June 8, 2022

Sioux Falls City Councilor Alex Jensen is the new CEO and a co-owner of Max Muscle Nutrition.

Jensen made the move within the past month after spending the past four years in business lending at First Premier Bank.

He also served a term in the South Dakota House of Representatives before being elected to the City Council in 2020.

“It was an extremely tough decision and wasn’t taken lightly,” he said of his career change. “But it was an opportunity to take a chance on myself, and I think the bigger appeal to me was I’d be able to work with the 35 people who work in these two companies and invest in them like First Premier invested in me.”

His new role involves becoming a partner in both Max Muscle Nutrition and sister company DakPak, which is in Woonsocket. Both businesses were founded and continue to be co-owned by Terry Wieting, an entrepreneurial farmer from Huron.

“I met Terry in a roundabout way – my mom is the accountant at Max Muscle,” Jensen said. “My mom has worked here since they brought it to Sioux Falls. The best part about the company to me is it’s an all South Dakota company.”

Max Muscle moved its headquarters from California to South Dakota in 2018. Its corporate office and a retail location are at 2320 W. 54th St. N., north of the Sanford Sports Complex. That building is being sold, however, and the company is looking for someone to operate the Sioux Falls market.

Max Muscle has 67 authorized retailers nationwide. In addition to Jensen and Wieting, the other partners are Sean Green and Joe Wells.

DakPak, which Jensen said represents significant growth opportunity, also has another partner, Brian Goetz.

DakPak produces the Max Muscle inventory but also offers blending, encapsulation, filling, canning, packaging, labeling, research and development, and warehousing and fulfillment.

“We manufacture for 15 other companies, anywhere from a collagen product to HydroBeef,” Jensen said. “The third unit of our business we’re going into is milk replacer – a human-grade whey protein that is formulated with other ingredients for milk calf cows. As our industry in South Dakota and around this area is developing, we have a lot of whey protein, and we have a lot of calf cows that need to be bottle-fed, so we’re getting into that.”

Max Muscle Nutrition offers a broad ranges of supplements, proteins, pre- and post-workout products, weight loss, muscle and wellness products.

“We have great relationships with a lot of outfits in Sioux Falls,” Jensen added. “We have over 800 customers in the Sioux Falls area that buy our products and are a loyal following. We just at corporate were not built for running a store. That will be a different person.”