We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rick DeMattos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rick, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was laid off from my job due to the Covid pandemic. After a few weeks of streaming TV and movies, I was restless, I needed a project. I decided I would make a big batch of a Marinara, a sauce I’d been making for 20 years and possibly sell it to friends. Restaurants were closed, people were nervous about going to the grocery store so I thought I might have a chance to earn a little money until I was brought back on to my job. The first three batches sold out in a matter of hours, pretty cool I thought. During the downtime doubt struck me, were my friends being generous or was my marinara as truly delicious as I thought it was? The next day I received a couple of emails from friends of friends out of state asking if I could ship the marinara sauce they were told they needed to try. I was quite relieved, I did a lot of research into canning, ordered supplies, and filed for a business license. Fast forward to the present day, we are producing 8 different sauces, stocked by 18 stores in North Carolina, and shipping nationally.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I had worked most of my life in the restaurant industry, I’ve always had a love of food so seeing some enjoy what I’d made for them always brought me satisfaction. Whether it was the sub shop I worked in college, the fine dining catering gig, or the corporate chains, they all gave me knowledge and new skill sets. I’d been out of the restaurant business for over a decade when the pandemic struck, I’d been enjoying a quarterly cooking competition with friends, the host would pick a theme or ingredient, the cooks would create a the dish, and we’d take turns serving our creations. It was always difficult to pick a winner so we had to agree with great food and the company of friends we were all winners.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Just recently another vendor told me I was genuine, I feel this carries over to the kitchen, good products, simple recipes, and care to make a fantastic sauce. Selling at pop-up markets I’m in my element, sharing recipes with the customers and helping them round out their ideas. I’ll become very excited, almost animated while talking about food. I also make it a habit to help those around me get set up for events. I think being a good neighbor is key to building a good reputation.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I started doing this without the expectation of starting a business. The first batch I produced cost a little less than $100 for equipment and ingredients. Since then friends who have offered short term loans to help out with buying more equipment, supplies, and securing spots at Pop-up markets. All the other growth has come from the proceeds of sales. It’s still blows my mind when I share my story, in a nutshell, a guy looking for something to pass time creates a tasty business.

When you need something quick and nutritious make your decision BULLETPROOF!

Contact Info:

• Website: Bulletproof-Sauces.com
• Instagram: Bulletproof_Sauces
• Facebook: Bulletproof Sauces

Image Credits
Andrea Campoli took my personal photo.