Exploring Life & Business with Chelsey & Cassie Maschhoff of Lottie’s Meats

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsey & Cassie Maschhoff

Hi Chelsey & Cassie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Lottie’s Meats is a sister-owned food business born from a generational family farm. We offer a range of chef-crafted, convenient & creative pork sausages & ground pork blends—made with responsible, high-quality ingredients and packed with protein, flavor and fun!

Growing up, we witnessed firsthand the “power of pork” done right – seeing how family farming created strong roots, built communities, and brought economic opportunities to our region (+ the taste and quality is unmatched – but we are a little biased)! 😃

However, we also saw firsthand agriculture’s industry challenges and transformations. Understanding these complexities, our parents encouraged us to explore careers beyond agriculture as “real young adult people” to explore what else was out there. Chelsey pursued Culinary while Cassie ventured into Tech. During our time building careers across the country, we noticed something missing: premium pork products were nowhere to be found on menus, retail shelves, or in food conversations. In the US, pork can get a bad rap, but we knew that didn’t have to be the case!

We thought, “If anyone’s going to reintroduce pork in a fresh and meaningful way, why not us?” And that’s how Lottie’s – a family name – was born. We proudly launched our products in retail stores and on menus in March 2024 and almost a year later, you can find us in 100+ restaurants, retail shelves, bakeries, etc.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
*we nervously laugh to ourselves*

We can confidently say that it has not been a smooth road – but we’re incredibly lucky to have each other and a trusted community across culinary, CPG, and agriculture who are always willing to share advice and time (which we need constantly)!

Bringing a perishable protein to market comes with countless challenges. We’re committed to sourcing from our network of family farms to maintain full traceability, quality control and connection to that community. As we scale, we partner with a few USDA-inspected facilities to craft our sausages using premium pork cuts, top-tier ingredients, and intricate recipes which is incredibly challenging. Then there’s the constant juggling act of producing the right quantities, managing efficient transportation and cold storage, all while growing the business into new regions and markets.

Oh, and as a reminder, we are a very small team with zero experience in CPG, cold chain, or retail (LOL)! The learning curve has been very steep, to say the least and we have many examples of mistakes, hard lessons and challenges (…that sometimes haunt us).

But here’s the silver lining – there’s genuine demand for our products, and being farm-raised gave us the grit needed to make it happen! We also truly love seeing our products fueling & connecting more people and that keeps us going, day after day.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Lottie’s Meats is a sister-founded brand reimagining pork sausage for modern eaters. Our chef-crafted, all-natural pork sausages are clean, creative, and convenient. We’re not your average sausage brand!

What makes us different? While most sausage brands use various cuts, mystery ingredients & artificial flavors or preservatives, we exclusively use whole muscle cuts – pork loin and shoulder – paired with bold, unique spice blends and premium herbs. No preservatives, no fillers, no artificial ingredients, no added hormones or antibiotics – only the good stuff! And, they’re designed to elevate any dish or stand alone. We have expertly-seasoned ground pork blends, like Calabrian Chile that is perfect for pizzas and pastas as well as fully-cooked sausage links, like our spin on a classic Bratwurst – a snappy sausage packed with pork shoulder, mustard seed and ginger.

The quality truly speaks for itself. Our customers often tell us they’d given up on sausage entirely before discovering Lottie’s – many believed in the old saying “you don’t want to know how the sausage is made.” That’s why we’ve built our brand to be transparent and trustworthy, with a nostalgic nod to traditional meat industry heritage but reimagined with a lighter, more feminine touch.

We’re very proud to be part of a growing movement of female founders reshaping the food industry, one step (or bite) at a time. And we hope that our journey with Lottie’s helps other women to take bold leaps – big or small – in traditionally-male dominated industries.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
We absolutely love StartupCPG. It’s an amazing community and podcast for all things CPG and has saved us countless times.

Female Founder World has also been a great resource of fellow founders, success stories, resources, etc.

In terms of business books, we really enjoyed reading “Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently–and Succeeding” from the cofounders behind Honest Tea.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lottiesmeats.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lottiesmeats/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Lotties-Meats/61554146962865/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lottie-s-meats

Image Credits
Set Creative
High Shutter Productions