Kentucky Monthly Feature
Thanks to Kentucky Monthly for featuring our story. Read the full article here.
While the making of jerky goes back millennia, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that Bourbon County farmer Ronnie Mingua entered the game. “My dad saw a Ron Popeil commercial for a dehydrator one day, and he decided to order that and then decided to make beef jerky,” said Ronnie’s daughter, Holly Mackley, who, along with husband Curtis, now helps run the family business. “So, he perfected the recipe … and they just started selling it from there.
“They went around to different horse farms and car lots and just sold it out of the vehicle at first and then sold it at stores.”
Sales took off—so much so that the United States Department of Agriculture noticed and began inspecting the product. That led Mingua to move into a 1,000-square-foot facility to satisfy the USDA’s regulations.
By 2004, Mingua was producing 5 to 10 pounds of jerky a day in a 10,000-square-foot building using more than two dozen dehydrators.
Curtis said that one day, “out of the blue,” USDA inspectors informed them they weren’t cooking the jerky properly. “We weren’t going to shut down, obviously,” he said. “That was the time we invested in industrial-size [dehydrators]. The real challenge from there was having the jerky … taste the same way.”
The recipe for that taste is the same as when Mingua first conceived of making beef jerky, using only the round cuts from a cow and sodium as a preserving agent versus artificial preservatives.
Their concerns about preserving the flavor proved to be unfounded as sales continued to grow. Now, the family is operating from a 20,000- square-foot facility in Paris.
The product line has expanded to include multiple jerky flavors. Along with the original are Hot, Cajun, BBQ, Garlic & Onion, Sweet and Hot, and Bourbon. Mingua Jerky also produces treats for dogs.
Most of the product line can be found in any gas station or convenience store east of the Mississippi River.
“We’re pretty much saturated in Kentucky and every state that touches Kentucky, as well as Florida, Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, the Virginias, Pennsylvania and Illinois,” Holly said. “We don’t really have any salesmen beating down doors—it’s just word of mouth. Our quality speaks for itself.”
The Mackleys said they are already looking to expand their facilities yet again, ensuring that the family business will be around for the long haul.
“We’re still having a good time making jerky,” Curtis said. “We’re making jerky every day and having a good time, and our kids will be making jerky 10, 15 years down the line.”