Alan Utz & Assocs., Inc.

Client:

Brad & Jane Dobervich

Scope Of Work

It’s one thing to buy beef jerky at the convenience store. Or the pharmacy. Or the supermarket.

But in the midst of a national obsession for all things protein, jerky has now become its own store front. That’s right: The Beef Jerky Outlet has evolved in less than four years from zero to 26 franchise stores — with 11 more in the pipeline.

But don’t look for conventional Jack Link’s Beef Jerky there. Sorry, this is a place for jerky connoisseurs. You know, like turkey, salmon, buffalo and, yes, even alligator jerky. In all, about 200 different jerky offerings, much of it sold by the ounce from wooden barrels and the rest sold pre-packed.

An entire store — for beef jerky?

“Everybody says that,” says Paul Lyons, co-founder of Beef Jerky Outlet, which is headquartered in Seymour, Tenn, and has outlets in 16 states. “Back when I first started, I thought the same thing.” But the chain’s sales topped $15 million last year and his goal is to reach 100 stores.

“We’re the right product at the right time,” boasts Lyons. “We don’t stock the mass brands.”

Mass is crass. But beef jerky — lean meat trimmed of fat, cut into strips and dried then preserved with salt — is on a tear. Sales of all beef jerky-type products jumped to $1.24 billion last year, up 46% between 2009 and 2013, reports Information Resources, the market research specialist. The trade magazine Convenience Store Decisions recently called beef jerky one of the fastest-growing segments of the snack food industry.

But it’s not just the national infatuation with high-protein, low-calorie foods that’s driving growth. So is our national need to snack. Nearly four in 10 Americans are replacing meals with snacks, reports a recent Nielsen Global Survey of Snacking.Snacking is now a $374 billion global industry — and is growing about 2% annually. So why shouldn’t jerky get its fair share?