Made in the Ozarks: Jake's Burgers

One burger, please, hold the meat.

Jake Herren is making meat-free alternatives of restaurant classics more accessible through Jake’s Burgers. From veggie burgers at Gailey’s Breakfast Cafe to “sausage” crumbles topping a Luco’s Pizza pie, Herren is crafting a local option for vegans and “meatless Monday” types. He also sells direct to consumers at grocers MaMa Jean’s Natural Market and Culture Counter. Since moving to a new commercial kitchen, he recently expanded the product line to include vegan breakfast sausage patties and vegan butter.

SBJ: What inspired you to start the business?
Herren: I went pescatarian maybe 14 years ago and then I made the jump from pescatarian to vegan in the last two years or so. Ever since I stopped eating meat, I really missed having a burger, having Italian sausage on my pizza. It was just out of necessity.

SBJ: Are you a trained chef or self-taught?
Herren: I’ve worked in restaurants. A lot of it is looking up recipes, standing on the shoulders of giants, just looking up what other people have done and thought, well, maybe I could combine these two techniques. For my breakfast sausage, I just looked up how people make pork sausage from scratch and followed that recipe, but just with a bean base and tweaked it as I felt necessary.

SBJ: About 18 months ago Tyson Foods unveiled its plant-based protein line. Do you find the consumer interest is growing for alternatives to meat?
Herren: First, they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win. That’s how it always goes. There’s a lot of people around here who’ve only ever had like a MorningStar [Farms] veggie patty. When you’re expecting a burger and you get that, there’s a lot of animosity toward food that isn’t a more traditional style. I was probably that way at one point in life. But that’s my target market – people who think that if food isn’t made from animal products, that it has to taste like trash. They don’t really put any salt in it, they don’t season it. I’m trying to be like, “Hey, this can be good.”

SBJ: How did you secure your wholesale accounts with area grocers and restaurants?
Herren: I solicited Gailey’s and MaMa Jean’s, but I think everyone else has come to me. Now, I’m trying to solicit Hy-Vee and Price Cutter.

SBJ: What do you like about the business and what would you change?
Herren: I love all the people I work with, all of my customers. I work directly with all the places, like Culture Counter and MaMa Jean’s and all the restaurants I’m in. I set my own hours. I get to exercise creativity. If I could change anything, I’d like to be busier. I’m working on it.

SBJ: What are your goals for the business?
Herren: Short term is picking up more customers, having more outlets, which with COVID is difficult because a lot of places don’t want to take a chance on something new. I’d like to be busier and get to the point where I’m hiring people and providing a job for somebody.