I'm Keith — The Fat Yankee. I built a real jerky brand from my kitchen, got it licensed, and sold it at markets and shops across the country. Now I teach you how to do it — without the trial-and-error, the failed inspections, or the expensive mistakes.
Fat Yankee Jerky didn't start in a factory. It started on my counter, with a cheap dehydrator, a stubborn streak, and about a hundred bad batches before I got one right.
I fought with recipes. I lost sleep over pH, water activity, and temperature controls. I wrote and rewrote my HACCP plan. I walked into health department offices not knowing the right questions to ask. I figured out — the hard way — how to price jerky, how to package it, how to sell it at a farmers market, and how to get it on a shelf.
We don't make jerky anymore. These days, Fat Yankee Jerky is an education company. I take everything I learned — the recipes, the paperwork, the production know-how, the sales playbook — and hand it to the next generation of jerky entrepreneurs so you can skip the expensive mistakes and build a real business, fast.
Four flagship resources — from your first batch to your first shelf placement. All live inside the Fat Yankee Skool community.
The definitive starter playbook. Meat selection, cuts, marinades, drying methods, food safety basics — everything you wish someone had given you on day one.
The food-safety plan that gets you licensed. A real, working HACCP template you can adapt to your own operation — not a generic download, the actual plan I used.
Go from kitchen to cash. Pricing, packaging, labeling, co-packers, farmers markets, retail, online — the exact path from "I make great jerky" to "people are paying me for it."
My complete A-to-Z system. Every lesson, every worksheet, every video — the full path from hobbyist to professional jerky operator, taught step by step.
One community. All four resources. Direct access to Keith.
The Skool community is the main clubhouse. Facebook is the open door. YouTube is the sample tray. Jump in wherever feels right.
The private home for serious jerky makers. All four courses, weekly Q&A, direct access to Keith, and a room full of people building the same thing you are.
Join the Community →The open-door meetup. Share your jerky wins, ask questions, swap photos, and get pulled into the conversation. Free, public, and very much alive.
Join the Group →Free tutorials, recipes, walk-throughs, and behind-the-scenes from my jerky lab. Start here if you want to see how I work before you jump in deeper.
Subscribe →Can't find what you're looking for? Send me a note — I read every message.
Nope. The Great Beef Jerky Guide is built for absolute beginners. If you've eaten jerky, you can learn to make it. The Master Class then takes you all the way to selling it.
No — I retired from production so I could teach full-time. Fat Yankee Jerky is now an education company, not a food brand. Everything I built goes into teaching the next generation.
Skool is a paid community — that's where all four products, direct Q&A with me, and the serious tribe live. Facebook and YouTube are free if you want to kick the tires first.
It's the working plan I built for my own operation, adapted into a fillable template. You still tailor it to your specific process — every facility is different — but it gives you the bones so you're not staring at a blank page.
Depends on your state, your facility, and how fast you move. Some of my students are selling at markets within 90 days. Others take a year. The Bring Your Jerky to Market course shows you the fastest legal path.
Yes — that's the whole point of the Skool community. Post a question, I answer. We also do group Q&A inside the community so you learn from other members' questions too.
The recipes and production know-how work anywhere. The licensing/HACCP piece is written through a US lens, but the frameworks translate — and we have international members putting them to work.
Send the form below and I'll read it personally. If it's a fit, you'll hear from me within one business day.
Or dive into one of these yourself: