In the summertime of 2012, married couple Shannon Ronan and Breelyn MacDonald put their bartending jobs on maintain, tossed their backpacks into the again of their Honda Match, and left their house in San Rafael, California, for the open highway.
“We took 5 months and hiked and camped and ate our method across the nation,” Shannon informed The FruitGuys. “We noticed tons of nationwide parks and many barbecue joints.”
Shannon and Breelyn visited thirty-five states and fifteen nationwide parks on that five-month journey. Alongside the way in which, that they had three fixed companions: One another, their Honda, and an unlimited stockpile of selfmade beef jerky.
Breelyn (left) and Shannon (proper) mountaineering The Narrows in Zion Nationwide Park
From Street Journey Snack to Household Enterprise
The jerky was a success with their fellow hikers, similar to it was with their family and friends at house. By the point Shannon and Breelyn trundled again into San Rafael that fall, they knew they wished to begin a jerky enterprise.
Their gluten-free jerky model, Two Chicks Jerky, formally launched three years later.
Now, The FruitGuys is that includes two flavors of their beef jerky flavors—Traditional and Habanero—as our Snacks of the Month in June 2024 to have a good time Satisfaction Month. We’ll add Two Chicks Jerky to all of our Considerate Snack Bins and supply it by the case for workplace Satisfaction Month celebrations.
“We’re extraordinarily proud to be the one women- and LGBT-owned jerky model within the nation,” Shannon informed us. “It’s fairly darn cool.”
Need Satisfaction Month snacks?
We have got you coated.
Jerky With out the ‘Junk’
Shopping for jerky from the grocery store is straightforward—so what impressed Shannon and Breelyn to make their very own? In keeping with Breelyn, it began when Shannon went down the homesteading rabbit gap. Early forays into pickling and preserving finally led her to check out selfmade jerky. Her recipe was easy, with out what she calls “junk”: antibiotics, added nitrites or nitrates (aside from these naturally occurring in sea salt), and hormones.
“We are able to make it so a lot better ourselves as a result of we have now management of what goes into it,” Breelyn defined.
Shannon and Breelyn prefer to eat complete meals, and Shannon’s jerky recipe follows that philosophy. It requires honey as a substitute of processed sugar, and the chewy items are seasoned with garlic, black pepper, tamari (a gluten-free different to soy sauce), and lime. However the star of the present is beef from grass-fed, humanely raised cattle.
Sourcing Grass-Fed Beef
Within the early days, Shannan and Breelyn sourced their beef completely from Richards Grassfed Beef (now Richards Regenerative) in Oregon Home, California. However as their firm grew—thanks largely to a partnership with Zoe’s Meats, which took over distribution of Two Chicks in 2017—their beef demand surpassed Richards’ provide.
“As soon as we grew to a sure capability we needed to begin sourcing from a number of locations,” Shannon mentioned. “However the parameters won’t ever change. Our jerky will at all times be grass-fed with no junk in it.”
Immediately, Two Chicks sources grass-fed beef for its gluten-free jerky from cattle ranches in Idaho, Oregon, California, and past.
Need Satisfaction Month snacks?
We have got you coated.
Proudly LGBTQ+-Owned
Two Chicks Jerky has been Licensed LGBT-owned since 2021. For Shannon and Breelyn, that certification is a big level of delight.
“It’s nice to be a part of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, particularly within the jerky world which is so masculine-oriented. It’s good to characterize,” Shannon mentioned
Not solely does the certification set Two Chicks aside (and make their jerky an ideal Satisfaction Month snack), however it additionally celebrates the co-founder/house owners’ love story.
Two Chicks, True Love
Shannon and Breelyn each grew up within the small city of Nevada Metropolis, California, however they didn’t formally meet till 2003. That yr, of their early 20s, they each discovered work on the similar restaurant. Their friendship began with soccer video games and night time swimming adventures, then advanced right into a long-distance relationship when Breelyn moved to Florida for a job.
“We stayed in contact over the cellphone and our relationship flourished there as a result of we had a lot time to simply discuss,” Breelyn mentioned. “… Then I moved again when she was in San Francisco, and like true lesbians we simply moved proper in collectively.”
In 2007, Shannon deliberate a romantic getaway for the 2 of them on the banks of the Russian River in Guerneville, California. Funnily sufficient, she and Breelyn each packed engagement rings—and so they proposed to one another on the similar time!
“We received married at San Francisco Metropolis Corridor proper earlier than Prop 8 handed,” Breelyn mentioned, referring to a California state constitutional modification that briefly banned same-sex marriage. “… [When we reached out to schedule our ceremony]the subsequent day from 3 to three:30 p.m. was the one appointment earlier than voting day.”
Breelyn (left) and Shannon (proper) on their wedding ceremony day at San Francisco Metropolis Corridor
Fortunately, that last-minute wedding ceremony led to a fortunately ever after—jerky included.
Workplace Snacks That Give Again
In 2019, Shannon and Breelyn began a Giving Again Initiative at Two Chicks to offer again to their neighborhood.
“From the very starting at Two Chicks Jerky, as the one women- and LGBTQ+-owned jerky firm within the nation, Bree and I wished to make use of our enterprise platform to assist causes that align with our values of inclusivity and constructing a extra compassionate and equitable world for all,” Shannon informed The FruitGuys.
The Giving Again Initiative does simply that. By way of it, Shannon and Breelyn donate a fluctuating portion of Two Chicks’ on-line gross sales proceeds to the nonprofit Wanting Out Basis.
“We initially rotated the nonprofits we’d donate to (previous recipients being Bear Yuba Land Belief, Coloration of Change, the ACLU, and One Tam), however via our love of the music of Brandi Carlile, we found the wonderful nonprofit the Wanting Out Basis, which was began by the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and her bandmates, Tim and Phil Hanseroth,” Shannon mentioned.
The Wanting Out Basis spreads its funds throughout a spread of causes Shannon and Breelyn care about, together with the humanities, neighborhood improvement, girls’s rights, training, the setting, healthcare, human and civil rights, and extra.
In the event you’re on the lookout for Satisfaction Month snacks for the workplace, you may’t go mistaken with a mission-minded, LGBTQ+-owned model like Two Chicks Jerky.
Need Satisfaction Month snacks?
We have got you coated.
Source link
