Archive for October, 2008
Monday, October 20th, 2008
How did I get my name you might ask? Well that’s easy, back in the day when my first business was to distribute Beef Jerky to Convenience stores, around the Mid-80’s. My primary territory was the greater Phoenix, and southern Arizona, the brand was Polley’s Beef Jerky. So the best way that the managers of the various convenience stores, and small markets was to coin the phrase the “Jed, the guys who sells Jerky”. Oh, look the Jerky guy is here, the average call back to a store that was getting serviced, was about 2 weeks. For this reason it was better to refer to a person by the products they carried. Glad I did not distribute janitorial supplies, or personal items, no wonder what the nick name would have been! So even today if you call me, “hey jerky Jed”, chances are out of reflex, I will turn around to see. So back in the mid-80’s beef jerky was semi-popular, it was in most stores, and was most popular with men between the ages of 18 to 30. This does not mean that children or women did not enjoy, it was just more popular with the age group. Beef Jerky did not really take off until the Mid-90’s when a particular diet went ballistic! People discovered the low carb benefit of Jerky. People also discovered in bigger numbers how satisfying and how convenient beef jerky as a quick snack. But lets get some more background. The Polleys beef jerky product line up was pretty extensive we had Natural Beef Jerky, to Beef Sticks, to Pepperoni sticks, to Premium Beef Jerky. Interesting to note, in that day bag jerky was in my perspective was a very small portion of the overall business, most was unwrapped and was usually in glass jars. But this was not good for keeping the product fresh. Look for my next exciting blog, where we will dive in deeper to the product development of what is called the beef jerky business.
– Jerky Jed
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Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
The great debate, natural or chopped and formed beef jerky. Before we get into comparisons, let’s examine both. What is Natural Style? What is Chopped and Formed? Well let break it down, the title really gives it away. Natural style is exactly that, natural, meaning strips of beef naturally cut for a Natural style. As apposed or opposite would be Chopped and Formed, meaning the beef product is ground down into a formula that can be formed because of the small pieces and adjoined together for a shape that is desired. Now you might think that I oppose chopped and formed, but that would not be true. Just like my taste for a hot dogs or hamburgers, it depends on my mood, and my pocket book. The reason is mostly cost, and for that reason I do not oppose Chopped and Formed Jerky. But it’s my belief that when making a top rated beef jerky, you need to use quality beef. So on a quality position, Natural style always wins, and has always been our policy when making our Jedidiah’s Beef Jerky. How can you make a world famous product by not using the best beef and the best quality ingredients?
That does not mean that chopped and formed jerky does not sale. And for the reasons stated above, mainly price, there is a place in the market for such a product. And for the same reason more hot dogs and hamburgers out sale Porterhouse steaks. But if you really want an experience that sets apart the normal, run of the mill meat snack try Natural style Beef Jerky!
Let’s face it folks, you can buy Jerky almost anywhere, but for the same reason you might drive a little further, or crave a particular culinary delight, remember this, not all beef jerky is the same! Again, if you want to learn more, please read my blog on Brisket.
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