Category: Entrepreneurs

Larry Sombke is a cookbook author, a food and garden writer and a radio and television producer. He’s the author of six cookbooks including: Beautiful Easy Herbs (Rodale Press), Fearless Entertaining (E.P. Dutton), Glorious Roots: Recipes For Healthy Tasty Vegetables (Master Media) and Omelettes: Eggs At Their Best (St. Martins). Larry’s articles have appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, Food And Wine, New York Magazine, USA Today, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post to name just a few. He was the “Cooking From The Garden”…

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There’s another player in the billion dollar world of pasta sauce. His name is Dave Hirschkop, Founder of Dave’s Gourmet. Dave’s Gourmet actually makes many different products including Hot Sauce, Drink mixes, Spicy Snacks, and now pasta sauces. For this interview, we are concentrating on the history of the co., Dave’s background and his newly aaunched pasta sauces. Q – When did you decide to go into the pasta sauce business and why? A – I think it was 2003. We’ve been in business since 1993 making Hot Sauces mostly.…

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Morgia’s Pasta is a family run business that was started in April of 1990. They make a variety of homemade pastas and pasta sauce. What makes Morgia’s Pasta different from all the rest? We took that question and more to Mary Jo Richards of Morgia’s Pasta. Q – Mary, what is your position in the co.? A – My title is Secretary/Treasurer. But, I’ve been involved in the co. since pretty much Day One, when my parents started the business. We are kind of like a woman owned business. My…

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The Lucini Italian Co. was founded by Renee Frigo and Daniel Graeff. They built their co. on the philosophy that great tasting food comes from only the most cared for, high quality ingredients. As for the rest of the story, Daniel Graeff fills us in. Q – With a name like Lucini, it sounds like the pasta sauce should be made in Italy. Is the sauce in fact made in Italy? A – Absolutely. We make some of them domestically, some of our higher volume sauces, but, the recipe and…

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It’s a family business that’s been around since 1929. We are talking about the Victoria Packing co. makers of one of the finest pasta sauces around – Victoria Sauces. To give us some background on the company, we went straight to the top, to speak with Mr. Benjamin Aquilina, President of Victoria Packing Co. Q – Mr. Aquilina, 48 years with the co. you must really enjoy your work. A – Yes I do. I started here as a child, actually when I was 13 years old. My dad had…

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Frankie Scala was working on Wall Street until he retired in the year 2000. That same year he launched Frankie’s Gravy Inc. a company specializing in pasta and pizza sauces. Advertised as “The Best Sauces This Side Of Brooklyn”, we spoke with Frankie about his business. Q – Frankie, I saw your pasta sauce in Wegman’s this week. Problem is, it was on the bottom shelf, not at eye level. You have to get on your knees to get to your sauce. Why wouldn’t they put your sauce alongside Ragu,…

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There’s a new player in the Pasta Sauce business in Central New York. Their name is Sano’s. Bruce Entelisano fills us in.  Q – How long has Sano’s been in business? A – We started as a small Italian restaurant in 2005. But, the Sauce and Spice Co. with our pasta sauce and original spice mix is brand new, opened in July of 2008. Q – Do you have a restaurant in Rome, New York? A – No. The restaurant that started all this was closed the day we opened…

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If you’ve been looking on the grocery shelves lately for pasta sauce no doubt you’ve come across a new brand-Yo Mama’s. That’s right-Yo mama’s. To find out what’s going on here we spoke with Yo Mama’s brand manager Kristin Streger.   Q – Kristen I first saw a jar of Yo Mama’s on the shelves of Price Chopper. A – Yes Q – Yo Mama’s?! A – (Laughs). Q – That’s not a name in the tradition of a bottled pasta sauce like Rao’s, Ragu, Prego. A – Right. Q…

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