#threejerksjerky

(Photo by Hagop Kalaidjian)

Ahh, jerky. A true American staple. We’d go out on a limb and bet that almost everyone reading this has experienced the simple, dehydrated joy that is beef jerky. As jerky enthusiasts ourselves, we’ve tried a whole range of the sinewy, dried delicacy. Sadly, the vast majority of the jerky selection is tough, dry and chock full of nasty preservatives.  We always hoped that one day, a standout jerky would arrive on the scene, putting all other jerkys to shame, shining in all its healthy, tender, and flavorful glory. The HTF (healthy, tender, flavorful) trifecta is clearly a hard one to perfect in the jerky game. We've watched and tasted many brands who have tried and failed, rarely even hitting two of the three. Then, we met Three Jerks Jerky. When we heard they made their version of the beef snack with filet mignon, we were intrigued. We got in touch with the jerks and asked them if we could swing by, get a little jerky demo and learn what sets them far apart from the Jacks Links, Obertos and Slim Jims of the world.

A+A: Can you start by telling us the story behind the jerky? What inspired you to start Three Jerks Jerky?

J: It started when I was living in Orange County. We were all sitting around one night watching TV and a conversation about jerky came up. We quickly came to the conclusion that we all loved jerky, but that everything out there really sucked. It was clear that all the big companies had no interest in making a good product, and all the smaller guys, who were doing the organic, grass fed stuff, weren’t making anything that great. So, we decided to try making our own. The next day, we went to the store and bought the best meat we could find. We did batches of filet, batches of rib eye, batches of New York strip – all the premium cuts of beef- and they actually turned out pretty good! Little by little, people were trying it, liking it and asking for more. So we started working on a ton of different flavors, tried a ton of different meats and eventually, it evolved into two realizations: 1) filet mignon is the best meat to use and 2) people really liked our product.

  A+A: Well that sounds like a pretty lucky start! Did you just teach yourselves how to make it? Or did you go in with some former jerky makin’ skillz?

J: We are totally self-taught. It's kind of the standard grass roots, entrepreneurial story: we’d go to my apartmtent after work almost every night, every week, and just work on jerky until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning.

A+A: Whoa! That’s a lot of jerky time!

J: A lot of jerky time. I would set an alarm every hour in the middle of the night to go and check the dehydrator to see when it was perfectly done. It was a lot of work.

D: I was living up here in Santa Monica when Jordan was living in Orange County, and I was doing the same thing at home, on my own. We experimented with so many different flavor combinations. We’re launching with three, Original, Chipotle Adobo and Memphis Barbecue, but we probably have about 8 or 10 flavors that are legitimate possibilities for down the line.

J: A whole roster of delicious flavors.

    A+A: What's the philosophy behind Three Jerks Jerky?

J: As far as the product goes, we want to make the absolute best beef jerky we can. Jerky is typically thought of as a primarily blue collar food, but we want to change that stereotype and create a premium side of it.

D: We’re basically making red neck charcuterie.

  A+A: How long have you guys been at this?

J: A full year at this point. We launched our Kickstarter two weeks ago, but leading up to that was a lot of work getting the product set, getting a supply chain set, figuring out our branding and marketing, finishing our packaging-

    A+A: Yeah! We love your packaging. Very rustic. And love the three layered animals! 

J: It's actually a little bit of a character play on us. Fogey is the bear, I don’t know why but they chose me to be the jackass-

D: It has nothing to do with personality…

J: And the other founder, who is no longer with us, is the chicken.

A+A: Are you looking for a new jerk?

J: We're actually thinking about getting a chicken as a placeholder for the third jerk. 

A+A: Haha well, that would be appropriate! Are your ingredients local, sustainable, and organic?

J: Yes. For the most part, everything is totally local. The meat sourcing- the farms, the cows- are all local. The manufacturing facility is local, our spice supplier is local in Long Beach-

D: Even the guys who are making our final packaging are just 35 miles east of downtown.

