My Business Elevates Aperitivo Hour, Sees $8K to $10K a Month

This as-told story relies on a dialog with Joe Fiorenzo. Fiorenzo and his spouse, Sheela Prakash, co-founded Sfizi, a meals firm curating Italian merchandise in celebration of aperitivo tradition. They launched their first product, ring-shaped snack crackers referred to as taralli, in December 2025. Now, their enterprise sees a mean of $8,000 to $10,000 in month-to-month gross sales, on observe for $100,000 in its first 12 months, because it plans for product enlargement. The piece has been edited for size and readability. 

 I began the enterprise with my spouse, Sheela. Sheela has studied and lived in Italy on and off for the previous 10 years. We’ve been collectively for all that point, and we’ve traveled in Italy collectively. Throughout that point, we fell in love with Italian tradition. I even have an Italian American background, so I’ve skilled a few of these Italian influences over the course of my childhood. 

Sfizi interprets to “whims” in Italian. We prefer to confer with them as little pleasures. The aim is principally to rejoice little pleasures of Italian tradition. We launched with Italian Taralli crackers, the small bagel-looking crackers. You do see them all through the USA. Plenty of instances they’re in these clear cellophane baggage. They’re usually very dusty wanting, on the backside of a basket someplace within the cheese part. We wished to start out with that product as a result of it felt like a simple segue.

Beginning a self-funded enterprise with no CPG background

Neither of us have a CPG background. I labored in company insurance coverage for 17 years. Sheela has a meals background, however not within the CPG house. So we wished to start out small. We figured, if we are able to’t determine this out, then we in all probability are within the incorrect enterprise, so we must always in all probability do one thing else. Nevertheless it’s been good to date. We launched with three flavors; we wished to make them enjoyable, approachable and attention-grabbing. 

We began reaching out to model design corporations in early 2025. On the similar time, we reached out to varied producers in Italy to see if they might accommodate what we had been seeking to do. The primary in all probability six months had been principally going forwards and backwards on the model id and our imaginative and prescient. 

We despatched out a couple of dozen chilly emails to Italian producers to get a way of what was doable. Then we spent two to a few weeks touring the Puglia area of Italy, visiting producers and sampling taralli and different merchandise that they’d, making an attempt to develop a rapport in that brief period of time. In fact, there was somewhat little bit of a language barrier, so we wished to verify there was anyone on their crew who may talk in English in case there was one thing that wanted to be sort of articulated that we couldn’t essentially translate. In order that was a enjoyable however lengthy course of. 

We’re utterly self-funded. Whole startup prices had been round $50,000. We’re potential buyers going into subsequent 12 months. So hopefully we now have somewhat bit extra assist. We have now a gradual stream of income. We had a fairly aggressive launch and fairly good income stream the primary few months. Then it sort of evened out somewhat bit, and now we’re fairly steady. Relying on the month, we’re averaging $8,000 to $10,000 product sales. We’re focusing on over $100,000 in product sales for the primary 12 months. 

We have now a social media one that works with us, a contract employee who’s a pal of ours. And we’ve been leaning closely on her for placing inspirational, artistic and enjoyable posts out. We have now 10 to 12 posts exit per week to maintain that curiosity going. Additionally, we’ve accomplished some partnerships with different manufacturers. We’ll do a collaboration the place we give away each of our merchandise. There’s plenty of alternative in that house as a result of there are such a lot of totally different CPG manufacturers on the market seeking to achieve publicity. We’re clearly prepared to companion with anyone who’s prepared to do the identical for us. 

Now, we’re absolutely centered on the enterprise, except some aspect initiatives. My spouse is a cookbook author, so she’s been engaged on that as effectively. And aspect initiatives that I’ve been engaged on that aren’t CPG-related. The day operating Sfizi will be very time-consuming, however it will also be much less time-consuming, relying on what’s happening. So you need to put different issues in your plate as effectively. 

