Laurent Baud Of JERKYOURMEAT: 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand

Prepare yourself for anything and everything because the least expected is going to come knocking very fast.

As a part of our series called “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Laurent Baud.

Laurent Baud, The Founder and Jerky Master at JERKYOURMEAT has a love for nature, the outdoors and adventure. Following his passion for adventure and breaking the mold, he created JERKYOURMEAT because he was sick of eating the same old boring beef jerky flavors! There is so much more then Peppered Jerky, and Teriyaki Jerky, So he started his smoker and dehydrator and took his passion for cooking to the world of JERKY.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

Growing up in NYC always gave me the ability and ambition to try anything and be open to so many different cultures. This led me to a love of traveling and food. New York City is a melting pot of food culture and expressions.

Can you share with us the story of the “ah ha” moment that led to the creation of the food or beverage brand you are leading?

The Ah Ha story of creating this Jerky company was when I saw that the JERKYOURMEAT domain was available, and all the social handles. It was a sign that I needed to enter the world of Jerky! I have always been a jerky lover and started making my own jerky year back for road trips and for a great healthy snake while on the go. Then I started to batch it into small air sealed bags to preserve it. I needed a name for this jerky. Then it came to me… JERKYOURMEAT.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Wow… I have probably made many mistakes along the way. The mistake that made us learn the most was trying to rush through things. We learned when our company went viral on the internet that we were not ready for such a demand. What we did was communicate directly with each client that ordered and explained that due to overwhelming love and demand we are behind schedule and orders will take a few weeks to produce, to our surprise everyone was very understanding and didn’t mind the delay. Of course, we did have one customer that cursed us out… hahaha all part of running a business I guess.

What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a food or beverage line? What can be done to avoid those errors?

Preparing yourself for regulatory compliance. Remember you are serving people food, you cannot cook out of your home kitchen, go find a commercial kitchen that you can rent by the hour or the day and set up shop. Make sure to file with for local business, food, and agriculture dept, and any other regulatory processes that your state requires. Don’t skip these steps, because they will come find you and stop you from selling to your customers.

Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to produce. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?

Take the time to learn the industry prior to going into an industry you don’t know anything about. There are a lot of obstacles that will slow you down along the way. Prepare yourself for anything and everything because the least expected is going to come knocking very fast.

Many people have good ideas all the time. But some people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How would you encourage someone to overcome this hurdle?

Time, Time, Time… Nothing is going to happen overnight, it takes a lot of planning, preparation, and effort to taking your passion into a business. Look at your business from the consumers end, ask what would make your product better and be able to win over customers, focus on customers and a great product and everything will line up. Chasing a quick buck is a cheap shortcut that leaves everyone broke.

There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?

I believe everyone with an idea and a passion is an Invention Development Consultant for their idea. They might see it one way today, but as they grow and the product grows, the invention and development happen naturally. I love looking at companies’ logos over time, look at your favorite company and see how they change over time. It is all part of the process I believe.

What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?

Bootstrapping is the way I am going, and it is the way that pushes you to think creatively, you need to figure things that your community likes and will enjoy, Make content on social platforms, connect with them in ways that other brands don’t and own the market. If there is a will there is a way. Look at all these creators that have gained massive followings just by putting content out there. You can do the same, you just need to stay engaged, fresh, and creative.

Can you share thoughts from your experience about how to file a patent, how to source good raw ingredients, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer or distributor?

Filing a patent or trademark is something I would hire a lawyer for. But get your patent or trademark right in the beginning, there are a lot of online platforms that can help with this. Finding a manufacturer will take time, you need to find a person that is trustworthy, flexible, and understands your goals. Finding retailers is a lot of work, you cannot wait for them to come to you. You need to go find them and show them how great your product is. Now go ahead and do it.

Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

We at JERKYOURMEAT believe in create a community behind our brand, we don’t just sell a product, we sell a lifestyle, our lifestyle is all about Nature, Outdoors, And Living Life to the fullest. We want to support the communities in the activities they love and be a brand that stands by its consumers and that their passions are.

Can you share your ideas about how to create a product that people really love and are ‘crazy about’?

Making cool different products that consumers want is what we do. We want to standout and be different. We are a different brand, we think differently, and we live differently. So, we try to reflect that in our products by delivering new and exciting flavors.

Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

We believe in giving back. When we can we don’t our product to people in need. Jerky is a great product to donate, it is packed with protein, delivers people a great product thar us compact and most importantly delicious. We are a growing company, and we want to help our communities with community sponsored activities that keep people engaged and active.

You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

We would love to create Jerky Retreats, a program that would take inner city kids and bring them to nature. Growing up in the inner city this is super important to me as every time I was able to get into nature as a kid it changed me in so many positive ways.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

It has been a great pleasure chatting with you all. If you ever need to reach out to us, feel free to contact hello@jerkyourmeat.com or text us at 845.299.2009