Growing up in South Carolina, Andrew Lawton of Atlanta-based Lawton Sausage Co. enjoyed his mother’s cooking and assumed that one day it would be his wife who did the cooking in his household. Reality set in while in college when he took an internship in information technology in Colorado and, as a single guy, quickly learned that waiting for someone else to do the cooking was not going to get him fed.
“I stepped off the plane and I couldn’t cook an egg. I couldn’t cook rice. I had to call my mom for help,” Lawton said.
Experimenting in the kitchen became a passion, even after he married. His favorite things to cook for the family were pizza and sausage with peppers. However, a health issue was a wakeup call that he needed to change the way he ate and what he cooked.
“I knew I wanted to feed my family and the people around me better,” Lawton said. “I had stopped eating pork, but I loved making sausage, so I started experimenting with making sausage from chicken.”
At first, he said, the results were horrible. “I couldn’t get the texture right. I often ended up throwing the sausage away. But the thing about me is I do not like to be defeated. ‘I’m a pretty smart guy. How could chicken beat me up like this?’ I asked myself.”
Credit: Lawton Sausage Co.
Credit: Lawton Sausage Co.
He experimented for months with different cuts and grinds of chicken. He thought it didn’t seem right to use pork casings for his sausage, so he tried various vegetable-based casings. It was a year before he came up with sausage that met his standards.
During the pandemic, he sent some sausage to a friend in Chicago who put it on the grill and served it to guests. Lawton got a call the next day. “My friend said, ‘Drew, you should see the people’s reaction when they eat your sausage. You need to think about doing something about this.’”
Lawton began looking into what it would take to move from sausage made at home to sausage he could sell. That meant finding a co-packer, someone who would take his recipe and scale up production.
Credit: Lawton Sausage Co.
Credit: Lawton Sausage Co.
“I traveled half the country,” he said, “and finally found someone in South Carolina who could produce sausage patties, but not the links. Then a friend referred me to a guy on Instagram, Best Seafood Direct in Fayetteville, who connected me with Lilburn-based Sausage World, and that’s who produces my sausage for me now.”
Lawton began pitching his products to local farmers markets. The Castleberry market was the first to take him on.
The first sausage in the lineup was the “original,” available in both links and patties. It’s made with chicken thighs and is seasoned with apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and a mix of spices. The original flavor was a finalist in the University of Georgia’s 2024 Flavor of Georgia competition.
Lawton also has developed a version using roasted jalapenos and sharp cheddar that he said has turned out to be a real favorite with female customers. There’s also a spicy version he developed in response to customers who told him they were from New Orleans or Texas and wanted something with more kick. He’s perfecting an andouille sausage and said he expects to be making jerk and Italian versions, as well.
Credit: Lawton Sausage Co.
Credit: Lawton Sausage Co.
Lawton continues to sell at the Castleberry market, as well as the Alpharetta, Sandy Springs, Vinings Jubilee and Dunwoody farmers markets and the Smyrna Handmade Market. He also sells his sausage online and it’s carried in the neighborhood market store at the Municipal Market in Sweet Auburn.
Lawton continues to do all the cooking for his family, and his sausage often is on the menu. “I still love it and my kids love it,” he said. “And I’m working on an e-cookbook, because I’ve learned that people really don’t know how to cook chicken sausage. I want to make it less intimidating.”
He also developed the recipes on his website, including a burrito bowl and his chicken sausage version of a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich.
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