Jerky Captures New Converts

An old to-go food has found a new generation of consumers crazy for dried meat.

February 03, 2016

FORT WORTH, Texas – Americans have entered into a jerky craze, with $2.8 billion spent on dried meat snacks in 2015, according to IRI, NPR reports. The increase is driven by Millennials, who snack more than previous generations, and those who want to consume more protein, according to the National Snack Food Association.

Convenience stores have become the go-to place for jerky on-the-go. “It's a good all-around snack,” Chris Hart, a beer marketer, said while munching a selection from Buc-ee’s jerky bar. “It's ready to go. Good protein. Tastes good. You can't go wrong with it.”

The New Braunfuls, Texas, Buc-ee’s location offers 37 different kinds of jerky. “If it'll hold still long enough, we'll make jerky out of it,” store manager Dan Parkinson joked.

The popularity of jerky has come full circle, as today’s consumers appreciate the portability and nutritional value in the dried meat snack. Jerky sales jumped 12.5% in 2015, according to IRI. Jack Links boasts it sells more than half of all U.S. jerky, but numerous smaller companies are nipping at its heels.

For example, Epic has all-natural organic meal bars with dried fruit and nuts. Epic will introduce salmon, wild boar and venison jerky this year. “We're big jerky people here,” co-founder Taylor Collins said. “But there hasn't been a whole lot of innovation in jerky in a long time, maybe even hundreds of years. So we wanted to do something a little bit unique and different.”

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