About us
Back in 1993 we designed and built a facility specifically for making jerky in Cootamundra. We use grass fed beef coming from the wide expanses of Australia’s outback because perfect for making jerky. Very lean, no hormones, antibiotics or chemicals. Perfect!
Marinating this beef for 14 hours with carefully blended combinations of herbs and spices and locally grown, cold pressed canola oil allows us to produce a jerky that has a great balanced flavour that lasts for a long time.
We have been very successful in showcasing Australian meat and ingredients to the world through our jerky, selling it through duty free stores to visiting tourists. Its now time we started making it available to Australians so we are launching our new snack food range.
We don’t skimp on ingredients or production methods so you can be confident that you are getting the very best jerky when you buy Billabong Jerky.
We know Australian's love quality, and we know you'll love our jerky.
Company history
1993
Billabong Jerky was first started
1995
Became Australia's biggest supplier to Duty Free stores in Australia
2003
We became a company and expanded our factory
2018
Relaunched into the Australian market
After building a facility specifically designed to manufacture jerky in Cootamundra in 1993, Billabong Jerky began operation as a small family business and since then we have been producing high quality, delicious jerky.
In 2003 we became a company, Cootamundra Country Foods Pty Ltd (trading as Billabong Jerky), and we now have a corporate structure with a Managing Director, Production Manager, Quality Assurance Manager and a staff of 10. Don’t worry though, this doesn’t mean we are just another big factory pumping out product. We still cut our own meat, we still make our own marinades from scratch. We still give our jerky the personal attention to ensure you still get high quality jerky with that homemade taste.
As the company grew we found a niche for our jerky in the souvenir market. Back in the 90s it was Japanese tourists, now it’s mainly Chinese tourists but luckily for us almost all nationalities love our jerky. We are the biggest supplier to Duty Free stores in Australia and have developed a substantial business in this market.
These days Jerky is easy to find, its available just about anywhere potato chips and chocolate bars are found. But it hasn’t always been like that, it certainly wasn’t when we first started producing jerky back in the early 1990s. Pubs would stock it for us and truckies and cowboys were our customers. Most other Australians weren’t quite sure exactly what it was. Fast forward 25 years and now jerky is well known and a popular choice. I actually credit the Simpsons for helping Australia come to know jerky. It was often referenced in the cartoon and even if it was often in a disparaging context, it helped normalize it to Aussies as a mainstream snack. Then along came the fitness/gym culture and with it the search for low carb, low fat, high protein foods - making Jerky was the perfect fit. Paleo and Ketone diets have also become popular which jerky fits in perfectly with.
At the end of 2018 we decided the time had come to re-enter the Australian market and we have developed a range of high-quality Australian style jerky. Our new range of jerky has been made by Australians, for Australians so it is not the soft, mushy stuff commonly available. Billabong Jerky is a traditional, harder (but not too hard) and drier style of jerky. We also cut our jerky into bite sized pieces so it’s easier to eat.
We operate out of Cootamundra. An idyllic country town, green paddocks full of crops, fat sheep and cattle. No belching chimneys of heavy industry or multiple lanes of traffic here. In this clean, green environment we have the perfect place to have a food factory. Keep your eye out for our iconic logo of the bloke riding the kangaroo. It might be a bit kitch but it is easily identifiable, memorable and definitely Australian, just like us!