SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Calling all jerky lovers. On Saturday, May 22, the Tahoe Jerky Company will be opening their first kiosk in the Ski Run Marina center in South Lake Tahoe.

“We’re going to start a kiosk this summer until September and see how it goes and then see if we need to branch into a bigger location for the future,” owner and veteran Jeff Glass said. “I think people are ready to travel. People are ready to get on and do things as a family and go on some adventures.”

After splitting time between the Bay Area and South Lake Tahoe during the beginning of the pandemic, Glass decided to take what started as a side business and make his dreams reality.

“During the pandemic, we were kind of forced to work at home, of course, like everybody else,” Glass said. “But we decided to move to South Lake. It was my dream to own a jerky company, so that’s how that came about.”

That was during November of 2020. Now, almost seven months later, Glass and the Tahoe Jerky Company offer a large variety of jerky, including Original Brisket, Korean BBQ, and Mango Habanero. The company also sells turkey jerky, gummy bears, and tropical banana chips. Their newest flavor of jerky is called Armageddon Hot, Hot, Hot, and will be released June 1st for general sale.

So how does he pick which flavors to make?

“Just what people are asking for,” Glass said. “What they are wanting, the kinds of styles that were popular for me years ago when I was doing it as a side business.”

Since his business started as COVID spread through the country, he’s had to adjust his business model for getting his jerky into the hands of his customers.

“We have quite a few wholesale accounts now, but stores not knowing exactly what they were going to do as far as customers they wanted to have and new products,” Glass said. “There was a lot of uncertainty. So driving online sales at the beginning was the main key.”

Now, with twelve accounts in Northern California and their online shop growing, Glass said the key to his jerky success lies with his ingredients, as well as his care for his customers.

“You gotta have good brisket,” Glass said. “Good, quality products for people to pay for and make it affordable. You gotta have good deals.”

The veteran is also passionate about taking care of his community, and is able to use proceeds from his business to help those around him.

“I’m a veteran myself and we’ve lost some family members to veteran mental health issues,” Glass said. “So it’s one of our goals to get other people involved and to donate a portion of ourselves to local veterans charities to help with mental health issues.”

For more information, or to purchase Tahoe Jerky Company products, visit their kiosk at the Ski Run Mariana, or their website at tahoejerky.com.