We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful April Marie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with April below.
April, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Thank you CanvasRebel Magazine for featuring my business!!
Hello everyone! I’m April Marie and the proud owner of The Curvy Italian. I am delighted to introduce my family’s authentic Italian sauces to you. We take immense pride in crafting sauces using 100% San Marzano tomatoes. Cultivated in the soil of Mount Vesuvius, our tomatoes create an authentic and edgy sauce that will turn on your taste
buds! Our sauces are shelf stable and so good that you don’t need to add a thing. I decided to embark on the journey of starting my own business during the most challenging time the world has experienced in a generation. I saw the pandemic as a time to find out what I was truly passionate about. I realized I was an entrepreneur at heart and landed on the concept behind The Curvy Italian where I would sell my family’s authentic Italian sauces. After a lot of research, I launched my business at the Little Italy Mercato in San Diego in January of 2022. The response from customers was overwhelming and my sauces received great reviews. Now I have expanded to an e- commerce platform and am focused on retail and commercial opportunities.
It was a journey for me to finally love my curves and enjoy food the Italian way. It is my wish to inspire others to do the same. The Curvy Italian isn’t a size; it’s a love of our bodies and food with mindfulness.
Awesome – To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
As a business owner, I believe in building valuable partnerships first and services second. If you build a reciprocal relationship that has trust and both parties see eye to eye, quality service will come. It has been my experience that too often, people are eager to provide services without listening to the needs and goals of the business. If you treat a business like a number, it won’t last long. If you treat a business like a long-term relationship, it is likely to succeed.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Early on in my business, I had to shut down my operations due to a licensing issue with the state of CA. This was out of my control and I had to accept this temporary shutdown. Around the same time, I was informed that I couldn’t make my meat sauce in my commercial kitchen due to USDA limitations. Again, this was out of my control and I needed to take a step back and pivot in my business. I’m glad these situations happened because it took me out of my “perfect business” mindset to things are going to be difficult sometimes and I need to learn to pivot and problem solve quickly. I’m happy to share that positive outcomes emerged from these adversities. I received the correct licensing to allow my business to continue to operate in CA. I created a one-of- a-kind sauce with Calabrian chili flakes and banana peppers that I named “Sassy Sauce” that was a huge hit at the farmers market and beyond. I also found a co-packer that could make my meat sauce and unbeknownst to me, would later produce and package all of my sauces so my business could expand nationwide.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
I manufactured my sauces out of Park 734 kitchen, a commercial kitchen in San Diego that quickly became my second home. Within a year, the vision for my business expanded beyond the farmers market sooner than I anticipated. It took willpower and determination to find a co-packer to manufacture all of my sauces. I researched co-
packing companies obsessively until I found the right one. My co-packer and I had several trials of getting my recipes right before achieving a successful first production. This process required me to let go and trust my co-packer with my family recipes. My advice to anyone searching for a co-packer is make sure you find a credible company and be willing to go through recipe trials until you get the product right. Make sure you get your manufacturing cost down as much as possible without compromising the quality of your product. Be willing to surrender control and learn that is okay to trust other people, just make sure they are the right fit!
I would like to extend a special acknowledgment to Kevin Inman, the dedicated kitchen manager at Park 734 Kitchen. Serving as my mentor, Kevin continuously believed in my vision and played an instrumental role in the success of my business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thecurvyitalian.com/
- Instagram: @thecurvyitalian
- Facebook: @thecurvyitalian