How We Got Started

I started making beef jerky when I was in the U.S. Air Force in Colorado Springs in the early 1980s.  I learned how from a couple of co-workers that used to hunt Deer, Elk, Bear and Antelope.  They used to make jerky and showed me how to do it.  I started off in a one bedroom apartment making it in the oven.

Over the next 5 years I refined my first recipe and moved on to using a dehydrator.  It was less messy and gave me a better product.  At this point, friends who saw me with my beef jerky asked to try it.  Often I was asked “Hey, could you make me some, I’ll pay you for it”, so I did for a few folks.  As word spread, I found myself making more and more for my friends and family and was asked to make a Mild and Spicy variety.

I worked to develop 2 recipes and found that many folks liked Mild and others liked the Spicy.  I also found that the small cluster of friends and family that I made jerky for was expanding exponentially, particularly with the folks in my military unit.  We all loved having beef jerky around but, it was expensive and many of the commercial varieties we tried just weren’t that good.  They either had a weird flavor, texture, or had lots of preservatives and MSG and we just didn’t like that.  We traveled not only around the U.S. but, around the world and tried jerky from all over but always found ourselves coming back to Chip’s Jerky.

After much encouragement, in 2003 I formed an L.L.C. and we decided to start the process of making Chip’s American Jerky a reality.  I wanted to take the homemade recipe I had been using all these years and develop it in to a commercially viable product. We spent the next year or two learning what it would take to develop a new beef jerky for the market.  We found a U.S.D.A. certified manufacturer as well as developing a proprietary recipe for our Beef Jerky that matched my homemade recipe.

In 2006 & 2007 we ran many test batches of beef jerky with the manufacturer to try to match as closely as possible, the beef jerky we made at home.  After dozens of tests, we were able to duplicate a commercially manufactured beef jerky product, using all natural ingredients, which almost exactly matched the beef jerky I had been used to making at home.  We submitted our recipe and labeling to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and were approved in Fall 2007 as an All Natural Beef Jerky.

After finishing up a few more details, we went to production in 2008 and NOW, the Beef Jerky that I have been making at home, my all natural recipe that has delighted hundreds of folks in our list of extended family and friends is available to the public.

Seriously, this is the Best ALL NATURAL Beef Jerky you’ll ever eat. Try us once, and you’ll never forget us.  You just can't beat Chip's meat!