We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nick Mendenhall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Nick, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
At this time I had been making jerky for awhile now, gaining traction with friends and family, when I decided to start my company. Everyone who supported me in the beginning was the driving factor to figure this out and bring it to the masses. I had been rifling through several different names, bouncing ideas off close friends and loved ones when my then girlfriend, now fiancé, shouts out “MoJerky!” The name hit me like a ton of bricks and gave me goosebumps, it was perfect! I turned back to her and said “because you’re going to want Mo of it!” That day in the kitchen was the day the company was born and I saw the future and what it could entail. Being an architect, project manager, and an artist, I immediately went to the drawing board to design the logo. The starting inspiration that came to mind for the ‘M’ was Homer’s sideburns from the Simpsons, one of the shows I grew up with. I wanted to create a logo with the name of the company within the character, to become the brand that would lead the way. The original logo was drawn on a 3″x5″ notecard with a sharpie. Once I knew it was the one, I brought into Photoshop and fine tuned it. From there, the rest is history. Being a 1 man operation and figuring out everything as I go from my local farm source, to packaging and shipping, I look forward to the future of MoJerky.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name’s Nick and I am the founder of MoJerky. I started back at the end of 2018 when I was finally fed up with rest of the jerky options I was afforded at any convenience store. Quality, size, cuts, flavors, you name it, I was over it. I thought to myself, people deserve better! I can elevate this art form! Right after that, I bought some books on jerky making, the process, the cuts, and scanned through countless recipes. I was off to the races.
I dove in head first in 3 feet of water.
With my upbringing in the kitchen and my Italian grandma and mother, I was indeed a lover of all things food. I started coming up with various recipes in the beginning and tried them out on those that were willing to take the journey with me. My first dehydrators were plastic…with very little capacity taking countless hours to dehydrate the meats.
Long story short, I have graduated to industrial steel. I am most proud of the process I have created to deliver delicious, quality, protein packed meats to the consumers. I am also proud of the fact that I use straight ingredients and nothing that you can’t pronounce, nothing for color, and nothing to promote years of shelf life like all the big names. Everything is made with love and made to order. From the meats locally sourced from the farm, to hand making the marinades, hand cutting the meats, marinating for a minimum of 24hrs, dehydrating, then bagging up and shipping. I thoroughly enjoy the close relationships I have with all my customers and it brings a huge smile to my face when I get messages about how much they enjoyed the last bag they had. Everyone seems to get upset because the typical bag goes in one sitting. I tell them don’t worry everyone has the same problem, but so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed!
I love the relationships I have made through this company and my artform and am always excited for the future and what’s to come.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Boot strapped it. I had a career in architecture for 10 years and used that to fund my “side hustle.” I used my connections within that industry, friends, and family to help save up enough capital to be able to officially start my company. I met some great people along the way and I was able to start my LLC. I was also able to trademark and copywrite the brand. From there, I had the foundation to build upon. The road is still long and we aren’t there yet, but I am confident I am moving in the right direction. It’s about the customers for me, and to see them happy and satisfied keeps me going.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Yes, I have built bookshelves in the jerky lair to fill out my library. I love books and continual learning from inspiring entrepreneurs and artists.
Folks, this ain’t normal – Joel Salatin
Company of One – Paul Jarvis
Shoe Dog – Phil Knight
Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek (all of his books too)
Ignore Everybody – Hugh MacLeod
Everything I Want to Do is Illegal – Joel Salatin
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Ruben
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mojrky.com/
- Instagram: @mojrky
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mendo_the
- Other: https://knownorigin.io/mendo https://opensea.io/SharpArt
Image Credits
Dylan Eddinger