Jack Link’s Beef Jerky (History, Types & Pictures)

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky is a brand of popularly styled beef and meat products named the founder of the company. The meat in Jack Link’s Beef Jerky is said to use the founder’s great-grandfather’s Old World recipes. Jack Link’s comes in many different styles, such as teriyaki, original, and peppered versions. Jack Link’s brand also makes other types of meat products, such as Jack Link’s Turkey Jerky, and the brand’s meats come in many different sizes and types of packaging.

History and Information

Jack Link’s is a brand of beef products and other meats. Most famously known for its beef jerky, Jack Link’s also makes other products such as sausages and turkey jerky. Jacks Link’s Beef Jerky was first made in 1986, by the company of the same name, Jack Link’s. The product’s name and the company that makes it is named after its founder, John ‘Jack’ Link, who uses a traditional recipe to make the product. Jacks Link’s meat products are sold in over 40 different countries and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue per year. Jack Link’s still has its original facility based in Minong, Wisconsin, in addition to other facilities that are owned by Jack Links across the Midwest United States. Locations of facilities that are owned by Jack Links include areas such as in New Glarus, Wisconsin; Alpena, South Dakota; Mankato, Minnesota; Laurens, Iowa; and Bellevue, Nebraska; and a marketing office in Minneapolis.

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky’s history is of one of a long line of family tradition, for its founder’s family has been selling meats since John Earl Link’s, (aka John Jack Link’s), great-grandfather moved from Germany into the United States Wisconsin and started selling meats as a butcher and running a general store. The Link family has always sold meats since immigrating to America, and it was stated by John Jack Link that it had a “10 out of 10” impact on his evolution in creating Jack Link’s brand. The inventor of Jack Link’s brand was involved in the meat business since he was as young as 7 years old, such as raising cattle and doing butchering, and he spent time studying to learn how to make sausage under a German sausage maker. John Link, and his son Troy Link, current Jack Link’s CEO and president, described the meats used in the Original Jack Link’s Beef Jerky and Kippered Beef Steak jerky as being the same spices and old-world style leftover from John Jack Link’s great-grandfather from Germany. The founder of Jack Link’s son, Troy, said that his father was broke and 40 years old when his father began selling meat snacks. eventually turning his company into a success. The inventor’s son joked that he had to push his father hard to get into beef jerky, so hard that if he was not his son his father would have fired him, with his father agreeable to the statement, however, the product took off with so much steam that the founder of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky could not say no. The history of Jack Link’s jerky was described by the founder and his son as a great family story of the American dream. The company is very much a family-run business as described by the founder and also the president of Jack Link’s, and the founder has described making sure he has a paycheck and jobs to provide everyone to be very much a focus for him.

In a bid to increase the presence of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky products and the Jack Link’s brand throughout Europe, the Jack Link’s company acquired Unilever’s meat snack division In February 2014. Unilever is a British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company that sells food and beverages. The acquisition that Jack Link’s received from Unilever included the Bifi brand, sold in Germany, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland; and Peperami, which retails in the UK and Ireland; and a manufacturing unit in Ansbach, Germany. This quick growth of the popularity of Jack Link’s Beef and other products under their brand seems to reflect how Jack Link’s has been referred to as a leader in their industry, while still managing to be a family operation.

Jack Links has engaged in several forms of advertising and publicity, such as numerous television commercials, as well as sponsorships and merchandise such as apparel under the Jack Link’s name brand. Television commercials advertising Jack Link’s Beef Jerky featured a popular ad campaign called “Messin’ with Sasquatch”, where a bunch of guys would mess with Sasquatch while eating Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, only to end up on the wrong side of that Sasquatch. Sponsorship by Jack Link’s meat brand includes one with the Seattle Mariners baseball team.

The Jack Link’s brand sells numerous spin-offs to their Original Beef Jerky and Kippered Beef lineup, in addition to other types of meat and jerky snacks. Variations of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky include flavors such as Teriyaki and Flame Grilled Statehouse Recipe, as well as Hickory Smoked and Peppered flavored jerky. The Jack Link’s brand also produces Jack LInk’s Chicken Jerky and Turkey Jerky, as well as Tender Cuts with Prime Rib Seasoning. Other products made by Jack Link’s induce Pork Jerky and Jack Link’s oven-roasted Turkey Nuggets.

The Inventor Of Jack Links Beef Jerky And Brand

The person who invented Jack Link’s Beef Jerky product, brand, and company, is John ‘Jack’ Link, (John Earl Link). John Earl Link was born in 1946 and says he has been working with meat since around 7 or 8 years old. John Link son, and president of the company that makes Jack Link’s products says his father was 40 years old and broke when he started up the company, and that he pushed his father hard to do so. John Earl Link is a decedent from a German immigrant and took the recipe and spices used by his great-grandfather to create Jack Link’s Original Beef Jerky.

The Company That Makes Jack Link’s.

The company that makes Jack Links Products is Jack Link’s, the American food manufacturing company. Created by John ‘Jack’ Link, Jack Link’s company is a family-owned business and as of 2019 is run by John Link’s son, Troy Link, CEO and President of the Jack Link’s company.

The Year Jack Link’s Was Invented

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky was invented in the year 1986 by John Earl Link. Link used ingredients used by his great-grandfather to create Jack Link’s Beef Jerky.

Tips on Buying

Jack Links Beef Jerky is wonderfully common in stores and can be found in locations such as Walmart, CVS, and many more. You can check below for a list of some stores that may sell Jack Links Beef Jerky. Even better is that Jack Links often has many of its varieties actively stocked in stores, giving snack consumers a wide amount of options to choose from. If you cannot find what you are looking for locally, you can always buy Jack Link Beef Jerky online, as well as offshoot products. Buying Jack Links online gives you even more options due to having a larger amount of sellers to work with. You can place an order and have your Jack Links sent to you. Check below for offers on buying Jack Links online and having it shipped to you. It does take more time when getting them via an internet-based seller, but for some, it can be well worth the wait.