Navigating timing and order move for achievement

The most important challenges have revolved round timing and order move, each by way of buyer ordering and inserting orders with our Italian producers for our product. It’s tough as a result of you’ll be able to’t all the time anticipate what gross sales are going to be like. Once we first launched, we had a comparatively small quantity as a result of we actually had no thought and we wanted to have a baseline. So simply in case we weren’t capable of promote something, we weren’t out of pocket some huge cash.

Fortunately, we offered out in a short time — in lower than a month. So from there, we ramped up manufacturing and scaled that manner. The timing of that plus the opposite components that go into delivering the ultimate product, whether or not it’s design for the packaging, printing packaging, and many others. — coordinating the timelines of all these totally different distributors — will be robust. After which we now have a third-party warehouse that shops our product and likewise fulfills orders.

It’s actually been a learn-on-the-fly course of as a result of we didn’t have the expertise with it. However we now have a significantly better deal with on it now than we did eight months in the past. Now, we now have sufficient order quantity that we’re comfy with ordering extra product than we would really need for the very foreseeable future. Our product does have an extended shelf life proper now, a couple of 12 months. So if the product has to take a seat for somewhat bit, that’s high quality. 

Increasing the product portfolio

We’re positively seeking to broaden the product portfolio. A minimum of for now, we wish to keep inside the Italian aperitivo angle as a result of that’s fashionable within the U.S. Individuals are all the time on the lookout for new, enjoyable snacks or merchandise to associate with their spritz or negroni or regardless of the drink of the week is. So we’ve reached out to some totally different Italian producers for a couple of totally different merchandise, although we don’t have something lined up definitively but. However we’re fairly sure we’re going to launch at the very least a second full product early in spring of 2027. We simply haven’t ironed out all the main points but. 

Down the highway, we will surely prefer to dip into the pantry aspect of issues, whether or not that’s a enjoyable pasta, sauce and even flour. As of late, there’s such a give attention to good flours, bread and healthful snacks. So we’re in a great place for lots of various instructions from a product standpoint. At the moment, we don’t import in bulk, however that’s one thing we’d think about as a result of we’ve gotten some curiosity from eating places and bars. 

Recommendation for different CPG founders

To anybody contemplating beginning a enterprise within the CPG house, don’t be afraid to ask folks for assist. Meet with different manufacturers and corporations doing comparable issues. As a result of what you actually come to comprehend is no one is aware of that a lot, however anyone may know just a bit bit extra, or perhaps they’ve had a sure expertise with one thing that you simply haven’t. So decide folks’s brains and simply attempt to perceive how they’re doing issues. You may be capable to apply what they’re doing to what you are promoting, even when it’s not precisely the identical factor.

You may’t be afraid to fail. We went into this enterprise with good intentions, however we really didn’t know the way it was going to work out. So you need to have somewhat little bit of humility. Don’t be afraid to be weak and ask questions. As a result of with out the information from a few of these different founders, I don’t know if we’d be the place we at the moment are.

This as-told story relies on a dialog with Joe Fiorenzo. Fiorenzo and his spouse, Sheela Prakash, co-founded Sfizi, a meals firm curating Italian merchandise in celebration of aperitivo tradition. They launched their first product, ring-shaped snack crackers referred to as taralli, in December 2025. Now, their enterprise sees a mean of $8,000 to $10,000 in month-to-month gross sales, on observe for $100,000 in its first 12 months, because it plans for product enlargement. The piece has been edited for size and readability. 

 I began the enterprise with my spouse, Sheela. Sheela has studied and lived in Italy on and off for the previous 10 years. We’ve been collectively for all that point, and we’ve traveled in Italy collectively. Throughout that point, we fell in love with Italian tradition. I even have an Italian American background, so I’ve skilled a few of these Italian influences over the course of my childhood. 

Sfizi interprets to “whims” in Italian. We prefer to confer with them as little pleasures. The aim is principally to rejoice little pleasures of Italian tradition. We launched with Italian Taralli crackers, the small bagel-looking crackers. You do see them all through the USA. Plenty of instances they’re in these clear cellophane baggage. They’re usually very dusty wanting, on the backside of a basket someplace within the cheese part. We wished to start out with that product as a result of it felt like a simple segue.