Lorenza Pasetti

Giovanni Volpi, an Italian immigrant intimate with the ancient craft of dry-curing meat, opened Volpi Foods in St. Louis, Mo. in 1902. Salami was his shop’s first product, soon joined by prosciutto, guanciale, pancetta, and coppa.

Italians are known for passing their businesses down through the male line, but Lorenza Pasetti, Volpi’s great niece, became president in 2002 after her father, Armando Pasetti, stepped down. “It’s part of my DNA,” she says. “Some things you don’t do for money; it’s just the right thing to do.”

Taking over the company 100 years after its founding, she widely expanded its offerings and its reach in the national marketplace. Shortcuts? Absolutely not. One of her feet remains firmly planted in Italian tradition, the other on the accelerator for expansion while maintaining quality. 

Lorenza grew up in the business, hand-wrapping salami at the age of 14 and waiting on customers in the shop. After high school she left to study psychology and history at the University of Michigan, then came back to St. Louis to get an MBA at Washington University. She officially joined the company in the mid-1980s. At that time, there were 12 employees and 8 SKUs; today there are 210 employees and 150 SKUs, most launched during her reign.

There is salami infused with wine, for instance, mortadella studded with pistachios and roltini snacks of mozzarella and pepperoni. Lorenza made a push toward sourcing free-roaming, heritage breeds from local, sustainable farms. “Now dry-cured meats and charcuterie are really in vogue,” Lorenza says. “After 117 years, we’re an overnight success.”

The original shop is still in operation and Lorenza’s father, 95, comes in to work some days. Volpi Foods shows every sign of lasting into the next century: Lorenza’s three millennial-aged children – two women and one man – all work in the business. 

Timeline

• 1902: Giovanni Volpi establishes the Volpi Company by opening a small storefront in The Hill, an Italian neighborhood in St. Louis
• 1938: Armando Pasetti (Giovanni’s nephew and Lorenza’s father) arrives and lives with his aunt and uncle to learn the trade
• 1957: Volpi passes away after growing the company and reaching customers as far as New York City and Chicago; Armando takes over 
• 1985: Lorenza Pasetti enters the business 
• 1993: Sheets of mozzarella and slices of prosciutto rolled in pinwheels enter the market
• 1997: The company adds a second, 64,000-square-foot production facility (Due), concentrating on prosciutto
• 2002: Lorenza is named president and introduces sliced products
• 2004: A third, 50,000-square-foot production facility (Tre) opens 
• 2010 “Tre” doubles in size to 100,000 square feet
• 2013: Snack items are introduced, combining various cheeses with Volpi salumi (mozzarella/prosciutto; mozzarella/salami; Oaxaca/Chorizo)
• 2016: Debut of a fourth facility (Quattro), a state-of-the-art, 125,000-square-foot prosciutto plant
• 2017: Volpi Culatello Prosciutto wins sofi Silver for Best Charcuterie