A Legacy That Looms Large at Cattaneo Bros.
Katelyn Kaney’s destiny has been barreling toward her for more than half a century. Sometimes slow and sweet, wooing her through her childhood as she stood near her parents, watching them run the family business, and sometimes fast and hard and unexpected as in the days after both her mom and dad passed away and she found herself at the helm.
Founded by brothers William and Pino in 1947, Cattaneo Bros. is a legendary San Luis Obispo-based jerky brand known up and down the West Coast for its small-batch goodness. Today, the company still cuts and processes its meats in the same factory where Katelyn worked after school as a youth and came to appreciate a legacy that would one day become part of her own.
As Katelyn tells it, the Kaney family diet wasn’t an unhealthy one. Her mom Jayne served home-cooked meals for Michael and the four kids, and despite the clean and straightforward ingredients Cattaneo is known for, jerky was a special treat reserved for trips to the plant they’d purchased in the late 1980s. But the family didn’t begin to look closely at the foods they were consuming until doctors diagnosed Jayne with cancer for the second time. “[That’s] when we started to pay a bit more attention to our food,” says Katelyn.
After Jayne received her diagnosis, it was only about a year and a half before Michael, Katelyn’s father, got his. Even then, Katelyn says the family still didn’t know enough about ingredient lists, nutrition labels and toxins. Her father passed away within a few short months, and not long after, she and her siblings lost their mother. It was losing her parents that made her re-examine her approach to living a healthy lifestyle.
Following her parents’ untimely death, Katelyn got involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, ramped up her CrossFit workouts and began running marathons. On top of it all, she became a mom. And that’s when epiphany struck. She realized that food provides fuel for the body like gasoline provides power for a car engine; it’s a tool for living a healthy and energetic life.
For the first time, she wondered when grab-and-go snacks had become synonymous with sugar filled items laden with preservatives and fillers. “Once I had kids,” says Katelyn, “I started really paying attention to what snacks look like.” And what she saw was a snack industry that was seriously lacking. With a fresh perspective, she began reimagining her vision for the future of the business.
Katelyn’s vision is the same one her parents shared with the brand’s founders: one of a healthy and minimally processed protein snack, handcrafted with few ingredients and little to no sugar. “I knew how great our product was. I knew that by focusing on our quality of ingredients, simplicity of [the] process and passion of the people behind the brand, we could make it even better.”
But the company has undoubtedly faced adversity along the way. At just 24 years old, Katelyn’s sudden thrust into her role as CEO in 2008 meant learning the ropes from the ground up in the middle of The Great Recession. Next came tending to neglected areas of the business that had suffered while the family directed their energies toward caring for her parents and, finally, establishing a new normal after their deaths. “For so long, it was my parents’ company, and I didn’t necessarily feel that I deserved to take over. It was just what I had to do,” she says. “I think it took a long time to feel like I had put in the work.”
Twelve years later, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges in 2020 as well. Meat prices have increased by almost 50 percent since viral cases first appeared in the U.S., and Katelyn’s tried and trusted distributors have less to offer. Supply chain breakdowns and new safety regulations have kept the company on its toes.
Even so, Cattaneo Bros. has weathered the storm, and is still able to carry on an almost 75-year-old tradition. They have discovered even better quality meats by going straight to the rancher, which has allowed them to hone their line of grass-fed products. And with Katelyn’s strong leadership, they continue to keep everyone on staff employed and safe while meeting strict local, state and USDA protocols.
Apart from mothering her 5-year-old twin boys, running the business is the most rewarding work Katelyn does. Today, mom and pop grocers and Costco stores alike stock their shelves with Cattaneo Bros.’ line of hand-cut turkey and beef jerky, beef sticks and sausage, and specialty sweets and snacks. Her dedicated 25-person team is growing so fast she’ll soon need to find a larger location or open a second plant. There she imagines creating an inviting outdoor entertainment space where her Jerky Club (a monthly subscription service) members can mix and mingle at future pickup parties. But her mission is more significant than just growing the company or creating a great snack. Katelyn wants to make her parents proud, and she is grateful for how this journey keeps her feeling close to them. “In a way, it’s like I’ve gotten to be with them in business,” she says. “They just aren’t here.”
Folks knew Katelyn’s parents to be caring and selfless people who gave back to their community in myriad ways. She wants to carry on their memory. Through the Kaney Family Fund, the company funds youth scholarships for 4-H, FFA and local kids’ programs close to the Kaneys’ hearts. And Cattaneo Bros. still supports local events through attendance, sponsorship and donated product. But Katelyn is most excited about her plan to turn the fundraising game on its head by encouraging youth organizations to sell her healthy and delicious jerky instead of cookies and candy.
Things are different than they could have been if Michael and Jayne were running things today. But Katelyn is proud that all these years later, the company is still around and thriving. She believes that’s because Cattaneo Bros. doesn’t try to be anything it isn’t; there’s no chasing after the next fad.
Instead, they continue to be family owned and operated and community focused, faithful to the mission and secure in Katelyn’s capable and committed hands. “I honestly feel like I’ve already made them proud just by getting to where we are today,” she says. “Even if everything was gone tomorrow, or the next day, or in a year, I feel like I’ve already done above and beyond what they would [think] we could.”
