Auburn man turns love of jerky into big business

Auburn's Ajay Avery has loved jerky for as long as he can remember."I grew up in Rio Vista and some of my fondest memories are of the beef jerky we ate at the old movie theater," he said recently. "It was an expensive treat, so anytime I had enough money to buy some jerky, I was in hog heaven."Avery discovered what he considers the mother lode of jerky during a trip to Montana touring with a country music band in 1976. "It was just a fluke of luck," he said. "A couple of us went to Missoula to pick up some bumper stickers. We picked those up and started on to Lewiston. Two blocks away was a gas pump. We pulled in, got gas, and walked to a little tiny building to pay for it. It turned out to be an old-time butcher shop and pumping gas was a sideline. Clear across the room was a tray of jerky. I just went crazy when I saw it. From across the room, it looked twice as good as any I'd ever seen."Made by long-time butcher Henry Wilkinson, the water-based dried beef was tougher to chew than the oil-based products, which Avery soon found out."We ate it going down the road," he said. "After four hours, my jaws were aching. I could barely talk and had to sing all night."Avery had unknowingly bought the last of that batch of Wilkinson's jerky when he'd stopped by that day. On the return trip through Missoula, there was no more. But he didn't forget about it."While standing there looking at that jerky, I had this lightning bolt out of the sky," he said. "I thought, 'If that is as good as it looks, I could leave the band. I could put the jerky out as a straight-ahead business and later intertwine my own music with a backup band — like Jimmy Dean and his sausage."The name — Ajay's Montana Bananas — came to him like a flash out of the blue, too."As a songwriter, you think in terms of rhymes," he said. "Everybody recognizes the state of Montana. Yellow is the best color and banana is a funny name. Like Woody Allen said, just the word banana makes people laugh. It just makes everybody laugh and they don't forget."Avery soon began buying small batches of the jerky from Wilkinson and selling it on the road. Not long after that, he purchased the recipe and lined up a Sacramento manufacturer. Initially he sold the jerky by the piece, wrapped in butcher paper. Then about 15 years ago, he began packaging multiple pieces in Ziploc bags.Today the company sees $1 million a year in annual sales."It took 28 years to build it up to one point," he said. "In the last three years, I've doubled it."After trying without a lot of success to get into mass distribution with the big chain stores, Avery now sells much of his jerky through private parties. There's also a Web site he started about eight years ago and some commercial distribution including a contract with Beverages & More, which he has had for nearly two years. Packages of Ajay's Montana Bananas jerky can be found on the shelves of BevMo's 91, soon to be 92, stores including the newest one to open — in Auburn.Avery also takes a booth at the Nevada County Fair and the Sierra Brewfest each year. And he still goes out on the street a couple of days a week as a distributor, selling to stores and private parties. "Beef jerky is kind of a passionate product," he said. "You either love it or hate it. We're only dealing with people who love it."The company offers nine products — peppered, sweet teriyaki and extra hot in traditional thicker cut, pepperoni beef sticks and slab-style thin cut — oil based and water based.During a taste test Wednesday afternoon featuring his original peppered-flavored water cured, the traditional thicker cut sweet teriyaki and peppered slab-style oil cured, the teriyaki sticks were the big favorite."It was juicer, easier to chew and had more flavor," Annie DeKruse of Auburn said.Katelynd Bell of Auburn liked the smoky taste of the teriyaki."I think it is delicious," she said, asking for another piece later to take away the spicy peppery flavor of the second chew.The peppered water-cured jerky found a fan, too."It has a good flavor, but definitely hard to chew," Kimberly Kolitsch of Cool said. "This is more like the beef jerky I eat. I like that it has a little more bite to it." Avery's favorite is still the original water-based peppered style that he first found in Missoula. It is the biggest seller, too."We call it 'Cowboy Dry,'" Avery said. "I have a bunch of customers in Bakersfield. Somebody there started calling it Cowboy Dry. Now that's what we call it."Wilkinson was suffering from cancer when he entered into the business agreement with Avery and died a year later, but his legacy is flourishing."I was able to rescue that incredible recipe and save it for people to enjoy," Avery said.The Journal's Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay@goldcountrymedia.com or comment at Auburnjournal.com.