KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A Kalamazoo man has taken his love of chicken nuggets to the next level so much that he's gone viral on TikTok for it.
Zackery Lind, the owner of Nuggy Buddy, purchases chicken nuggets, preserves them and hides them in public places for people to find.
Nuggy Buddy started up on TikTok only three months ago, but the concept of preserving the chicken nuggets started back in 2017.
Lind said he has already preserved around 8,000 to 10,000 since then.
"Nuggy Buddy started back in 2017 just as a joke with a friend. We wanted a conversation piece," said Nuggy Buddy Owner Zackery Lind.
@nuggy.buddy Welcome to Nuggy Buddy, the one of preserved chicken nuggets! ##chickennuggets ##nug ##smallbusinesscheck ##foryoupage ##funnyy
It was a conversation piece he got. Nuggy Buddy gained popularity on Etsy selling the preserved chicken nuggets then turned to TikTok only three months ago with scavenger hunt videos.
"It probably took about two weeks for the first video to go viral. From there, I had a lot of fans talking to me wanting me to do more," said Lind.
In his first scavenger hunt video, Lind hid a chicken nugget at Mount Rushmore.
@nuggy.buddy Who will get it ##mtrushmore ##southdakotatrip ##rapidcity ##rapidcitysouthdakota ##keystone ##findit ##rushmore ##foryou
Now, he hides one every single week.
"The giveaways, I go to one new city a week. Most of the time, I find somewhere that is fun. Then usually once a month I have one big project, so I do a chicken nugget skateboard or a chicken nugget guitar or I have a baseball coming up," said Lind.
Lind also turns the chicken nuggets into characters like Post Malone, Shrek and Mickey Mouse. It's a tedious process just to preserve them.
"It is about a 14-day process of drying them out, re-soaking them, drying them out again and then covering them in epoxy to fully preserve them," said Lind.
@nuggy.buddy "Woogity woogity woogity!" ##fyp ##fy ##johnb ##outerbanks##madison##obx##obxseason2##obx2##kooks ##obxedit##madisonbailey##pogue##pogues##pope
Lind enjoyed doing it so much, he turned it into a full time job. He gained over 38,000 followers on TikTok in the last three months.
"My plan is at it grows, I am hoping to get my own facility. In a couple of months, we are working on a merchandise line and plushies which are just nuggets, so that is kind of exciting," said Lind.
Click here to watch Nuggy Buddy videos on TikTok.
To purchase any of the products, click here.
