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Hey everyone,

I'm starting up a beef jerky company and I'm looking to solely target the crypto market for payments. I currently only really have an instagram (@thecryptojerky) and no website yet. I'm working on figuring out the flavors that I like and the next steps I want to take. I've always wanted to do this but thanks to being at home for Covid I've had a lot more time to spend trying it out.

I'll eventually be working on how to package and label the product as well.

The cuts I'm using are top/eye/bottom round (whichever is easier to get at the time). I've tried lots of different store bought sauces, but have made a few different marinades myself.

If there is anyone out there willing to take a risk and try some I'd like to get samples out and get some real thoughts and constructive criticism (friends and family are only so helpful).

I do not think that this field will be suitable for cryptocurrencies due to the many complications that we may face transferring the product from the source to the consumer so it is better that it is promoted within the region or country as a maximum.
Perhaps the contribution of individuals and companies will be beneficial, but paying in cryptos will be an additional option and not the only payment method.

You can use LN/bitcoin payment for some small projects> or using payment peocessoers like coinbase/bitpay

Read more:

 - https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/8cps83/my_beef_jerky_company_now_accepts_bitcoin/
 - https://www.reddit.com/r/CoinBase/comments/888vdz/my_beef_jerky_company_now_accepts_crypto_payments/

I get what youre saying. But I want to be different than the other ones. I'm doing this for fun and want to accept what I want to accept.

Good luck on your venture.  If your looking to send out some samples I would provide feedback regarding your project.  And kudos to you for going 100% crypto

Just finished checking your IG page and noticed you are using only a few tags for each of your posts ^{[try to use up to 30 tags for maximum exposure]}.

I hope that changes soon since accepting crypto-currencies manually through IG isn't that ideal...
- In regards to payment processors, I suggest using either Blockonomics (https://www.blockonomics.co/merchants#/page1) or BTCPay (https://btcpayserver.org/) ^{[coinbase and bitpay limits your customer base]}.

From where are you?

Love me some beef jerkey. However, you'll need to present some certification regarding meat quality and hygiene before ppl consider buying.
I know i know, most of the store bought stuff is substandard when it comes to that, but somehow people trust the mass produced packagins.

Let me know one a website and a catalogue is up. Also, what price range?

Here, 40 grams of imported USA beef jerkey goes for around $4

if it is good, I would pay for it with btc or other crypto - no issues at all. you could always start off with using a forum escrow as well until you build up enough trust for people to willingly send btc for a product - because crypto cannot be reversed or recouped like fiat or creditcards/paypal etc can.

For anything under $10 i'd risk it regardless of escrow. But like i said, my concern is quality and sanitization.

true - depends on quantity and volume for what the expense would be - and yes quality and cleanliness matters the most, food done wrong can be a killer, literally...

United states.

Also thanks for the thoughts, I really appreciate it!

---

Everything I buy is USDA Prime certified Top/Eye/Bottom round (depending on whats available at the time) and I'd make sure to have all of that included when I ramp up.  Since i'm still very low production and just testing I'm not too worried about it yet. But that all makes sense. Right now I have no idea on the price range, things are kind of skewed due to the virus so prices are higher than i was paying earlier this year.

are you willing to send samples?  ;D

Good point, I know there are people out there like krogoth that have very reliable escrow services. Doing that until I have some more official stuff like a website and proven reliability would be smart. Thanks!

---

I am, domestic to the United States.

If enough people are interested I would probably do like 3oz at a time and use a flat rate box. I wouldn't ask for cost to cover the meat since making the jerky is like a learning experience for me. Helping with shipping would be a plus.

---

The other part that I'm quite interested in doing is buffalo chicken jerky. I'm a huge fan of anything buffalo chicken. 

I think it's possible I'll make that my cornerstone. I can do different heat levels to it as well to attract people that love super hot stuff.

Chicken is nice because it seems to dry out a little bit more, which means better in terms of preservation. It's also cheaper by the pound and can help keep costs down for everyone :)

I would be willing to give it a try and yes, I am in the US - FL.

