Eric Berrill is the Founding Director, CEO, and owner of the first set of tastebuds behind our Chewy Mooey. Working on his family cattle farm from a young age, he never really took to the concept of jerky at first. Despite trying multiple jerky products over the years, Eric still didn’t think jerky was as good as it could be. It was tough, hard to eat, dry, and in many cases he believed it also lacked a full flavour.
After continuously tasting not-so-satisfying jerky products offered to him by his mates, Eric decided that he would simply try his hand at making is own.
He started experimenting with making beef and kangaroo jerky, mixing up tasty flavour combinations and improving the drying process until he created something that he himself enjoyed snacking on. He gave his home-made jerky samples to his friends, girlfriend Chava (now fiancé), family, and Chava's local touch footy team mates, the Spotted Quolls. He got plenty of cheers of approval and requests to keep the jerky coming.
After perfecting his recipe, Eric decided it might be time to see if others might like his jerky too, and to confirm that his mates weren’t just pulling his leg about liking the jerky he’d made.
Eric started buying meat just for making jerky, as opposed to using the spare meat from the family cattle farm, and thus a business was born out of his hobby. After the family farm was sold in 2014, it was time for Eric’s jerky products to really shine.
What started off as a way to make jerky that Eric liked eating, has turned into a jerky product that converts non-jerky eaters into jerky-lovers very quickly. With Eric’s meat industry knowledge and experience, he has been able to create a jerky that is tasty for all to enjoy using Australian beef and kangaroo, as well as unique marinating and drying methods.
Eric’s role as Founder and key flavour-maker doesn’t stop there. After taking Chewy Mooey and Chewy Rooey to market, Eric also manages our production team, distributors, and sales on a daily basis. He works closely on marketing ideas and execution, as well as new product and flavour concepts.
Chava Whibberley knew she loved Chewy Mooey the first moo-ment Eric made her try it. After a decade working in real estate she was ready for a change, and the taste of Chewy Mooey was too good to resist. Chava came on board to work with Eric on making Chewy Mooey’s deliciousness available to everyone.
Officially known as our Co-owner, Chief Financial Officer and Marketing Manager (yes all three!), Chava is unofficially known as the OCD and super-organised powerhouse that runs the Chewy Mooey office. She is udderly dedicated to Chewy (see what we did there).
Chava fills her time between Chewy Mooey and Chewy Rooey snacks by managing the company financials and taking care of the admin tasks in our busy office. She also makes sure you can access Chewy online 24/7 to curb your cravings by running our online store. She’s the brains behind planning and implementing our marketing, and manages our communications and social media accounts so we can stay in touch with our Australian jerky-loving community.