Stores That Sell

Here is a list of stores that may sell Jack Links:

1. Walmart
2. Walgreen’s
3. CVS
4. Target
5. Dollar Tree
6. Sams Stores
7. Big Y
8. Stop And Shop
9. Kroger
10. ShopRite
11. Sams Club
12. Costco

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Rise To Popularity

In the competitive market of meat products, Jack Link’s Beef Jerky has come out as one of the most popular beef jerky brands in a short period of time. First invented in the year 1986 by a man with little wealth at the time, the small family business has quickly expanded to $1 billion U.S dollars of sales yearly by 2015 and $1.2 billion dollars of sales yearly by 2017. The Jack Links company acquired Unilever’s meat snack division In February 2014 and is continuing to expand operations while maintaining a family company identity.

The success Of Jack Links Beef Jerky can possibly be attributed to a number of factors. Beef Jerky itself is a popular snack, and Jack Link’s brand does this well. Jack Links Beef Jerky’s taste is popular with consumers, comes in several varieties, and Jack Link’s brand has several spin-off products and various forms of meats to eat. Jack Link’s brand covers many bases, from offering different types and variants of its main product, to ensuring a taste consumers like, thus allowing it to be a top contender in its competitive market of meat-based snacks.

Flavors

Here is a list of the different flavors of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky.

• Original
• Original Reduced Sodium
• Teriyaki
• Peppered
• Sweet And Hot Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
• A1 flavored Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
• Flamed-Grilled Steakhouse recipe styled
• Hickory Smoked flavored
• Jalapeno Carne Seca Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
• Sriracha flavored
• Cholula
• KC Masterpiece Barbecue Jack Link’s
• Burrito flavored
• Chilli Lime Carne Asada
• Bold Cracked Pepper
• Mahalo Teriyaki
• Manuka Smoked flavored
• Sweet & Spicy Thai Jack Link’s Beef Jerky (Blend of Sweet And Bold Asian Flavors)
• Wild West Hot ‘N’ Spicy (Solid Strips of Marinated Smoked Beef)
• Kung Pao Jack Link’s Beef Jerky
• Original Hickory Smokehouse (Genuine Full Flavored HardWood Hickory Smoke)

Other Types Of Jack Link’s Snacks

Jack Link’s makes more than just bags of beef jerky. Here is a list of other snacks made by Jack Links.

• Jack Link’s Chicken Jerky. (Made with real white fully cooked chicken breast.)
• Jack Link’s Original Chicken Strips. (Strips of white meat chicken.)
• Jack Link’s Premium Cuts Beef Steak (Strips of seasoned and slow cooked beef steak. Comes in flavors such as Teriyaki, Original, Peppered, and KC Masterpiece Barbecue.)
• Jerky Chew.
• Jack Link’s SmokeHouse Beef Jerky Strips. (Comes in flavors such as Original, Wood Smoke, and Teriyaki.)
• Tender Bites. (Tender Bites are small tender pieces of meat, such as dried and seasoned pieces of smoked beef stake or white chicken breast. Comes in flavors such as Peppered, Original, and Teriyaki. Also comes in forms such as Flamin’ Buffalo Style chicken.)
• Tender Cuts. (Tender cuts of slow cooked and seasoned prime rib.)
• Jack Link’s Beef And Cheese. (Beef and Cheese in a long skinny stick-like form. Contains flavors such as Original, Jalapeno Sizzle, and White Cheddar cheese varieties. Also comes in forms such as Turkey and Cheese sticks.
• Jack Link’s Beef Sticks. (Just simple long skinny pieces of beef to enjoy. Also comes in styles that contain other meat such as pepperoni as well as beef.)
• The JackPack. (The JackPak is a snack product that contains a combination of 2 Pretzel Sticks, 2 Original Beef Sticks, and 2 Cheddar Cheese Sticks, all in one container.)
• Cold Crafted (Packs of refrigerated smoked meat sticks and cheese.)
• Jack Link’s Pork Rinds (Pork Rinds coming in flavors such as AppleWood BBQ and also Sweet and Hot.)
• Jack Links Hot Head. (Spicy and sour pickled sausages.)
• Jack Link’s Screamin’ Demon. (Marketed as very spicy pickled sausages.)
• Bacon Jerky. (Thickly cut pieces of hickory smoked bacon jerky.)
• Jack Link’s AM Breakfast Bacon. (A fully cooked and ready to eat bacon. Marketed as a breakfast style bacon to be eaten in the morning. Comes in flavors such as Brown Sugar and Maple and also AppleWood smoked flavor.)

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients of Jack Links Meat Snacks.

• Beef
• Water
• Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Contains 2% or less of salt
• Beef Stock
• Flavors
• Soy Sauce (Wheat, Soybeans, Salt)
• Hydrolyzed Corn Protein
• Yeast Extract
• Maltodextrin
• Citric Acid
• Pineapple Powder
• Soy
• Wheat

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 oz	% Daily Value *
Amount Per Serving
Calories	80
Calories from Fat	10
Total Fat	1g	2%
Saturated Fat	0g	2%
Cholesterol	25mg	8%
Sodium	510mg	21%
Carbohydrates	5g	2%
Dietary Fiber	0g
Sugars	5g
Protein	10g
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		0%
Calcium		2%
Iron		6%

Pictures

Some pictures of Jack Link’s meat snack products:

Commercials

Here are some commercials of Jack Links to watch:

MESSIN WITH SASQUATCH COMMERCIALS BY JACK LINK’S BEEF JERKY BRAND.

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