Pico company is selling beef jerky from the Azores
This Californian couple arrived on the island of Pico in 2008. Before that, Griffin had been invited, in 1998, to participate in a study by the University of the Azores related to deep-sea shellfish. The experience made him want to return and settle in the Region, which came true ten years later.
In addition to a seafood company, which is “on a break” due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Tricia Alker tells how the idea of making Beef Jerky (smoked and dried beef) came about.
“As we’re from California, there were some products that we really liked that you can’t find here. Among these was the Beef Jerky”, explains Tricia.
The pandemic and the fact that “we had time to start thinking about other things”, led the couple to start the production only for their own consumption. Later, “after we had given it to some friends from Pico to try it”, the couple realized that this product could have success in the Region.
“As we already had a licensed facility for the seafood business, we adapted it so that we could start producing Beef Jerky”, says Tricia Alker.
This “entirely family-owned” company uses a completely artisanal process for smoking and drying the meat and, currently, is committed to the production and marketing of two types of Beef Jerky: the original and the spicy.
Tricia Alker explains that her company works in partnership with other companies in the Region, “such as Quintal dos Açores with their hot sauces. We use meat from Quinta dos Açores, in Terceira and from DPCA in Pico”. The quality of Azorean meat is, for these entrepreneurs, one of the great advantages of this product.
“The cows here are freer in the pastures, they mostly eat grass and the meat is cleaner (…) In the USA, Beef jerky is very popular and there are brands that only use beef like the one from Azores, which is considered Premium. Our meat from the Azores is all Premium and that’s why we can create a high-quality product”, she highlights.
The businesswoman says that Azores Jerky “always produces small batches (between 20 and 40 packages per batch)”, although the business is growing and gaining new customers.
“Azores Jerky is not a mass production factory and we are committed to a controlled and more artisanal process. We have the capacity to produce a lot but we always want to have a fresher and high-quality product”, she emphasizes.
Tricia Alker admits that the company has the ambition to grow, but as this is a new and family-oriented company, “we have to start slowly and take safe steps”.
Present in seven islands of the Azores, with the exception of Flores and Corvo, this businesswoman says that the “business is growing rapidly”, despite the fact that this is a “very unknown product for Azoreans who have not traveled to the United States of America or to the Canada”.
“We also sell on the mainland and we even have people from outside, tourists who came here in the summer, who, after tasting it, contacted us to buy. At the moment we still only have Facebook, but in a short time we will have a website to help with sales”, she adds.
Tricia Alker also explains that “although Beef Jerky is not a traditional snack, most people like it when they try it. It’s not ham and it’s not sausage. It has that sausage-like flavor, because it’s a little smoky, but it really is completely different.” In addition to tasting good, Beef Jerky is also a healthy product, “almost only protein, very low in fat and has the advantage of not spoiling easily”. Therefore, the businesswoman reveals the wide variety of people who have been looking for these products.
“We have fishermen and other people who need to eat something that gives them more energy and who don’t have a lot of time to stop and eat. There are also mountain guides who opt for Beef Jerky instead of a cereal bar and even mothers, who are buying for their children to take to school,” she says.
The couple that bets on the commercialization of this new product believe that “there is a lot of potential here in the Azores”.
“We noticed this as soon as we arrived and there are still many opportunities in terms of products or services for those who wants to be an entrepreneur. In the last 12 years that we have been here, we have already seen so much growth and we believe that there is still room for more. Our project is also an example of this; that it is possible to introduce a new product with the resources of the Azores in a different way”, they say.
Luís Lobão
Source: Correio dos Azores
