ABOUT US
Meat The Makers
Howdy Y’all!
Now, let me tell you a little story ‘bout how Howdysnax came to be—a tale of two South African cowpokes with Biltong and Droëwors running through their veins, and a firehouse jerky-slingin’ legend we call Duke.
First off, Pieter and me? We’re South African born and bred, partners in crime when it comes to making air-dried meat magic. Biltong and Droëwors have been a part of our lives since we were knee-high to a kudu. I grew up in Pretoria, South Africa, where winters were spent on our family farm in the Great Karoo, turnin’ fresh cuts of meat into mouthwatering Biltong and Droëwors after every hunt. Pieter? Well, he’s from Kuruman, smack dab in the Kalahari, where his daddy and granddaddy made Biltong so good it’d make a grown man cry.
We moseyed on over to the great USA in 2017 and 2019, all starry-eyed and ready to take on the world. But lemme tell ya, the Biltong situation here? Drier than a cactus in a drought. So, we dusted off our family recipes, rolled up our sleeves, and started makin’ our own.
Before long, our friends and family were begging us for more, and the idea for Howdysnax was born.
Now, about store-bought jerky? Folks, it was like chewing on old cowboy boots soaked in soy sauce. That stuff ain’t jerky—it’s an insult to meat! We saw a chance to bring back real craft, not the overprocessed, bland-as-cardboard junk you find in stores.
In 2023, Howdysnax officially hit the trail.
We started small, just makin’ batches for folks we knew and loved. But then we realized there was a mountain of USDA, FDA, and FDACS rules standin’ between us and greatness. So, we saddled up, wrangled the paperwork, and set out to build ourselves a world-class USDA manufacturing facility.
It was a mighty big leap, but hey—if saving the world from boring jerky ain’t worth it, what is?
Just when we thought our posse was complete, along came Mike “Duke” Marmie.
We met up in late 2023, and let me tell ya, it was a meat-lovers’ showdown. I handed him some Biltong, and he handed me his craft jerky. We chewed, we nodded, and by the time the dust settled, we’d teamed up to take on the jerky world together.
Duke’s been perfectin’ his craft jerky for over 15 years, sellin’ it to his firehouse crew and pretty much anyone lucky enough to snag a bag. His jerky’s got a kick and a flavor so bold, it could win a bar fight.
And that, my friends, is how Howdysnax came to be.
We’re just a bunch of meat-lovin’, fun-havin’ folks, out here tryin’ to save y’all from boring, store-bought jerky… one Howdy bag at a time.
So saddle up and join the Howdysnax revolution. Your taste buds’ll thank ya!
