It was 25 years ago in the spring of 2000 at the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in Providence when royalty of the food world joined foodie subjects for a week of cooking, tasting and talking.
At a reception at what was then Davio’s in what was then the Providence Biltmore, Julia Child walked through the crowd chatting with various admirers. She addressed the crowd in that flute-like, often imitated voice.
“I want to compliment your mayor! He has the most lovely to-mah-to sauce,” she said.
The mayor, of course, was Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. His jars of “Mayor’s Own Marinara” had been quite popular statewide for several years. But this endorsement by Julia Child, had it been made today, would have made it go viral. This was the pre-viral era, as lost in the murky mist of time as a bygone civilization.
Nowadays, is there a path to success? Where might “the next big food thing” be found?
There are dozens of hopeful food creators within our state who are making delicious products from family recipes or their own experimentation. Encouraged by family members and friends, these talented cooks are considering the next steps to put their creations in front of a wider circle of eager consumers.
In Rhode Island, these food entrepreneurs have a unique platform upon which to launch their products. It is known as Hope & Main, a nonprofit commercial kitchen and food preparation facility in Warren.
In late April, several small startup makers put their creations before buyers from the state’s best-known markets and restaurateurs at a Tabletop Show at Farm Fresh Rhode Island in Providence.
In many cases, the show setting would be the first time many of these creators would be selling anywhere but across their kitchen table. In Rhode Island, they get support from many others, including United Way of Rhode Island Inc.
Roshni Darnal, director of community investments at United Way, and Sheila Gomes, 211 program lead, visited with the creators.
“We’re here to support the makers who are making [these] fabulous products and putting it out there,” Darnal said. “Some of them are selling recipes that they have perfected at home. Some of them are selling things that maybe they grew up loving from their moms and their grandmas.”
Gomes added, “As you can see in this show here today, there’s a lot of one- or two-person businesses, a lot of small-business owners, ‘moms and pops.’ ”
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GETTING A TASTE: August Peak Tomato Sauces owner and chef William Ferlauto talks with attendees at the Hope & Main Tabletop Show, a wholesale food show and marketplace, at Farm Fresh Rhode Island in Providence on April 22.
COURTESY HOPE & MAIN[/caption]
One such maker is William Ferlauto, who makes not one but five sauces under the label August Peak Tomato Sauces. His line includes both a red and a yellow pomodoro sauce, and he introduced a Mozambique-style sauce with ghost peppers at the show.
Ferlauto has been making sauce for about 20 years. He started in his native New Jersey and launched his product line just over a year ago after relocating to Rhode Island. By coincidence, he lived two blocks from the Hope & Main facility. His son suggested he visit. There, he discovered the co-operative program and launched August Peak.
“It took off in about 14 stores,” Ferlauto said. “The online sales are doing great, and I do plenty of farmers markets and pop-ups, from Providence all the way down.”
It was interesting to contemplate how sauce marketing has changed in 25 years. Back then, if you were the mayor and your picture was on the label, that may have been enough to get you on the supermarket shelf. These days, when we know so much more about food, it takes a reimagining of flavors and developing a following by hand-selling at farmers markets to drive demand. It is now, more than ever, a matter of taste.
“Dining Out With Bruce Newbury,” syndicated weekly on radio, is heard in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Indiana. Contact Bruce at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
