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How the Volpi Family Built a Cured Meat Empire Over a Century
Description
This episode of Family Business Stories with Fexingo dives into the Volpi family, who have run a cured-meat business in St. Louis since 1902. Lucas and Luna explore how the company survived Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the rise of industrial processed meats by sticking to traditional dry-curing methods. They focus on the key moment in the 1970s when third-generation brothers John and Bill Volpi decided to invest in modern USDA-approved facilities without compromising on the old-world recipes from their grandfather. The conversation covers the economics of artisan food production, the challenge of scaling without losing quality, and how the fourth generation is now expanding into e-commerce and charcuterie boards. Specific numbers include the company's compound annual growth rate of about 8 percent over the past decade and the fact that their prosciutto is aged a minimum of 10 months. No marketing fluff, just a concrete look at how one family balanced tradition and growth.