A+A: So rad. LA is a very self sufficient city. It seems like the jerky business is becoming somewhat of a trendy pocket of the food world. Obviously your use of filet already puts you far ahead of the competition, but what else do you plan to do to continue to set yourself apart from other jerky makers?

J: Well we’re intrinsically set apart because of the meat we use. Obviously, other people might try to start making their own filet mignon jerky, and if it happens, it happens. We will always remain the original though, and we will continue to work as hard as we can to make really excellent jerky and keep building our brand. We really put our heart and soul into this and I think that comes through. We can only hope people will recognize that.

  A+A: Clearly filet is your forte but is there any interest in ever moving into other cuts of beef jerky or other types of animal jerky?

J: We tried other types of beef and through that process we learned that filet is the best. It’s the leanest and it’s the most tender, so I don’t think we’d stray away from filet. There are definitely plans for expanding with our rubs and our marinades and bottling and selling those. As far as other animals go, as long as there is a premium cut, and there is something that keeps within the same characteristics of top quality and most delicious, then I think it's something we'd look into.

(Photo by Hagop Kalaidjian)

A+A: Why did you decide to do this in LA?

D: The pace of life here in LA is more creative than it is insane (like it can be in some other cities).

J: The other day, I was watching Fogey do his magic with social media (we call him the Sultan of Social), reaching out to people and accessing our networks to let them know about our launch. I was thinking that if we were to try and do this in any other city, it would be incrementally more difficult, just because of what happens in LA with the entertainment industry and so much entrepreneurialism. There’s such a social context for creating a business that makes it much easier than other cities.

(Photo by Hagop Kalaidjian) 

A+A: As meat purveyors, where do you guys go to get the best meat dishes in LA?

D: My barbecue.

J: Yes. Fogey’s barbecue. The dry rub that we use for our Memphis Barbecue flavor is the same dry rub that Fogey has been using on his barbecue since he was 7 years old. It's insane. There's also a restaurant in Culver City called A-Frame and they have this beer can chicken that is one of my favorite dishes in LA.

D: One of the best meat meals I've had is at Hatfield’s. They have this sous-vide short rib. I mean, I'm starting to drool just thinking about it. It was one of the best meals I've had in a while.

J: Playground in Orange County does a pork chop that is one of the best things I've ever eaten in my entire life. Its brined, sous-vide, seared and then they do a maple glaze on top. It's amazing.

D: In terms of just a pile of meat on a plate, there’s one place on Rodeo and La Cienega called JR's Barbeque. It’s a family owned BBQ place that's been around forever. It is some legitimate barbeque. 

(Photo by Hagop Kalaidjian)

  A+A: Whats your favorite view in LA?

D: The view from my parents backyard in the Palisades.

J: Fogey's backyard, definitely. Also, there’s a hike in Topanga Canyon called Tuna Canyon and the view is unlike anything I've ever seen in LA.

(Photo by Hagop Kalaidjian)

  A+A: What was your favorite meal as a kid?

J: I grew up in a Cuban family in Miami and there is this one Cuban dish called Vaca Frita, which is a flank steak, shredded, then fried on the griddle with garlic, onion and lime. I could eat that until my stomach explodes.

D: Growing up, I had a nanny who has been with my family for longer than I've been alive, about 30 years. She used to cook the most phenomenal, authentic Mexican food; the best guacamole, the best quesadillas, everything. Anything that she cooked was, and still is, my favorite.

  (Photo by Hagop Kalaidjian)

  A+A: If there was one law you could change, what would it be?

D: Making sure that Lyft and Uber doesn’t become illegal.

J: There’s been a lot of headway with gay rights which is awesome, so I think probably gun control would be the most critical at this point.

  A+A: What are your future hopes for Three Jerks Jerky?

J: It’s tricky because we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We have no way of knowing where this is going to go, whether it will become huge or whether it will die out. The only thing we can control is how hard we work. We just want to continue giving this our heart and soul and working as hard as we can. If we continue to do that, I think we will succeed.