Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Caruso.
Hi Stephen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We are a brother-sister duo whose interest in food and cooking started at a young age. We spent many
weekends in the kitchen with our parents, rolling meatballs and dipping way too much bread in the sugo. Growing up, our family was small, but we saw many pictures and heard stories of our grandparents hosting big Sunday dinners, the St. Joseph’s Day table, and countless other celebrations with friends and family from ‘the neighborhood’ a.k.a. Kansas City’s North End.
A couple of years after our dad passed away, in a collection of his cookbooks, we found a notecard with a handwritten recipe for “Caruso’s Restaurant Italian Sausage”. We knew this must be our Grandpa Carl’s recipe from the small restaurant our family operated in the 50s and decided try it for ourselves.
Grandpa Carl’s original recipe for Italian sausage sparked the idea represented in our first product. However, our mission to bring people together with good food could not be accomplished without also including our other grandfather, John. His farming background and passion for raising livestock helped us narrow our vision. We knew right away that we needed to focus on the base product used to make sausage. The pork! Though John was a practicing physician, he never left his roots in farming and raised pigs on a farm outside of Liberty, Missouri. Reminiscing together and looking at family photos brought our vision full circle. Create quality and flavorful sausage from premium-quality pork produced locally in KC area.
We’ve spent our time since founding Torretta Fine Foods hosting local culinary events at the Museum of Kansas City to introduce our sausage, including recipes for its use, and other complementary food products to consumers. We have been growing our customer base by selling at local events like the Kansas City Holiday Boutique, gaining a retail presence at Nature’s Own Health Food Markets, and expanding our product lines by customer demand to include local handcrafted jams and our family recipe Sicilian Sugo (tomato sauce).
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Finding a strong source of premium pork to craft the sausage at an affordable price was the first challenge we encountered. We endeavored to make our sausage from all natural, Heritage Breed pork, pasture raised on small family farms. Unfortunately, high quality generally means higher price, but we knew our products needed to be as affordable as mainstream brands to be competitive on crowded supermarket shelves. We were able to do so by scouring the area for a producer who was willing to scale with us and believed in our products.
Initially our sausage and other food products were available locally and to ship nationwide. We changed selling strategy to local only. This pivot was due to high shipping costs even though we were able to capture attention nationally via social media advertising, influencers, and other channels.
Expanding to larger, traditional food retailers has been tricky. KC Italian sausage lovers already know and love a handful of family-named sausage brands, though our product is differentiated by higher quality, all-natural ingredients. Capturing interest of a brand-loyal, local consumer base has concerned potential retail partners about sales though our sausage generally qualifies to be sold among other health food products in those specific sections of traditional grocery stores. In spite of those challenges, The path we’ve taken to grow our local customer base and develop a following has been a strength. We try to be where people are so they can get a taste and use our products to make meals at home.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a woman and LGBTQ owned small business offering locally sourced and made specialty food products. Our feature product, Carl’s Original Recipe Italian Sausage, is made from all natural ingredients sourced from local family farms and producers. We also now offer a line of handcrafted jams in unique flavors like Hot Honey Red Pepper and Bourbon Peach Vanilla. Our family recipe Sicilian Sugo was launched by request from our current customers. We are thrilled to have developed strategic partnerships with other local, small businesses exclusively. This allows us to gain market share from big corporate entities, while adding to the diversity of our local market and keeping that value in our own area. Whether it’s by meeting customers in person at trade shows and other various culinary events, or personally delivering our products to their homes, staying connected to our customers is a vital part of our business. These direct customer relationships help us learn how they’re using the products, share recipes, get suggestions for improvement or new products, recommend our products to their family and friends, and explore other opportunities for wider product placement. We’re particularly proud of carrying on our family’s love of sharing good food with our community.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
In our opinion the most important characteristic that defines our success is commitment to premium quality food ingredients for our family recipes, made and sourced in our local community, that we can continue to share with our customers.
Pricing:
- Wholesale: sales@torrettafinefoods.com
- Retail: torrettafinefoods.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.torrettafinefoods.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CarlsOriginalItalianSausage
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlsOriginalItalianSausage
