Savannah is no stranger to the national spotlight, and one local company hopes to make it shine a little brighter.
FraLi Gourmet, 217 West Liberty St., aims to take home top honors in the 2014 Martha Stewart American Made awards competition, which honors makers, small-business owners and creative entrepreneurs in the fields of crafts, design, food and style from around the country.
“It would mean not only great exposure for FraLi Gourmet, but also a really great light for Savannah as well, to show people we’re rich in the culinary field,” said Lisa Marra, who owns FraLi Gourmet along with her husband, Franco.
The Marras opened the retail location of FraLi Gourmet on Liberty street six months ago to support their wholesale operation that began in 2010, specializing in fresh all natural pastas, sauces and gourmet vegetables marinated in oils.
They’ve already made it through the first round of the competition and are competing with 20 other businesses in the dry goods category. From the pool of 800 finalists only 10 award winners will be chosen — nine by Stewart and her panel of judges and one wildcard winner chosen by online voters. The voting for the wildcard slot runs through Oct. 13, and winners will be announced on Oct. 17.
Franco a native of Sanremo, Italy, served as the executive chef at the now closed Il Pasticcio restaurant at Broughton and Bull streets and Lisa worked in the kitchen before leaving their positions in 2008. They began making healthy meals and snacks for their kids, Lisa said, and their business just took off.
“We left (Il Pasticcio) in 2008 and pretty much just opened this place with our piggy bank,” said Lisa. “Even though we don’t have the buying power, whatever we do in retail sector we throw it into the wholesale, so we’re able to get our product out there to bigger stores and hopefully as we get bigger we’ll be able to make a profit, but we’re getting there... We’d love for people to see the other side of food where you don’t have to have the preservatives or additives.”
When he and his wife moved to America, Franco said, they wanted to make sure they brought the freshness and time-honored traditions of Italy with them so younger generations could learn to cook food that tastes like it’s straight out of your Italian grandma’s kitchen.
“Moving here, nothing against America, but when we moved here, we didn’t want to lose what we had (in Italy)...” said Franco. “When we had to be approved in the system at an area supermarket for the first time they gave us a list of 100 chemicals that were not allowed in their ‘natural section,’ but that means they’re allowed in the rest of the store. If you look at these names you get scared just to read them.”
The Marras’ pastas, sauces and marinated vegetables are prepared in an artesian way with all natural ingredients without added preservatives or artificial fillers. Unlike other pastas that are flash-dried their pasta is dried naturally for 48 hours to lock in flavor and nutrients.
The vegetables are packed in extra virgin olive oil, not brine, and the remaining oil can be used to cook with or for salad dressing.
The company makes more than a dozen varieties of pastas including, fusilli, ziti, rigatoni and ravioli, but perhaps what they’re most proud of is their roasted pepper salsa. The salsa is dairy and gluten free and can be used as a pasta sauce, a spread, baking seasoning for chicken or fish or even added to a soup stock.
FraLi Gourmet products are available at select area Kroger stores, Whole Foods, local gourmet shops, Brighter Day Natural Foods and the Forsyth Farmers’ Market. Plus, numerous local restaurants serve their products.
“We believe in this company as you can see. Who else would work retail to pay for their wholesale?” said Lisa, “We believe in this product, and we know that one day the roasted pepper salsa will be like the adult Nutella, it’s going to be that big.”
If FraLi Gourmet makes it to the top 10, the Marras will be on their way to New York City for the American Made Market event.
Other perks include a video produced by Martha Stewart’s in-house team, the opportunity to be featured in “Martha Stewart Living” magazine, on SiriusXM radio, marthastewart.com and they would get $10,000 to grow their business. It would help pay for a new delivery van.
HOW TO VOTE
You can vote for FraLi Gourmet six times a day at, www.marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/93103/food/frali-gourmet. Voting ends Oct. 13 and the winners will be announced Oct. 17.
ABOUT FRALI GOURMET
FraLi Gourmet produces fresh pastas in a large variety such as, spinach, ricotta ravioli and grilled vegetable raviloli. There are no added preservative or additives in any of their products, and the company uses local ingredients.
Phone: 912-234-4644
Location: 217 West Liberty Street
Website: www.fraligourmet.com