funding, mentorship and hands-on experience through the CREATE program, has accelerated Kitaen’s path from student to startup founder. As a senior in the TCU Neeley School of Business, he is building BUFFS, a beef protein snack preparing for its first consumer launch in January and ahead of his graduation this spring.
Through CREATE, Kitaen gained the resources to move BUFFS from early experimentation to a market-ready business. Funding through CREATE, an accelerator run by TCU’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Innovation Network, enabled him to invest in product research and development, early marketing and small-scale production.
Powered by the Shaddock Seed Fund, CREATE helped Kitaen turn a classroom concept into a venture positioned for real market entry, all while balancing the demands of coursework and campus life.
One of the biggest challenges for early-stage food startups is moving from a workable idea to a product that can be manufactured at scale. For Kitaen, CREATE funding helped bridge that gap as he developed BUFFS, a crunchy, puffed protein snack made primarily from grass-fed beef. It is often described as “a Cheetos made out of beef.”
In May 2025, Kitaen was one of five CREATE program winners, receiving $8,000 to advance his venture.
“Our prize money allowed us to focus on research and development so we could take what we’d made on a benchtop and formulate a recipe that could be scaled with a co-manufacturer,” Kitaen said. “That step was critical in making BUFFS commercially viable.”
The funding also allowed Kitaen to invest in early brand-building efforts. CREATE resources supported organic social media production, a user-generated TikTok campaign and small-scale at-home production used to share samples with investors and influencers.
Kitaen created the business with his childhood friend and BUFFS co-founder, George Zhou, a partnership years in the making. While Kitaen majors in finance with an emphasis on real estate at TCU Neeley, Zhou attends the University of Southern California’s Iovine and Young Academy, which focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship.
BUFFS is scheduled to officially launch online in January through Shopify, TikTok Shop and Amazon, with an initial production run of 12,000 units. Kitaen and his co-founder currently have product available for sampling and demonstrations.
The company has already gained early traction. In addition to winning pitch competitions at TCU and the University of Southern California, the team has raised approximately $300,000. Looking ahead, BUFFS is expected to enter brick-and-mortar retail as early as summer 2026. Kitaen credits both CREATE and his Neeley coursework for shaping a long-term strategy that balances near-term execution with thoughtful planning for scale.
Kitaen credits his finance coursework with strengthening his ability to make high-stakes decisions and evaluate future scenarios, and he cites the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) course taught by Antonio Banos, instructor of entrepreneurship and innovation, as an early source of inspiration.
“Professor Banos inspired me and showed me what it looks like to start your own company and the benefits that come with it,” Kitaen said. “He also talked about the nitty-gritty practical steps.”
He also credits Ken Corbit, assistant professor of marketing practice, with shaping how he approaches sales and storytelling, lessons that continue to influence how BUFFS communicates its mission.
With BUFFS preparing for its first public launch and retail expansion already on the horizon, Kitaen’s experience reflects the impact of pairing academic rigor with hands-on entrepreneurship, a defining strength of the Neeley student experience.
This spring, CREATE will welcome a new group of student entrepreneurs as they continue building their ideas. Students will take part in hands-on workshops, work alongside mentors and spend the semester developing their businesses as they prepare for the next big pitch, continuing the program’s role in helping students turn ideas into action at TCU.
