Jocelyn Guest and Erika Nakamura are the butchers behind J&E SmallGoods, a newly launched quote-on-quote Mom & Mom Shop that makes mail-order hot dogs, kielbasa, and bratwurst. There are more meats are in the pipeline.

They have dedicated their careers to supporting local family farms that raise animals with big space, clean water, good feed and respect. They believe you shouldn’t have to support the industrial food supply just to enjoy hot dog.

Jocelyn and Erika are partners in both business and life, which is a bit of a running theme on this show. I’m referring to my conversations with Jody Williams and Rita Sodi who run Via Carota together in New York City, Mona Talbott and Kate Arding who run Talbott & Arding in Hudson New York, and the two couples on the bonus episode from Atlanta— Deborah VanTrece and Lorraine Lane from Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours and Virginia Willis, the cookbook author, and Lisa Ekus, the literary agent.

Like I was able to with each of those couples, I got to talk to Jocelyn and Erika about what drives them as business owners and what their work means to them as both individuals and as a couple.

Prior to starting J&E Small Goods, Jocelyn and Erika ran White Gold Butchers on the Upper West Side of New York and then moved north of New York City, not terribly far from where Grace and I live, had a daughter named Nina, and got to work building their new company.

They joined me, Nina too!, to talk about the genesis of their new company, life as new parents, sandwiches and much much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

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