As the old adage implies, you often do *not* want to know how the sausage is made. And while the process of creating sausages for Lottie’s Meats is complex, it’s because they’re prioritizing taste, transparency, and responsible sourcing for their high-quality ingredients.
“I can rattle off every single ingredient in every single sausage,” says Chelsey Maschhoff, Co-Founder of Lottie’s Meats.
For those unfamiliar with her work, Chelsey Maschhoff is the former sous chef of the acclaimed Annette, and she trained at the Culinary Institute of America. How it's made isn’t just a point of pride in her work—it’s actually a nod to her roots growing up on a family pork farm in rural Illinois.
Along with her sister and Co-Founder, Cassie Maschhoff, whom she refers to as the “brains and logistics,” Chelsey Maschhoff began the business in 2024. This was not their first sister-led venture, though. From classic childhood lemonade stands to a bakery for the farm employees, the Maschhoff sisters have been entrepreneurial from an early age and credit a lot of their work ethic to their upbringing.
They didn’t plan to get into the family business, and their parents encouraged them to explore other options outside of agriculture. After finding success in the culinary and tech worlds, Chelsey and Cassie Maschhoff felt it was time to come together for their next chapter and to reintroduce pork to America in a fun, new way.
“It felt like a now-or-never thing for us to do this together,” says Cassie Maschhoff. “We told ourselves we can always go back to our former careers, but it will only get harder for us to try.”
In her time at Annette, Chelsey Maschhoff began using the family’s pork to create sausage with whole muscle cuts, like loin and shoulder. Today, these same high-quality cuts create a lean, nutrient-dense, and delicious product that even her two-year-old son eats almost daily.
“It’s been heart-mending for me,” says Chelsey Maschhoff. “Our grandparents got to see us build something before they passed on—and our parents are finally proud of us.”
The last part is clearly a joke, but thanks to Lottie’s Meats, they get to continue working with and sourcing from the family farm. The Maschhoff sisters love that by doing so, they’re able to bring their consumers 100% traceable products that are sustainable, responsible, and meaningful.
The agriculture industry as a whole finds itself in the middle of the climate conversation, and they welcome that open dialogue and opportunity to learn. Part of the reason they’re so passionate about pork is that it puts off significantly fewer emissions than beef or lamb. Nearly every part is utilized, and there are opportunities for circular use. Here in the US, it’s behind chicken and beef, but globally, it’s the most consumed animal protein in the world.
In bringing Lottie’s Meats to market, it was important to them to speak to female consumers directly. In researching the category, Cassie Maschhoff found that three-quarters of women identify as the primary household shopper, but you wouldn’t guess that looking at the meat aisle currently. Naming their company after their spunky, free-spirited great aunt, who stars in the family lore, felt like a meaningful way to accomplish their goal and keep their family and their farm in the conversation.
They’re a proud member of 1% For The Planet, which means 1% of their sales go to environmental organizations of their choosing, like The Conservation Alliance and World Central Kitchen. These partners help further their efforts to offset their environmental footprint and improve the economics of rural and female-run farms, kitchens, and ecosystems.
Today, Lottie’s Meats is at restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores around the Denver metro, as well as on shelves in Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. Each of their expansions has been intentional, dropping into communities they already know and ensuring they can continue to deliver a consistent product, whether you’re ordering a sausage breakfast sandwich at Get Right’s or picking up a pack of Lottie’s Bratwurst from Marczyk’s.
Head to LottiesMeats.com to see their full selection and to see where you can find them in stores near you!