Awesome! It looks like I have enough interest that I'll try and make a decent sized batch during the next week and give an update to those that are interested.

when you do - just shoot me a pm! I also provide escrow here as well - just not as long as some of the others have been but 100% positive ratings for the deals I have done.

I love beef jerky and while beef jerky is not the industry I would start a company in right now, I think you should go for it if it's what you want to do.

anyways, DMed

I'm also interested, even tho i'm outside of US.
Please let me know when you have a website read and atleast an idea of the price + shipping to EU

As I said at the very top I don't have a website, just an instagram. I'm only just getting started and gauging interest.

No idea what international shipping would cost. But unless this turns out well for me it likely wouldn't make sense unless you would want it in a bulk amount versus a few ounces.

---

To give everyone an update on where I stand. FYI I marinade for a minimum of 24hrs. Cook time for both is 10hrs at 160F

Buffalo Chicken Jerky:
https://imgur.com/a/EEHqEGu

I've found a great simple recipe that I love for the buffalo chicken jerky. It's simply hot sauce, lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, and salt. 
I plan on taking this a few routes -- a "create your own" where I'll use whatever hot sauce that the customer would like, a "too hot to handle" where I'll try and find some of the hottest sauces I can, and also growing some of my own peppers to make a homemade hot sauce.
^^ Some input on the above routes would be great. Would you like to customize it where you can use your favorite hot sauces? Would you rather I just stick to a select few and not offer a customizeable option?

For this round I went with original Tabasco (says the scoville rating is between 2500 - 5000) and the Habenero Tabasco which says around 7500 scoville.  I'm personally a fan of really hot stuff. So I do fully intend to go hotter but wanted to keep it at a good intermediate place.

I just realized there isn't a picture of the packing of the chicken. It's from Heritage Farm and says it is inspected by the US Department of Agriculture. So far I've had no issues with it.


Beef Jerky (Honey):
https://imgur.com/a/JHllBS6

Everything you should want to know about this is in here. I used two different cuts because that's what was available at the store today. Boneless eye of round (USDA Choice) as well as Round Tip (USDA Choice). Total weight of the meat was 4lbs 12.9oz (before turning into jerky).

I used a sugar free BBQ Sauce (I'm a fan of low carb diets, so this is something thats particularly important to me -- keeping carbs in the sauce as low as possible). The nutrition information is available in the pictures as well.

Please take note, I do not wear gloves during preparation. Since the meat cooks for so long the temperatures are safe to kill all bacteria,etc. I will either use tongs or wear gloves to take anything off the trays if it is being sent out.

If you can provide quality products, I see no reason why you couldn't do well here. Production scale beef producers have operated here for years (RIP Andelin). If you are willing to send a sample I would be glad to give it a review. Send me a pm.

both look good - I dabble in it a little myself but never on a large scale - maybe 2 lbs at at time tops. The grandkids love it as long as I dont make it too spicy lol


looking forward to trying yours.

I'll take some forget the sample

How much is it for like 5 pounds?

You mentioned you had an instagram profile. Mind sharing the username so i can check it out?
Hoping to find more pics or some vids on the process, as beef jerky is really delicious, and kind of a rarity here in Europe.

5 pounds of jerky or 5 pounds of meat (before being turned into jerky)?

I sent my brother a batch of jerky for his birthday. It was three separate bags at 34oz per bag before it was dried out. After drying the bags came to 15-20oz each. So lets call it a solid 3-3.5lbs after drying vs. 6lbs 4oz before. So roughly I'd need to buy 10lbs of meat -- and current costs for me range between $5.99/lb to $7.99/lb due to the issues caused by coronavirus. And thats just the straight meat cost currently and not accounting for anything else (power, sauce/ingredients).

It's in the very first post, @thecryptojerky is the instagram handle. If you want it in bulk that could be easier to handle internationally. I just checked the USPS website for international from me to England (first thing I thought of) and their flat rate box is $38.60 for up to 4lbs maximum weight and 6-10 day delivery. Flat rate boxes up to 20lbs are $75.35 to $99.10 depending on the size of the box.. I checked a few other real quick and prices seem higher than that.

didnt usps used to have those boxes that "if it fits, it ships" boxes that were one price per size, regardless of weight? or do they now have limits on weight for those?

