Clara Veniard and Martinique Grigg are moms, makers, and longtime friends—not to mention CEOs of the country’s only woman-owned certified salami company. After taking time off from high-powered positions to care for their children (Martinique was CEO of the Mountaineers, while Clara led customer acquisition and engagement at Amazon Family), the pair decided to re-enter the workforce in a major way. Building on their obvious business acumen and passion for food, they purchased Salumi, a 20-year-old cured meats producer and Seattle institution.
But they didn’t jump in blindly—Martinique and Clara spent a year apprenticing to learn the craft of charcuterie, as well as Salumi’s tried-and-true recipes and traditional processes. And while they’ve taken pains to give patrons the same experience, level of quality, and products they came to love over the course of two decades, they also refuse to stay frozen in place. That’s why they’re constantly introducing unexpected and exciting flavors, such as lemongrass, mole and curry.
They also place a greater emphasis on sustainability, by using all-natural ingredients, locally-sourced spices, and humanely-treated, vegetarian-fed, antibiotic-free pork. They’ve added an uncured nitrate and nitrite-free product line, moved to easy-to-eat casings with no peeling required, and developed their own, unique slow-aging process, because why rush a great thing?
This marriage of old world and new is perfectly embodied by the company’s name Coro—Italian for chorus—since it speaks to a blend of influences, a harmony of flavors, and the act of sharing talents to work towards a common goal. It’s like a symphony of salami.