PEOPLE’S CHOICE BEEF JERKY IS MADE AND SOLD IN DTLA… BUT YOU MUST RING THE BELL

Smack in the middle of the hustle and bustle of DTLA’s fashion/warehouse district is the People’s Sausage Company, where they make People’s Choice Beef Jerky. Yep, they make beef jerky in DTLA… and they sell it too (more on that in a bit).

I got invited on a tour of the facility at 1132 East Pico Boulevard, and while I was there I also got a lesson in jerky making. The people at People’s Choice use between 8 and 10 tons of beef a week. That meat goes through four steps to become jerky: Slicing, Marinating, Laying and Cooking. The meat is thinly sliced and then thrown in a marinating machine. It’s then laid out by hand on stainless steel racks and wheeled into a large oven. Once it is dried in the oven, it is moved to a packaging room. It’s all done in the same building… in DTLA.

People’s Choice Sausage Company is a family business that dates back to 1929. In fact, it has been at their current Pico Boulevard location since 1939. They make a variety of flavors including original, hot & spicy, limon, machaca, teriyaki, sriracha and garlic ginger. (I have scarfed down an entire bag of the garlic ginger jerky as I am typing – delicious). The company prides itself on using all natural/no artificial ingredients. Their jerky is gluten free, high in protein with no additives, no preservatives, no MSG.

The company sells most of their products on-line, but they also sell their jerky to locals. Okay, here’s the deal. Parking in the neighborhood is horrible, so have a friend drive you there and wait in the car. When you get up to People’s Choice building, you will find two LOCKED dark glass doors. If you are there before 2:30pm, the place is probably not closed… you just have to ring the bell to the right. Someone will let you in and you can buy all the jerky you want. Four 2.5 oz bags of the Original Beef Jerky costs $18. The 1 lb. bag sells for $20. Enjoy!