By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

LIEBENTHAL -- During the early 1980s, Pat Carver started to make beef jerky for friends.

When his parents retired in 1989, Carver, who was working for the city of Hays, decided to open up a beef jerky store in Liebenthal as a part-time job.

At first, the store was supposed to be a place where his parents could work two to three days a week. The store first opened on a Monday.

"Stayed open every day that week and everyday since," Carver said with a smile.

Nineteen years later, Carver's store, Pat's Beef Jerky, is a mainstay on U.S. Highway 183 through Liebenthal. The store now carries three part-time and full-time employees and has between 30 to 100 walk-in visitors per day. Carver has sold to the White House; Steve Williams, Tiger Woods' caddy; and politicians in Kansas and countries throughout the world.

"Just word of mouth," he said. "I really didn't do any advertising."

Carver, a La Crosse High School graduate, developed multiple recipes throughout the years through "trial and error."

"I came up with a recipe that I liked and had some friends that had been wanting to sell it, so I have been opening up the market here," he said.

Carver renovated the old Liebenthal State Bank building that was closed in the 1930s. Carver went through an extensive remodeling process and opened the family-operated business in 1990. At first, the store had one smoker. Now, it's expanded to five smokers to meet the demand.

"Gutted everything, there was no plumbing in here, about two lights and about two outlets and that was about it," he said.

Carver receives the beef, boneless and trimmed, from a supplier in Nebraska. Once the store receives the meat, the employees begin a three-day process. It takes one day to slice and marinate the meat, another day to dry, and packaging happens on the third day. The store has orders throughout the country and now carries a Web site, patsbeefjerky.com.

On one wall, Carver, who has family that served in the military, placed an American flag signed by multiple soldiers with sayings that include, "Thanks for the jerky" and "Pat's Beef Jerky is the best."

The store also sends products to Iraq and local soldiers stationed in Hays.

On Jan. 1, 1999, Pat started a map to mark visitors' hometowns. A decade later, the map has several hundred pushpins, including Tokyo, Alaska, Canada, England, Russia, Germany and every state in the country.

Carver, though, never has wanted to expand operations. He enjoys working in Liebenthal and keeping the family-owned atmosphere.

"I like it right here on the highway," he said. " People like to stop and not really get off the main roads. Right here on the highway, on and off."