Beef Jerky brings to mind gas stations, unappealing plastic packaging, and commercials that star Sasquatch or an annoying, sexist Slim Jim. Brooklynites Chris Woehrle and Robert Stout are trying to change that. Their business, Kings County Jerky gives the snack an artisan twist with pasture-raised, grass-fed beef from local farms and all-natural ingredients. (Heads up, vegetarians and vegans: They have something for you, too!)

Both world travelers and self-proclaimed foodies, the co-owners give Kings Co. Jerky some design spice, too: Stout, who previously lived in Miami Beach, where he was known for his massive barbecues, is a fashion photographer who's worked with such luminaries as Annie Leibowitz. Former DJ and party-promoter Woehrle art directs and has worked in film and advertising. We talked with Woehrle about his company and how their handmade snack stands out from the rest.

Readymade: First things first, how did you and Robert get together?
Chris Woehrle: I met Robert when he moved into my building to live with his girlfriend, who was a friend of mine. She introduced us, and because we all lived in the same building, we started spending a lot of time together. Robert and I were both die-hard home cooks, so we started cooking meals together several times a week. We were both sick of our careers, and wanted to turn our love for food and cooking into a business. In June 2009, we entered a big cooking competition and beat out 24 competitors to win. That was the spark that really ignited our commitment to create a food business.

Why jerky?
We figured the best place to start was with a craft food product—something we could make at home and then grow into a small business. We were both fans of jerky, and also realized it was perfectly suited for a reinvention: a lowly but beloved junk food that we could remake with top-notch ingredients and exciting new flavors. Instead of cheap meat entombed in corn syrup and shellacked with chemicals and preservatives, we'd use grass-fed beef and all-natural herbs and spices. We didn't see anyone else doing it the way we envisioned, so it seemed like a good business opportunity as well.

We know about your art and design experience—do you have culinary backgrounds, too?
Neither one of us has any real professional culinary experience, but we're both ambitious amateur cooks. We've both been cooking almost daily for years, and have spent many-aweekend over the last decade preparing multi-course meals for friends and family. I'm also a huge food nerd who collects both new and out-of-print cookbooks and reads them cover to cover. We're constantly talking about food and cooking, so when it came time to develop flavors, it was really just a matter of kicking around some basic flavor profiles, and then meticulously working them out.

I heard making your first batch was a unique experience...
After getting the initial inspiration to make jerky on a trip to a Pennsylvania smokehouse, we made our very first batch in Robert's apartment. Using a method I'd seen Alton Brown use, we bought a box fan, air conditioner filters, and bungee cords to fabricate our first makeshift dehydrator. After the success of that first trial, we knew we had to up our game. So we ordered a smoker about the size of a small fridge and set it up on Robert's terrace. We outfitted the smoker with small extractor fan to help circulate the air and improve the dehydration process. We used this modified smoker on the terrace to perfect our flavors and make our jerky for the first year.

How did you go from a terrace to becoming a small business (with a very nice kitchen)?
We entered our jerky in a contest called The Next Big Small Brand. It's a contest for New York craft food makers, and out of 140 entries, we were among the five finalists. The final contest was judged and attended by the Who's Who in food: Whole Foods, Food & Wine, Martha Stewart magazine, and many more.

We ended up in a judges' tie with another finalist, who won by one tie-breaking vote. Nevertheless, we had been the crowd favorite, and it was clear from the enthusiastic reaction to our jerky by food industry professionals that we had a product worth bringing to market. The next day, we got started on turning it into a legitimate business.

In your video, you explain how your design backgrounds came in handy while creating your business. Can you tell me about that and how design is pertinent to what you're doing?
As an art director, I knew from the beginning that unique packaging was as important to our success as quality ingredients and interesting flavors. Jerky is universally packaged in vacuum-packed clear plastic, which is as generic as it is unappealing. Since we were making a handcrafted, artisanal product, we wanted our packaging to communicate that. I knew I wanted some sort of brown kraft paper bag, and I wanted a simple, bold label in classic colors. I wanted our jerky to be instantly recognizable and totally unique when compared to other jerky brands.

The photography was just as important. Jerky doesn't tend to photograph well, and a lot of care needs to go into making sure it looks appetizing, because the first impression is so important. Robert's photography skills meant we were able to shoot incredibly sexy images of a generally unsexy product. We knew many potential customers' first impression would be on our website, so we made sure we had great images to put up.

Another design-related decision was adding the toasted sesame seeds to our Korean BBQ flavor. All jerky tends to look the same, and I wanted to add a contrasting visual element to make ours stand out. The sesame seeds on the Korean BBQ are as much for the eye as for the palate. As a result, it's the first of the three flavors people usually want to try.

You guys just started making portobello jerky. Was there a demand for a vegetarian option, did you just want to experiment, or how did this come about?
We weren't responding to any specific demand. I was just inspired to to make a vegetarian jerky that would be as good as our beef jerky. Our goal was to make the best jerky on the planet, and I thought we could do that with a vegetable too. As it exists, vegetarian jerky is an overly-processed soy product that bears no similarity to a real vegetable. I was certain that by slicing, marinating, and dehydrating portobello mushrooms, we could create a delicious vegetable jerky that had the same umami chewiness as beef and still be recognizable as a mushroom. I also wanted it to be something that carnivores would buy—and they do (a lot of customers buy both beef and portobello jerky).

OK, so where can we buy it?
Our jerky is available on our website, or directly from our web store. On Saturdays we're at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene and the Hester Street Fair on the Lower East Side. Starting June 4th, we'll be at the New Amsterdam Market at the South Street Seaport on Sundays. Folks can also make an appointment (email hq@kingscountyjerky.com) to come by our kitchen-shop to pick up product.

And finally, what's next?
We're developing some great new flavors, and are looking into producing a new line of wild salmon jerky from Alaska. We'll be available in a number of stores before the end of the year, and have plans to open new operations in Colorado and the West Coast in the next few years. Our goal is to keep growing slowly and steadily so we can maintain control over what we make and how it gets made.

[Portrait photo by Don Cunningham, all other photos by Robert Stout] 

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