Sometimes the best ideas begin at a neighborhood bar, although more typically during prolonged banters while saddled up to it rather than when mixing drinks behind it.

When San Rafael resident Shannon Ronan, of Two Chicks Beef Jerky, moved from Nevada City to San Francisco in 2003 to finish college and then on to Marin a few years later, her first job in the county was at Mill Valley’s 2am Club.

Outside of work, Ronan had been on a homesteading kick. In addition to pickling and fermenting, she started making her own beef jerky, a perfectly portable, protein-rich snack for outdoor pursuits and other adventures in her new hometown.

Naturally, her pub patrons were more than eager to pair their libations with the salty snack strips she brought into the bar, and the positive feedback planted the seed that someday she could grow this into a viable business.

More crowdsourced taste testing was accomplished during a five-month cross-country road trip. When Ronan and her wife Breelyn MacDonald returned to Marin, they began fundraising with a Kickstarter campaign and launched their women- and LGBT-owned entrepreneurial beef snack company in 2015, initially making deliveries out of their subcompact Honda Fit.

Their mission from the start has been to create an alternative to the road-stop version that’s high in sodium and sugar and contains artificial preservatives. Their marinated and cured grass-fed meat strips are seasoned with gluten-free tamari, lime juice, garlic powder and other spices, and a touch of honey, familiar ingredients that can be found in a home pantry.

There are two original flavors — the classic and a spiced version, Two Hot Chicks, made with habanero chili — with the return of turkey jerkies in classic and spicy teriyaki on the horizon after a pandemic pause.Ronan says that even as their production has recently expanded, they’ve maintained their unwavering commitment to using 100% grass-fed and finished beef without hormones or antibiotics.

Originally, they sourced exclusively from family-owned Richards Ranch outside Sacramento, but in 2018, were approached by Petaluma-based artisan cured meat company Zoe’s Meats, which supports smaller specialty brands by handling sales and distribution. This gave the two of them time to focus on marketing and product development.

Today you can find Two Chicks Beef Jerky at retailers nationwide including locally at Woodlands Market, United Markets, Andy’s Local Market and Mollie Stone’s Markets, or order online at twochicksjerky.com. A portion of their proceeds goes to the Looking Out Foundation, which was founded in 2008 by multiple Grammy-winning artists Brandi Carlile and Tim and Phil Hanseroth.

JAMBAR’s new flavor

Local organic energy bar maker JAMBAR announced in March a new flavor, Tropical Trio, and the availability of a 12-bar box featuring four bars each of its three vegan options — the latest made with banana, pineapple and coconut, and the original Jammin’ Jazzleberry and Musical Mango.

Each vegan bar contains 10 grams of high-quality sunflower protein and is sweetened using only organic maple syrup and natural sugars found in fruit. The company also offers two bars that contain whey protein — Chocolate Cha Cha and Malt Nut Melody. All five bars are crafted in a dedicated, state-of-the-art production facility in San Rafael.

Nutritionist, food scientist and Ross resident Jennifer Maxwell and her late husband, Brian, created the original nutrition-on-the-go PowerBar in 1985, and the couple became pioneers in the sports and energy bar market. In 2021, she launched JAMBAR with the objective to make an innovative bar that uses entirely authentic ingredients that are non-GMO and have high levels of fiber and protein.

JAMBARs are available locally at Safeway, the Fresh Market, Good Earth Natural Foods, Mollie Stone’s Markets and Nugget Markets and at supermarkets nationwide. Find more information or order online at jambar.com or via Amazon Prime. The company donates 50% of after-tax profits to organizations that support the transformative pursuits of music and sports.

Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer and restaurant columnist. Email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail.com with news and recommendations and follow on Instagram @therealdealmarin for more on local food and updates on the launch of The Real Deal Marin restaurant search guide.