Who Made a New Jerky Brand? Papa Did It!

The road that brought Dmytro “Dima” Lytvynenko to the United States has been long and unexpected. Just a few years ago, he was working for his family’s sausage business in Ukraine. Today, he and his family have relocated to New York, and his new meat company is dedicated to high-end meat products with a global flair.

Papa Did It Gastro Snacks, based in Staten Island, NY, is the new home for Dmytro and his family: wife Juliia, sons David and Mikle, and daughter Zlata. The business, which joined AAMP earlier this year, may be relatively new, but the family’s background in the meat industry goes back many years. His father operated a sausage business in Odesa, Ukraine, a port city located by the Black Sea. “Dima, from his childhood, helped help his father with his sausage factory business for production,” explains Juliia. “Before the war, we were producing over 400,000 pounds of sausage per month.” The family also owned a restaurant for 10 years, but the start of the Russian invasion in 2022 changed everything. Both the factory and restaurant were destroyed by rocket attacks, and Dima and Juliia moved their family to Spain. Their hope, he said, was that the war would end quickly, and they could return to Odessa and rebuild their life.

“When we understood that the war would continue, we wanted to start meat a business. But Spain was not a good market for a meat business for us. In Spain, they have their own taste, but the American taste is similar to ours,” she says. Additionally, the family had several relatives who had lived in the United States for many years, so moving to this country was a natural step. So the Lytvynenkos came to America with a plan to tap into a new meat-loving market.

Dmytro named his new business “Papa Did It.” Why? “In Ukraine, we had a restaurant, and this restaurant named Mama Kazala, which can translate to ‘Mama Said,’” Juliia says. “The meat business had started with Dima’s papa, and we had a restaurant named Mama Said. We decided it would be funny — Mama Said, Papa Did It.”

With 25 years of experience in the meat industry, Dmytro has brought a love for bold flavors and a deep-rooted tradition of sausage-making to Papa Did It. He says the mission behind the company is to create gourmet meat snacks that reflect the people who built America — hardworking, diverse, and full of flavor. He has rented space in a USDA-inspected facility, and some of the company’s first products reflect a European flair, like balyk — sliced and smoked turkey — and basturma — thinly sliced air-dried beef coated in a crust of unique spices. Others like beef prosciutto and beef sticks capitalize upon the popularity of charcuterie. Papa Did It is currently rolling out a new line of beef jerky, combining a favorite American snack with a worldwide flavor profile. Varieties include Korean Teriyaki BBQ, Greek Freack Mediterranean Style, Dill Pickle, Shawarma Style and more. “It’s Dima’s recipes, it’s his technology. We gave our products to people who really enjoy jerky, and they have believed in it. We are really sure that we are going to be useful for the American jerky market.”

For more information, visit www.papaditit.com.