Lottman, along with wife, Courtney, are the owners and operators of C&C Processing in Diller, Neb. and Landmark Snacks in Beatrice, Neb. A first-generation processor, Lottman built the business from the ground up. In 1994, at the age of 19, the Lottmans bought the only grocery store in Chad’s hometown of Diller. They ran the store for two years until their first addition and added meat processing to the business. In 1996, a slaughter floor was added and the back of the store was utilized to become a custom exempt plant. In 2001, C & C Processing doubled its size and became a USDA inspected plant. In 2003, the store was remodeled to include more space for specialty meats, as well as to accommodate a booming deer processing business. A year later, they expanded again, adding a processing area and a sausage-making area with a smokehouse. After continued growth, Landmark Snacks was built in nearby Beatrice to allow the expansion of their co-packing business and was opened in April 2016.
The Lottmans have developed their own line of specialty products called Blue Valley Brand Meats. In 2002, they bought Pony Express Ranch, a product line featuring old-fashioned and hickory smoked meats. In addition to the facility expansions, BlueValleyBrand.com was created to better serve their customers. The website provides a variety of services, including product pictures/descriptions, ordering items to be shipped, recipes, and more. While they built their business with custom processing and deer processing, those activities have been discontinued to allow co-packing for other customers to be the primary focus.