Skip Lott's bachelor's gruel has landed him in the meat industry as owner of Montibella Sausage Co., manufacturer of gourmet, potato-based, low-fat sausages
Contra Costa Times
by Larry Aylward, managing editor
Skip Lott was the prototypical male college student. He spent fleeting moments in the kitchen of his campus apartment, cooking up whatever it is college kids eat while planted in front of the television viewing reruns of "Gilligan's Island."
Moms call it potluck; Lott calls it bachelor's gruel.
The recipe for one of Lott's concoctions was a mixture of potatoes and ground pork. Lott would precook potatoes and season them with parsley and garlic. He would grind pork butt.
Lott knew he had something special on his hands when his college buddies at the University of Santa Barbara took a liking to his meat-and-spuds creation. "I started mixing the meat and potatoes together, and all the guys liked it," Lott recalls.
Almost 20 years later, Lott's special concoction landed him in the meat industry as owner of Orinda, Calif.-based Montibella Sausage Co., manufacturer of gourmet, potato-based, low-fat sausages.
One potato, two potato...
In the confines of his kitchen-transformed-into-home-economics lab, Lott noticed that red and white potatoes acted as natural binders when cooked with ground pork. There was also less fat and grease, and more taste and moisture, he claims.
A few years later, Lott was working as bar manager for Oakland, Calif.-based Rapallo Restaurant. The food establishment's reputable chef, Karen Lucas, taste-tested Lott's specialty and told him to stuff it-in a casing, that is, and sell it. The restaurant went as far as to permanently place the product on its menu.
"The product has an integration of flavors that come together very well," Lucas says. "When it is cooked, it gives off little fat and doesn't shrink."
Lott admits he was petrified to start his own business. But he put his trepidations aside and threw caution to the wind.
Today, Montibella Sausage is a co-packer for San Francisco's Schwarz Sausage, a respected, 84-year-old company. Craig Schwarz, the company's president, took on Lott's business for a few reasons.
Schwarz had always wanted to integrate a potato-based sausage into the company's business. Short on time, his project was left on the back burner.
"I figured I'd give Skip a chance," Schwarz says. "He's probably not the first one who thought of this concept, but he followed through with it."
Schwarz says he was impressed with Lott's go-get attitude.
"The guy doesn't stop," Schwarz says.
Schwarz and Lott remain secretive about their operation. They would not discuss manufacturing procedures nor production capacity.
In a pleasant tone and sounding as if he knew the secret of the world, Schwarz did note that production levels were on the upswing.
Montibella also recently began offering cooked sausages without the casings, which can be heated in a microwave. "Convenience is what we're after," Lott says.
Lott's product is sold at more than 160 retail and foodservice establishments throughout the San Francisco area, but the sausage is no longer only a local product. Lott hooked up with Boris Christoff Food Sales, a Woodbine, Iowa-based brokerage, and is testing his product at retail and foodservice establishments in Chicago, Kansas City, Mo., and Omaha, Neb.
In January, Lott and Christoff finalized a deal with Omaha-based Baker's supermarket chain, a division of Fleming Foods, which will sell Montibella Sausage in a number of its stores.
"There's a market for it," says Boris Christoff, president of the brokerage, who met Lott at a food show. "People are always looking for something different, especially if it's low in fat."
A 3.2-ounce serving of Montibella's Spicy Pork Sausage with Potato and Mild Pork Sausage with Potato contains 200 calories and 16 grams of fat. The company's chicken and turkey potato sausages contain 9 grams and 8 grams of fat, respectively, for the same serving. The sausages contain no nitrites or preservatives.
Old-fashioned marketing
Montibella Sausage was established in 1989. The company did not arrive on the food scene with a roar. It was more like a knock-or a rap on a door.
Lott took it upon himself to market his products. He compiled a list of 25 Bay-area supermarkets and made cold-call visits to each of them.
"I presented them with precooked product," Lott recalls. "I introduced myself to the buyers and asked them to try the product. I didn't know any of these people, but they liked the meat-and-potatoes approach."
Buyers from 24 of the 25 establishments offered Lott the chance to do a store demonstration. If product sold, they would give Lott slots in their meat cases.
With a tiny, electric pan in hand, Lott entered Andronico's Market, a popular chain of five stores in the Bay area, for his first demonstration.
He set up a booth with a cardboard sign that said, "Low-fat sausage made with potatoes." Lott sold out of product-150 pounds-on the first day.
"The buyer saw my success and told me that I'd be in all of the stores," Lott claims.
Wayne Dillaboy, meat department manager for the San Francisco Andronico's, says the supermarket sells 50 to 60 pounds of Lott's product a week. Consumers relish the leanness of the product and its potato base, Dillaboy adds.
"It always looks bright and fresh," he says of the product.
Chef Lucas now sells Lott's product through Oakland-based Blue Heron Catering, a business she started seven years ago.
"While we're concerned with a product's fat content, we're also concerned with getting the most flavor out of our calories," Lucas says. "Comfort foods such as sausages have been on the restricted lists for those who are watching their calories.
"It's wonderful to find a product that is genuinely lower in fat on its own without detracting from the product," she adds.
The advent of nutrition labeling will boost Lott's business for obvious reasons. While some sausage makers cringe over having to reveal high fat and cholesterol content, Lott sports a grin as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge is long.
"Nutrition labeling was a godsend," Lott states. "It was a two-case champagne day when the law went into affect."
Recipe for success
Lott says he's learning to be a business man. Schwarz says he's impressed with Lott's ability to sell.
But Lott's secret for success is basic. "It's all how you treat people," he says. "You treat them right. That goes for the buyers and the people working behind the counters. I'm square with them."
Lott is getting a pretty penny for his product. In one San Francisco-area supermarket, it sells for $6.99 a pound. Andronico's sells it for $6.59 a pound.
He admits his target audience is made up of professional, money-making baby boomers. Lott knows he can only sell the product in upscale establishments because of its price.
Christoff claims the potato sausage could be a hit in the Heartland-but only at a lower price. "People in the Midwest don't have the kind of money that people have in California," Christoff adds.
CEO/delivery man
Hard work has something to do with Lott's success. Besides being president and CEO, he is also in charge of marketing, sales and public relations of Montibella Sausage. And he's not too proud to deliver his own goods.
"I deliver a few routes to keep myself busy," Lott says. "It clears my mind."
While many of the well-educated baby boomers are snatching a few extra minutes of sleep on a Monday morning, Lott can sometimes be found in his garage/office at 5 a.m., on the phone and doing business in the East. There are distributors and consultants to talk to and orders to take.
There are no intentions to build a new plant if business booms like Lott envisions. Lott says he doesn't want to be married to the business. But it could be a terminal engagement.
"He works very hard," Lucas says. "He is out there plugging his product."
Says Schwarz: "Skip believes in his product. He would go from here to Timbuktu to sell it if he could."
An idea man, Lott is forging ahead with new product concepts. He and a partner recently introduced a gourmet sausage bagel dog.
Lott's college pals would probably be drooling over it.