The Sisters Behind Lottie’s Meats Are Giving Sausage a Fresh Start

For generations, sausage has lived in a familiar place: the backyard barbecue, the breakfast skillet, the grocery store meat case. It’s a category built on tradition, but not necessarily one known for innovation.

That’s exactly what sisters Chelsey and Cassie Maschhoff saw as an opportunity.

The founders of Denver-based Lottie’s Meats are bringing a fresh perspective to sausage by combining family farming roots, chef-driven recipes and a playful brand personality that invites people to rethink what sausage can be.

“We’re taking the familiar concepts that everyone knows and loves and creating a little bit of a different spin on it,” Chelsey said. “It’s something that’s not going to scare people, but actually elevates what you already know.”

The brand’s recent expansion into nearly 50 Target locations across Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska marks a major milestone for the young company, which has grown from local Colorado specialty retailers to nearly 500 retail locations nationwide in just two years.

But Lottie’s story started long before grocery store shelves. Growing up on their family’s pork farm in southern Illinois shaped the sisters’ approach to food from an early age. Their family farm and a network of family farms continue to supply the pork used in Lottie’s products today, giving the brand a direct connection to its ingredients.

“I think growing up on the farm, we were always surrounded by family farms,” Chelsey said. “We always just had a very realistic approach with agriculture.”

That connection became even more important when Chelsey moved to Colorado 12 years ago to pursue a career in the culinary world. While working in restaurants, she began using her family’s pork in professional kitchens, breaking down whole-muscle cuts like pork loin and tenderloin and using the remaining pieces to create sausage.

“It was kind of like a no-scraps-go-to-waste concept,” she said. “As I was developing these recipes, I just really fell in love with the practice of making sausage.”

Soon, Chelsey was hosting sausage pop-ups and selling her creations at breweries around Denver. Meanwhile, her sister Cassie was finishing her MBA in New York after a decade working in tech at Google. The two skill sets proved to be the perfect combination: Chelsey brought the culinary background and product expertise, while Cassie brought the business experience needed to build a company.

“We kind of had this perfect pairing,” Chelsey said. “I had the idea and the concept, but no follow-through or wherewithal to have a business plan. She had all of the backend and tools necessary to start a business.”

While sausage may be a longtime staple, Lottie’s is approaching it differently. The brand’s products feature whole-muscle cuts of pork loin and shoulder, along with recognizable ingredients and unique flavor profiles — including its Calabrian chili sausage, which adds a fruity, approachable heat to a familiar Italian sausage.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, this is what sausage tastes like, but it’s even better,’” Chelsey said.

That focus on quality is rooted in transparency. Lottie’s aims to create products made with ingredients consumers recognize — food that feels just as comfortable on a family dinner table as it does on a restaurant menu.

“I like to say it’s all things you would find in your own pantry,” Chelsey said. “Things that you can pronounce, wholesome ingredients that you can feel good about.”

That philosophy is especially meaningful to Chelsey now as a mother of two. “I want them to know, ‘Mom made this sausage, but I can also tell you exactly where it came from and what exactly is in it,’” she said.

Beyond the sausage itself, Lottie’s has built a brand centered around connection. From collaborations with Denver bakeries and restaurants to pop-ups with fitness communities, the company has embraced the idea that food is about more than what’s on the plate.

“Being really new to a legacy category, it’s like, how are you going to make yourself different?” Chelsey said. “We can do these whole-muscle cuts and create these fun flavor profiles, but getting that brand recognition out there was so important.”

Denver has played a major role in that growth. Chelsey says the city’s welcoming food community helped Lottie’s establish relationships with restaurants and chefs early on. “Denver has been so great to us,” she said. “Being able to celebrate food and celebrate with your loved ones and friends is always so important here.”

Some of Lottie’s early supporters included local businesses like GetRight’s Bakery, where the sausage has appeared in creations like biscuit sandwiches and brioche offerings. More recently, the brand has collaborated with restaurants including Cart Driver and has explored partnerships with fitness studios.

With its Target expansion, Lottie’s is reaching shoppers who may not have encountered the brand in specialty stores or restaurants. Chelsey sees that accessibility as one of the most exciting parts of the company’s growth. “Having it now at Target is a little more approachable,” she said. “It’s more inclusive.”

For a brand that began with family farms and local pop-ups, seeing Lottie’s available in a national retailer is a full-circle moment. But even as the company grows, Chelsey says the goal remains the same: create food that brings people together while staying connected to the values that started it all.

“I think the coolest thing has just been able to grow this with my sister on our family legacy, but also to create our own path and our own destiny,” she said.