Helping Others Turns to Business Ownership for Local

By Misty Cryer

When attending public events in and around town, attendees have likely seen Sarah Carnero, a Carlsbad native, selling beef jerky at a vendor booth. Sarah shared the story of her business—from how it started to where it is going.

“I used to work as a blackjack dealer at a casino. I had a bartender—her name was Chapo—and her daughter had gotten hurt, and she was needing to raise money to send her grandkids to school, and she made jerky,” Sarah said.

At that time, Sarah said, “I worked in Española. She sent me with 40 bags here to Carlsbad.” She said she came here to sell beef jerky at Cal’s Shade Western for $15 a bag.

Sarah recalled that the first person to buy a bag of jerky from her asked, “You only want $15 for them?’” She said she told him he could buy it at whatever price he wanted. “He bought it for $25,” she said.

“I started selling the bags of jerky for $25, and I profited $400. I came back several times more. On the fourth time I came, I think, I told her I was going to keep the $400 for myself, and I bought a dehydrator. That is how I started my business,” said Sarah.

“I’ve been in business officially for three years,” said Sarah. “I’ve been making jerky for about 13 years now,” she said.

Sarah said she mostly sells at events, in addition to responding to calls and visiting businesses around town throughout the week. “I sell to oilfield companies,” she said.

When she has jerky, Sarah said, she posts on the Facebook page for Sarah’s Jerky and does free delivery locally. She also takes special orders. “Sometimes people will call, and if they want a certain kind of jerky made that I don’t make, I’ll make it for them,” she said.

“I have eight different flavors ranging from not hot to hot,” said Sarah. The flavors she listed include Pickle, Salt and Pepper, Lemon Pepper, Mango Habanero, Red Chile, Green Chile, Chile Pequin, and Jalapeño.

For sourcing ingredients, Sarah said, “I try to use other small businesses like me to kind of help keep them going.

“Business is really good, really busy,” said Sarah. “I travel a lot to Texas. We do really, really good,” she said.

“If I could give a shout out to anybody for believing in me, I would like to say Shawna from the Shade and Neil from the O for allowing me to sell my jerky at their bars. That’s how I really got started,” said Sarah.

The jerky is currently made in a jerky trailer located at Sarah’s home. The next goal, Sarah said, is to have a building instead of a trailer, hopefully in the next year or two. “In town would be ideal, but on our property is more convenient and more cost-efficient,” she said.

With her current setup, Sarah said she can produce around 60 bags of jerky at a time. If she gets a building, she said she intends to expand tremendously.

The business is veteran-owned and operated. Sarah said she is the owner of the business, and she served in the Army. Her boyfriend, DJ (Donovan Balsley), helps her out, and he served in the Air Force, she said.

“My mom (Patty Carnero) helped me out tremendously,” she added.

Sarah also wanted to thank the public for their ongoing support. “We’re so, so grateful for all the love and support that we get,” she said.

“We’re growing, we are excited to see what’s to come in the future,” said Sarah.

Sarah can be reached by phone at 575-988-3387. To stay up to date on the happenings, follow the Facebook page for Sarah’s Jerky.