My Jerky Journey - Introductions and how it all began...
Prologue…
It’s April 2020, living in Sydney (not that that’s important) and we’re in the middle of a global pandemic colloquially known as ‘coronavirus’, or COVID-19 if you’ve just read any news site lately and you’re insisting to your mates that you are an expert on the topic over one of the many video chat catchups you have scheduled. What better time than now to launch into my first blog post whilst I socially distance myself from society?
Introductions…
As this is the first blog, I think a formal introduction is in order. My name is Blake and I am the Owner-Operator of our small craft beef jerky business. Prior to starting BC Jerky, I spent over a decade at one of the ‘Big Four’ professional services firms working in IT. During this time, I held multiple different titles from an associate in the Service Desk to Supervising Associate in Remote Services, then finally an analyst in CSI (picture Horatio Caine, but way, way cooler – CSI: Miami anyone??). As a sole-trader, I’m busy during the week doing ordering, jerky production, marketing, accounting, fulfilling orders – just anything really to keep the dream alive!
Blake & Ash at The Hills UPmarket!
If you’ve visited our little pop-up stall at one of the various farmer’s markets we frequent, no doubt you’ve probably seen or spoken to my better half, Ash. You’ll find her chatting away to customers and selling jerky! Many of you likely wouldn’t have tried our jerky if wasn’t for her friendly smile and her sweet talking 😊 Her help on market days is invaluable to a successful day! In addition to helping me at markets, Ash is also an ECT working fulltime at an Early Childhood Centre.
Jerky Genesis – how this mess all started…
Let’s circle back to 12-13 years ago when I was a much younger, much lighter 20 something year old. The start of my Friday evenings consisted of meeting up with a group of mates at someone’s house with a few beers and of course, a few packets of what I now refer to as ‘petrol station’ jerky, also known as dinner. It was at one of these gatherings, a good mate of mine and I were researching how to make our own beef jerky – it seemed pretty straight forward. We thought, “How hard could it be?” and a few days later we were the proud joint-owners of a small bench dehydrator. Shortly after that, we made our first batch. From memory, it was amazing and bucketloads better and tastier than that mass produced trash we were buying from bottle shops, supermarkets and petrol stations.
The years passed by and I had taken full custody of the small bench dehydrator and even adopted a second, twin dehydrator. As most of the jerky I was making was for myself, there was only one flavour I made - chilli. I slowly moved on from making small 1KG batches from rump steak bought at Coles or Woolies, to making 5KG batches made from full-rounds purchased at butchers as demand and interest for my beef jerky grew. My jerky was a hit everywhere we took it – BBQ’s, parties, rugby games (shoutout to the Epping Rams). A firm reputation was being built as the ‘jerky guy’, and that was fine by me.
Dawn of the age of BC Jerky…
In March 2018 after over a decade working at the same firm, my tenure came to an end. I was not optimistic with how the IT industry was heading in Australia, especially for Enterprise IT. After a bit of inspiration from a few mates who also turned their back on the industry, and a lot of championing and support from family and friends, the courage to start a legitimate craft beef jerky business was born.
After countless hours of researching the science (YES, SCIENCE) of beef jerky, shelf-life and food safety, and learning as much I could about small businesses, BC Jerky officially started trading in June 2019.
Stay tuned to this space as we continue the social distancing series ‘My Jerky Journey’ with semi-regular blog posts discussing topics ranging from jerky at home, commercial vs craft jerky, preservatives in jerky and many, many more!
