THE SAUSAGE QUEEN

Get to know Cara Nicoletti, a fourth-generation butcher whose one-of-a-kind products are inspired by a reverence toward family tradition, her craft and the planet.

- ANNAMARIE HIGLEY

A funky logo, a dynamic Instagram page, and a jumpsuit-sporting, 30-something female founder aren't the traditional trademarks of a typical meat company, but that's just the way Cara Nicoletti likes it.

Her company's departure from the norm is beyond sausage-casing deep, too. See more Meats & Veggies' chicken and pork links contain 54% less meat than those of competitors—a stat achieved by loading the sausages with veggies and other ingredients, such as cheeses and herbs. Some outside-the-box flavors include Broccoli Melt, Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Parm.

A fourth-generation butcher, Cara has been in the meat industry for 13 years. During childhood, she was a bright-eyed, unofficial apprentice to her now 92-year-old grandfather, Seymour Salett.

For decades, Seymour ran a shop called Salett's Market, located originally in Boston and later in Newton, Massachusetts. Growing up, Cara and her two sisters, who are now a pastry chef and a nurse, spent many days in their grandfather's store, but Cara was the only one taken by the trade, undeterred by the smells, sights and physical exertion involved.

“Sometimes people think of this kind of work as undignified,” Cara says. “But my grandfather taught me that helping people feed their families and themselves well is one of the most dignified jobs you can have. That really stuck with me.” That, and the way he treated his employees and patrons—“like royalty,” Cara recalls.