Brooklyn Biltong

Brooklyn, New York

Ever since I was a little "chokerkie" in Pretoria, South Africa, playing around my grandfather's butchery I realized the potential of biltong. Oupa Dawie was a very disciplined, lovable butcher and respected hunter that made some of the "best biltong" in Pretoria. 

We would never leave without brown bags stuffed full of delicious dried meat for the ride home. In Africa, biltong is a household name, but I always felt that it was a taste that needs to be shared with the rest of the world.

Many years later I found myself living as a programmer and part time musician in Brooklyn, NY. After I met and married Emily we started our journey together in an inspiring city. We both had hearts for South Africa and its people, culture and traditions. It became clear that presenting a product from there would be an excellent way to connect our love for our current neighborhood as well as SA.

We made our first batch of biltong in 2012 as a snack for our wedding reception. None of our friends had tasted it before, but they met it with delighted tastebuds, and a demand for more! Their excitement in discovering Biltong led us to recognize the opportunity we had to make it more widely known.

The company was built with two goals in mind: Introduce Biltong to America, and make a difference in our neighborhood while doing so. Businesses are in ideal positions to make widespread difference to the betterment of society, because their good deeds comes from their business passion. 

We established what we call 'Eat and Feed.' Because Biltong is a sustainable, protein rich nutrient, we give away 10% of our profit in the form of actual Biltong to local Brooklyn organizations. We've most recently been donating to Chips, who works with City Harvest in distributing the Biltong into hungry hands. Read more about City Harvest here.