1) Requires lots of labor 2) Often deals with lean beef, which is more expensive than pork, chicken, or even beef fat. 3) packaging can be quite expensive. And labels. 4) Insurance and rent at a USDA approved facility.

5) Time: it takes a couple days from start and finish of even a small-batch run. 6) Shrink: Since the beef is mostly water and since you're dehydrating you lose 40-60% of the weight of the meat, further driving up the price. 7) Quality ingredients. For example we import crazy spices from all over the world and use top-quality all natural ingredients.

8) Shipping - getting all the ingredients to your facility and then shipping the jerky around the country is not cheap.