We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Wilma Bell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Wilma, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you manage your own social media?

To handle social media in-house, is a fantastic idea… mostly in theory. If you are experienced in handling all aspects of social media for your business, then go for it! However, if you are not that experienced, you might find that as your business grow and you get super busy with other aspects of your business, social media is not always a first priority and for some it might even be a huge challenge! One very important aspect to remember is, your website and your social media platforms are two different mediums that work together, BUT they stand apart! The one compliments the other. And your business would struggle if either of these are neglected!
My advice would be, as soon as you can afford it, hire a reputable company that is not that expensive, that can handle your social media platforms. It takes a huge burden off your shoulders and affords you time to keep your website up-to-date and concentrate on other business aspects.

Wilma, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the founder and co-owner of Byte Biltong. Biltong is a typical South African AIR DRIED BEEF Snack. Think about the process used to make a premium Salami or Prosciutto. We emigrated to America in 1999 and could not find a beef snack that we could enjoy as a substitute for Biltong. So, we decided we will have to make our own! By trial and error, we eventually got it right and started making our own products for family and friends, in our kitchen. Fast forward 10 years, and we’ve perfected Bitlong, a shaved meat, Chili Bites, can be compared to beef sticks and they are spicy, and Droëwors which is a cured beef sausage.
Offering a Biltong product to the public becomes an education opportunity! Even after making the products for more than 13 years, we will have to educate most people about what it is and how it’s made. That, actually, is the fun part!
Getting fresh spices is an absolute must for this product. Some of the bigger companies, and even those importing certain spices, does not have a return policy on spices. So, beware! When you order your spices from somewhere, ask what the manufacturing/packaged date was first! This date is different from the “sell by” or “best by” date and can sometimes differ as much as 12 months from the “sell by date!
Unless you add artificial preservatives in your product! Make 100% sure that your customers understand that this is an all-natural product. Which literally means there are NO artificial ingredients or preservatives. That, in fact means that you have to treat it with a little more tlc. Keep it in a cool place, actually means keeping it in a COOL DRY place. For instance, Florida’s 72°F might feel cool to the touch since 90°F and up is the norm for a good period of time, but it is in fact still a high temperature for an all-natural product! Then when you add the humidity, you have upset customers because the product went off.
We truly make better biltong than many of these huge commercialized biltong makers in the US! They certainly have the money for their marketing, but once their clients try our product, they all proclaim, and actually do, start subscription services with us! THAT, my friends, is such a huge compliment that keeps me humble and very grateful.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

We started making Biltong products in our own kitchen for family and friends. With lots of encouragement from our friends, we decided to take the plunge and start producing commercially. Well, to do this kind of thing legally, we started making enquiries from the City, the County and then the State. For just more than 6 months we were sent from one office to another to the point that I felt I was on a wooden roller coaster going at high speed in a direction with no end. Since Biltong making was not a known process, or industry in the USA at all, nobody seems to be really interested in getting involved! Eventually it was agreed that, since it is a beef product, it should fall under the USDA. HOORAY! No, not so much! Then they throw their rules, regulations, requirements and laws at you. ALL in one document. But wait, the document is not necessarily for Biltong… No, it’s for Jerky or any other meat processing plant. You have to sort through this encyclopedia to find the tiniest of grain of information and then hope it applies to an industry, that you need to educate the authorities on.
I am truly grateful for the 3rd party validation that was done by a Professor at the University of Oklahoma. The one person in this country that, at that point, knew enough about biltong to make me think there is hope! And sometimes, it took him hours to figure out what exactly it is that FSIS means in their directives for beef manufacturing processes! (I did not feel too dumb after that!)
I’ve learnt through the process to ask. Ask again. And then, if you still are not clear in what they require of you, or expected of you, …. ASK AGAIN! Don’t give up! It takes one person to cross your path to make a difference in being motivated to continue! But, if you don’t ask, you will never find the answer. And, if you find an answer that your logic tells you is not the right one, then rephrase your question and ask again!
There is a place to find any answer, and it lies in your questions. And only the person with the right knowledge, or experience, and tenacity to not let a question go, will get you where you aim to be!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Never stop building. People might lose interest in a product or a service but they NEVER forget HONESTY, INTEGRITY and being treated as if they mean the world to you. We strive to give our customers our best, ever time! No matter what! We have a reputation of great customer service with a great product. THAT is how I’d like to keep it! When your actions, your attitude, your reputation, speak louder than your words, your product will sell, no matter what it is!

Contact Info:

• Website: bytebiltong.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bytebiltong/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ByteBiltong/

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