Serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Philip Beauregard, has set out on a new venture. This one isn’t like the others, as the product is marinated and dehydrated.
Phil, who founded companies such as Rekindle and Objective Logistics and has invested in many companies such as Blissfully and The Tap Lab, is now headed into the meat department.
Brothers Artisanal is a handcrafted jerky company based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Founded in 2017, the company is run by brothers Phil and Pierre Beauregard and is looking to create premium jerky that is healthy and incorporates unique flavors.
It got its start a few years ago. Phil found himself watching a lot of Food Network’s Chopped. Addicted, Phil was buying and tinkering with every new kitchen gadget he could think of.
In the process, Phil bought an industrial dehydrator. His brother Pierre’s in-laws owned a farm down in Maryland and with it had a recipe for homemade beef jerky. Phil began to tinker with it not expecting it to become the Brother’s Artisanal brand it has become today.
Pierre said that he started receiving jerky in the mail from his brother a few years ago. Pierre, a self-taught home cook with an affinity for Asian flavors, began to give suggestions after each batch.
“He never took my advice, but I didn’t really think much of it because I was happy with his original No. 5 jerky,” Pierre said. “One day in the mail I got a food dehydrator, and a food saver with some bags. I called him up and he said ‘You start making some.'”
Pierre’s first batch was meant to be flavored like a Vietnamese lemongrass pork soup he really enjoyed. It didn’t work out as he planned but he’s tinkered and found recipes that work and are currently being produced that include Korean BBQ, Thai coconut soup and Carolina Dip.
Pierre makes the jerky over multiple days. He starts with a six-pound slab of meat and cuts it thin into pieces that are a quarter to a third of an inch thick. He then blends up the marinade for that batch and lets the meat soak in the marinade for three days. On the fourth day, it goes into the dehydrator.
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So far this jerky has only made it out to a handful of friends and fellow Boston CEOs for tasting, but has received glowing reviews and large order requests. Tariq Trotter, better known as Black Thought from hip-hop group the Roots, serves as an advisor for Brothers Artisanal and said his favorite flavor is original no5 turkey, according to their Kickstarter campaign that was launched on April 17.
Brothers Artisanal hopes to raise $10,000 in this campaign, which is meant to help cover the costs of the first round of orders.
Phil said that they have had many generous offers for funding but that this venture is different, and he doesn’t want it to be run like his businesses in the past.
“I really consider this a family business,” Phil said. “I’m first and foremost really concerned with just making that work. And having fun getting that purity out it that I haven’t necessarily had in the past.”
The business is set up to be a monthly box service as of right now, according to Phil. If they wanted to expand into retailers later, Phil said he has the contacts.
“We’re not concerned about making huge margins at this point,” Phil said. “We just want to see how people like it, and improve on it.”
