Comai founded Climax Jerky in 1999 with her husband, Jonathan, and joined BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming four years later.
When Dillon resident Brooke Comai saw her friend selling jerky down by Muddy Pass, she figured she could quit the job she didn’t like so much and create her own gourmet jerky brand.
“I thought about it and prayed about it,” said Comai, co-owner and president of Climax Jerky. “What the heck do I have to lose?”
Comai founded Climax Jerky in 1999 with her husband, Jonathan, and joined BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming four years later. She began selling her jerky on top of Fremont Pass across from Climax Molybdenum Mine, commonly known as Molly. She purchased her product from Wind River Jerky in Kremmling, buying out the company in 2002.
Over the years, Comai expanded her business to various mountain communities, keeping her original location at Climax Mine every weekend through the summer months.
“I always knew I wanted to own a business,” Comai said. “I did other small startups in the past, then when this came along, I decided to try it. It was successful right off the bat.”
Comai, who graduated from Colorado State University in 1994, was working as an assistant restaurant manager for Vail Resorts for about two years at the time she started her company. She earned a bachelor’s degree in technical journalism with a concentration in public relations, skills she ended up using in her business.
For the first three years, Comai waited tables and bartended during the winter months and sold her jerky in the summer. Now, she has a year-round location on Main Street in downtown Breckenridge, where she sells her jerky out of a covered wagon. She also added farmers markets in Dillon and Minturn the first year of operation, followed by Breckenridge and Vail.
Initially, Comai sold her jerky from a tent and table, expanding to a covered wagon in Keystone in 2002 and Copper in 2005, staying in those two locations until 2007, when she relocated to the Outlets at Silverthorne. A year later in 2008, she set up the covered wagon in Breckenridge.
Another good location was at Denver International Airport, where Comai had three kiosks from 2011 to 2020, closing them during the COVID-19 pandemic. She now is in three retail locations at DIA, two Way Out West gift shops in Concourses A and C and Greetings from Colorado in Concourse B. She also wholesales to retail outlets and trade shows nationwide and sells at the Dillon Amphitheater in Dillon during the summer.
“When COVID hit, we scaled down because we had to,” Comai said. “We eventually closed our locations at the airport and focused on where we wanted to grow, when we decided to grow our online presence.”
To promote that growth, Comai added Rad Mountain Woman to her branding in 2021, fitting since she skis double black diamonds, mountain bikes and rock climbs. Her jerky is all-natural, free of nitrates and MSG, and is high in protein and low in carbohydrates.
“Our jerky is local Colorado jerky. It’s whole muscle, not chopped and formed,” Comai said.
The jerky is fresh and tender and smoked in a variety of flavors, including traditional beef (original, honey glazed and hickory smoked), venison and turkey and more exotic flavors like elk, buffalo, bison, wild boar, salmon and alligator. The raw product for the jerky comes from different sustainable farms from around the country.
“It’s smoked with hickory or dehydrated. It’s soft and doesn’t rip your teeth out,” Comai said.
Camai works with a staff of 10, including her two children, who are 17 and 19. She enjoys the problem-solving aspect of her business, as well as meeting her customers, she said.
“I love talking to my customers and finding out what they are going to like,” said Comai, who likes to offer samples, so they can try her product.
That customer service is what she appreciates about the BBB, she said.
“They have good customer service, taking care of any complaints that might come their way,” Comai said.
Comai originally joined the BBB as a way to promote her business, she said. “It was a way to show that I was a legitimate, good-standing business. It helped with my reputation,” Comai said.
The BBB is a trusted organization that rates businesses and, like Comai’s company, has longevity.
“Their logo is on our website, so (customers) can see how we’re rated and if there are any complaints against us,” Comai said. “It’s helped our business to grow, because people go on there to make sure you’re a good business to do business with. It shows we are a credible business.”