I think they recently increased all shipping prices.

Yes, those are the flat rate boxes. I think the lower weights only apply to international.  As far as domestic it looks like they can weigh up to 70lbs https://store.usps.com/store/results/shipping-supplies-prepaid-priority-mail/_/N-1u364ba?_requestid=114576

ahh ok! I used to use them a lot when I shipped things for my car club a few years ago.

Another update for everyone watching this:

I plan on making some more chicken and beef jerky tomorrow (I'll be letting it marinade for the next 24hrs). So I'll expect to have some to ship out starting Monday.  I'll do 3oz of your choice of ONE the following flavors for the first round (assuming I still have some available). If I have more available after the initial round I'll let you know.

1) Original Tabasco Chicken Jerky
2) Habanero Hot Tabasco Chicken Jerky
3) Sugar Free Honey BBQ Beef Jerky
4) Sugar Free Original BBQ Beef Jerky


If you're interested in the chicken jerky and want something hotter or have a favorite sauce that you want me to get, let me know (being available for purchase on amazon would make it super convenient for me as well).

I will only be shipping domestic to the United States with flat rate boxes. Please PM me using https://privnote.com/ to put any of your addresses in to mail the jerky to you. I will not keep any personal information written down except for the one time to create the shipping label. I'll PM you back with tracking information once I put it in the mail.

https://i.imgur.com/82ysNqO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8FjonRg.jpg

I received my free sample of "habanero buffalo chicken" jerky today. In total it was about 4 ounces. It came in a nice plastic "take out" type box via priority mail. On first inspection, it looks clean, with a nice color, and cut into nice sized manageable strips. I was interested to see how hot it would be considering habanero can mean anything between mildly spicy to several hours of pain, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The amount of heat was right in the sweet spot of being enough to have a good bite but being well below the point of it being distracting from the taste and enjoyment of it. I think even if you have a low tolerance for spicy foods, this still might be within your high range of acceptable heat level. This is a good indicator to me this guy knows what he is doing with jerky as getting this heat balance is not an easy task. Furthermore the texture was very good, dry enough that I am not worried about getting salmonella, but not so dry it is like trying to eat plywood like some jerky. Also it was not overly salty, which is something that I don't really enjoy about most jerky.

Overall I am very impressed and would rate the over all experience as a 9 out of 10. Thank you for the delicious sample, I think you could do well here with some dedicated effort, and I look forward to being a future customer!

this makes me eager to receive mine! good to see there are multiple people testing this out. Mine is supposed to arrive by Friday.

Wow thank you! I'm glad that you liked it so much. To be honest I wasn't sure how the dryness of the chicken would be to other people!

I do have something in the works that I might really kick up the heat on -- like 850,000 scoville ghost pepper and/or using pure pepper extract for those that are real risk takers.

mine came a day earlier than expected so that was a bonus.

The packaging was great, the containers held up to shipping with no issues. I got 2 samples - the Original Tabasco Buffalo Chicken and the Sugar Free Honey BBQ.

https://i.ibb.co/jbMQ4yt/82865317-727538281391695-7305126934149093174-n.jpg (https://ibb.co/ZG8FTB9)
https://i.ibb.co/171M3h1/107211989-2711812285591116-5130465878918764991-n.jpg (https://ibb.co/PFKMR3K)
https://i.ibb.co/7NWHf3Y/106607860-306009833867938-8947043225349314457-n.jpg (https://ibb.co/qFszSHy)

