Family Owned & Mom Operated
As the mother of two active twin boys, I don’t always have time to prepare healthy, made-from-scratch snacks and meals all the time. And I know I’m not alone. I know that we often rely on quick, convenient snacks to keep us fueled through the day.
When I became CEO of Cattaneo Bros., what I knew was that we had been making an amazing product for 75 years. I wanted to respect our traditions of handcrafted goods made from simple, clean ingredients that my boys and I can feel good snacking on.
Changing the Way We Snack
Another thing I knew: I wanted to change the way the world snacked.
When did convenient, grab-and-go food equate to something full of sugar, preservatives, and fillers? I believe that snacks should provide fuel for your body to do the things you love to do. Adventure. Work hard. Play harder. Learn more. Snacks should set you up for success for the rest of your day. I knew how great our product was, and I knew by focusing on our quality of ingredients, simplicity of process, and the passion of the people behind the brand, we could make it even better.
Tragedy, Growth, & Opportunity
The untimely passing of my parents isn’t something I speak about often. But of course it shook me to my core. Losing both my mom and dad to cancer made me reexamine my own approach to living a healthy lifestyle. CrossFit and running marathons made me reexamine both my physical movement and what I put in my body. The joy of becoming a mom made me reexamine how food fuels growth, both physically and mentally.
While I don’t tend to dwell on the past, there’s no question as to how my past has shaped my perspective and vision for Cattaneo Bros. It continuously inspires me to balance opportunities for growth with our core values as a company.
Looking Back to Move Forward
My vision to change how we snack is, of course, something that solidly exists in our future, but it is firmly rooted in our traditions. Traditions founded in 1947 by William and Pino Cattaneo in San Luis Obispo, the same small California town where you can still find us making small batch jerky today. Traditions developed in the same factory where I spent my childhood, worked after school, and grew to appreciate just how truly unique a business like this was.
I am simultaneously both extremely proud of how far we’ve come as well as of how little we’ve changed. My goal is to grow and change for the better, while keeping these traditions intact. I like to think that this would make my parents Michael and Jayne Kaney, and my sons Brody and Hudson proud.
