AN iconic product sold in pubs and clubs, service stations and supermarkets nationwide might just be the Riverland’s best kept secret.
Schmeks Beef Jerky is a proud, Riverland family business, made just outside of Loxton for the past 24 years.
After identifying a gap in the market, Peter and Ronny Goodhand began manufacturing their own beef jerky.
“It’s been a journey, which has been very productive for us,” Mr Goodhand said.
“When we started 24 years ago, there weren’t very many beef jerky manufacturers around.
“At the time, there was probably only one other around from Alice Springs that we knew of.”
Since then, the brand has continued to grow, with Schmeks Beef Jerky and Beef Stix now sold nationwide.
“To get the brand name out there took at least 10 years,” Mr Goodhand said.
The local business produces beef jerky from its Loxton site weekly, employing six local staff.
“Beef jerky is not a cooked product. People think it is, but it isn’t,” Mr Goodhand said.
“It’s a dried product.”
Schmeks Jerky uses one particular cut of the beast, meaning sourcing enough product is unviable in the Riverland.
“We source our beef from a meat supplier in Adelaide,” Mr Goodhand said.
“We use an outside flat.
“Because it’s one cut of meat, we need 500kg a week.
“We tried using a local abattoir, but unfortunately they can’t supply enough of one cut.
It is top grade, 100 per cent Australian made and it’s a very lean product.”
Mr Goodhand said the business has seen an increase in demand for jerky in recent years.
“We believe that it is because our product is more unique in its taste and texture than our competitors,” he said.
“Most of our competitors have what you call a wet jerky, which consists of a lot of sugar.
“We are one of the lowest in salt too and we have kept the same recipe for about 20 years.”
About 50 businesses in Australia now produce beef jerky, according to Mr Goodhand.
“(Competition) is always a concern, but given that we have been doing it for 24 years, it does mean something about our product and that is that people must like it,” he said.
“We also package beef stix and that’s been a complementary product to our beef jerky, which we started about 10 years ago.”