Original Tabasco Buffalo Chicken

on a scale of 10-

packaging: 9

smell: 9

texture: 10

flavor: 8

moisture level: 7

My grandson's give it the following:

on a scale of 10 -

packaging: 8

appearance: 8

smell: 10

texture: 10

flavor: 10

moisture level: 6

Sugar Free Honey BBQ

on a scale of 10-

packaging: 9

smell: 10

texture: 9

flavor: 7

moisture level: 7

My grandson's give it the following:

on a scale of 10 -

packaging: 8

appearance: 9

smell: 7

texture: 8

flavor: 9

moisture level: 5

feedback on Original Tabasco Buffalo Chicken:
it does not have the visual appeal that beef jerkey does - most likely due to you just cannot cut chicken the way you can beef :) but the flavor was good - I wouldn't mind it kicked up a bit higher but not with Tabasco - leave the Tabasco in but add something else for additional heat maybe? A little more dry then I prefer but I understand why - when shipping it, you do not want it to go bad. When I make mine at home for myself - I tend to leave it a bit more moist but that is because I know it wont be around for more than a day or two before me and the boys eat it all up.

feedback on SF Honey BBQ:
It was better than a lot of the ones you can buy off the shelf, mainly because the store ones are typically heavily salted - understandably but it does affect the flavor.  For the SF Honey BBQ - I liked it quite well but thought the flavor was a little light but that might be the effect of bit being sugar free. It was a little more dry than I typically like but overall I thought it was good - would probably prefer a non sugar free one in the future.

Overall - I think you are on a great track - keep up the good work.

 

The BBQ one looks jummy as hell. It's a darn shame i'm not from US.
Will you be opening these to non-us people? Maybe invest in some representative packaging once you decide on a brand name?

Again, the shipping cost for small amounts really would be super prohibitive. Unless you would want a massive bulk order (which I'm not sure I could even handle how much it would need to take) I don't think it makes sense to do anything outside of the US.

Yeah no worries, i understand. It's more of a wishfull thinking on my part.
Besides, due to Covid situation, your package wouldn't probably leave the US borders.

I tried to return an ebay item few weeks ago to a seller, and my local post office told me US is locked down, nothing gets in or out. At least from EU

Hi everyone!

So I think I've settled on what I'm going to pursue for this.

The most consistent and my personal favorite is doing different flavors of the buffalo chicken jerky. The recipe is straight forward and it allows for tons of customization to fit anyones heat profile.

For the beef side, I think I'm going to stick to things that are keto friendly and sugar free. I need to tweak the recipe I used for the sugarfree BBQ sauces from the samples, but I found a sugar free sweet-chili sauce thats absolutely phenomenal (if there are any requests for that I can send some samples out like before, same rules -- domestic US).

My signature style for the beef is a dry rub that replaces typical brown sugar with Swerve, which is a sugar free sweetener made up of erythriol (which is made by fermenting glucose and is found in many fruits and vegetables) and oligosaccharides (non-digestible carbohydrates, a prebiotic fiber). Other that the Swerve I use various other spices, such as onion power, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and more :) Here's the post on my instagram that shows the dry rub https://www.instagram.com/p/CCCehcghyjC/?igshid=1uhorjdd66c92

I hope to hear more from you!

glad you are sticking with the sugar free even though I think it loses some of the flavor - but maybe this new sauce you found will bring it back!

keep up the good work!

I can send you some! just privnote me the address again :) I'll make a fresh batch within the next couple days.

https://i.ibb.co/NycdQcN/119473614-328887471560779-7398392139777760060-n.jpg (https://ibb.co/MCFxWF1)
https://i.ibb.co/Qry5Fmx/119451695-349816752732810-8870354098896695887-n.jpg (https://ibb.co/qkTZM12)

Sugar Free Sweet CHILI

on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest)

packaging: 9

smell: 9

texture: 10

flavor: 8

moisture level: 10

My grandson's give it the following:

on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest)

packaging: 8

appearance: 10

smell: 9

texture: 9

flavor: 10

moisture level: 10

feedback on SF Sweet Chili:
Now, as sugar free goes - this one is much better than the other one was - and the other one was good! I like the moisture level of this one much more and the flavor was more subtle. I would love to see how you do with a non SF flavor of this same range! Like the other ones before, this was not heavily salted.

As I stated with the last two batches you sent - I think you are on a great track - keep up the good work!

If anyone is still watching this thread, I bought a professional meat slicer rather than cutting the meat by hand. This will help me have consistent thickness cuts and give a more consistent product! :)

nice! work smarter not harder!

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