My Wife and I Started a Business to Elevate Aperitivo Hour in the U.S. It’s Averaging $8,000 to $10,000 a Month.

This as-told communicative is based connected a speech pinch Joe Fiorenzo. Fiorenzo and his wife, Sheela Prakash, co-founded Sfizi, a nutrient institution curating Italian products successful ceremony of aperitivo culture. They launched their first product, ring-shaped snack crackers called taralli, successful December 2025. Now, their business sees an mean of $8,000 to $10,000 successful monthly sales, connected way for $100,000 successful its first year, arsenic it plans for merchandise description . The portion has been edited for magnitude and clarity. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi. Sheela Prakash and Joe Fiorenzo.

 I started the business pinch my wife, Sheela. Sheela has studied and lived successful Italy disconnected and connected for the past 10 years. We’ve been together for each that time, and we’ve traveled successful Italy together. During that time, we fell successful emotion pinch Italian culture. I besides person an Italian American background, truthful I’ve knowledgeable immoderate of those Italian influences complete the people of my childhood. 

Sfizi translates to “whims” successful Italian. We for illustration to mention to them arsenic small pleasures. The extremity is fundamentally to observe small pleasures of Italian culture. We launched pinch Italian Taralli crackers, the mini bagel-looking crackers. You do spot them passim the United States. A batch of times they’re successful those clear cellophane bags. They’re often very dusty looking, astatine the bottommost of a handbasket location successful the food section. We wanted to commencement pinch that merchandise because it felt for illustration an easy segue.

Starting a self-funded business without a CPG inheritance

Neither of america person a CPG background. I worked successful firm security for 17 years. Sheela has a nutrient background, but not successful the CPG space. So we wanted to commencement small. We figured, if we can’t fig this out, past we astir apt are successful the incorrect business, truthful we should astir apt do thing else. But it’s been bully truthful far. We launched pinch 3 flavors; we wanted to make them fun, approachable and eye-catching. 

We started reaching retired to marque creation companies successful early 2025. At the aforesaid time, we reached retired to various producers successful Italy to spot if they could accommodate what we were looking to do. The first astir apt six months were mostly going backmost and distant connected the brand identity and our vision. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi

We sent retired astir a twelve acold emails to Italian producers to get a consciousness of what was possible. Then we spent 2 to 3 weeks walking the Puglia region of Italy, visiting producers and sampling taralli and different products that they had, trying to create a rapport successful that short magnitude of time. Of course, location was a small spot of a connection barrier, truthful we wanted to make judge location was personification connected their squad who could pass successful English successful lawsuit location was thing that needed to beryllium benignant of articulated that we couldn’t needfully translate. So that was a nosy but agelong process. 

We’re wholly self-funded. Total startup costs were astir $50,000. We are looking astatine imaginable investors going into adjacent year. So hopefully we person a small spot much support. We person a dependable watercourse of revenue. We had a beautiful fierce motorboat and beautiful bully gross watercourse the first fewer months. Then it benignant of evened retired a small bit, and now we’re beautiful stable. Depending connected the month, we’re averaging $8,000 to $10,000 gross sales. We’re targeting complete $100,000 successful gross income for the first year. 

We person a societal media personification who useful pinch us, a statement worker who’s a friend of ours. And we’ve been leaning heavy connected her for putting inspirational, imaginative and nosy posts out. We person 10 to 12 posts spell retired a week to support that liking going. Also, we’ve done immoderate partnerships pinch different brands. We’ll do a collaboration wherever we springiness distant some of our products. There’s a batch of opportunity successful that abstraction because location are truthful galore different CPG brands retired location looking to summation exposure. We’re evidently consenting to partner pinch anybody who’s consenting to do the aforesaid for us. 

Now, we are afloat focused connected the business, pinch the objection of immoderate side projects. My woman is simply a cookbook writer, truthful she’s been moving connected that arsenic well. And broadside projects that I’ve been moving connected that are not CPG-related. The time moving Sfizi tin beryllium very time-consuming, but it tin besides beryllium little time-consuming, depending connected what’s going on. So you person to put different things connected your sheet arsenic well. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi

Navigating timing and bid travel for success

The biggest challenges person revolved astir timing and bid flow, some successful position of customer ordering and placing orders pinch our Italian producers for our product. It’s difficult because you can’t ever expect what income are going to beryllium like. When we first launched, we had a comparatively mini measurement because we really had nary thought and we needed to person a baseline. So conscionable successful lawsuit we weren’t capable to waste anything, we weren’t retired of pouch a batch of money.

Luckily, we sold retired very quickly — successful little than a month. So from there, we ramped up accumulation and scaled that way. The timing of that positive the different elements that spell into delivering the last product, whether it’s creation for the packaging, printing packaging, etc. — coordinating the timelines of each those different vendors — tin beryllium tough. And past we person a third-party storage that stores our merchandise and besides fulfills orders.

It’s really been a learn-on-the-fly process because we didn’t person the acquisition pinch it. But we person a overmuch amended grip connected it now than we did 8 months ago. Now, we person capable bid measurement that we’re comfortable pinch ordering much merchandise than we mightiness really request for the very foreseeable future. Our merchandise does person a agelong support life correct now, astir a year. So if the merchandise has to beryllium for a small bit, that’s fine. 

Expanding the merchandise portfolio

We’re decidedly looking to broaden the product portfolio. At slightest for now, we want to enactment wrong the Italian aperitivo perspective because that’s celebrated successful the U.S. People are ever looking for new, nosy snacks aliases products to spell on pinch their spritz aliases negroni aliases immoderate the portion of the week is. So we’ve reached retired to a fewer different Italian producers for a fewer different products, though we don’t person thing lined up definitively yet. But we’re beautiful definite we’re going to motorboat astatine slightest a 2nd afloat merchandise early successful outpouring of 2027. We conscionable haven’t ironed retired each the specifications yet. 

Down the road, we would surely for illustration to dip into the pantry constituent of things, whether that’s a nosy pasta, condiment aliases moreover flour. These days, there’s specified a attraction connected bully flours, breadstuff and healthful snacks. So we’re successful a bully spot for a batch of different directions from a merchandise standpoint. Currently, we don’t import successful bulk, but that is thing we would see because we’ve gotten immoderate liking from restaurants and bars. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi

Advice for different CPG founders

To anyone considering starting a business successful the CPG space, don’t beryllium acrophobic to ask group for help. Meet pinch different brands and companies doing akin things. Because what you really travel to recognize is cipher knows that much, but personification mightiness cognize conscionable a small spot more, aliases possibly they’ve had a definite acquisition pinch thing that you haven’t. So prime people’s brains and conscionable effort to understand really they’re doing things. You mightiness beryllium capable to use what they’re doing to your business, moreover if it’s not precisely the aforesaid thing.

You can’t beryllium afraid to fail. We went into this business pinch bully intentions, but we genuinely did not cognize really it was going to activity out. So you person to person a small spot of humility. Don’t beryllium acrophobic to beryllium susceptible and inquire questions. Because without the tips from immoderate of these different founders, I don’t cognize if we would beryllium wherever we are now.

This as-told communicative is based connected a speech pinch Joe Fiorenzo. Fiorenzo and his wife, Sheela Prakash, co-founded Sfizi, a nutrient institution curating Italian products successful ceremony of aperitivo culture. They launched their first product, ring-shaped snack crackers called taralli, successful December 2025. Now, their business sees an mean of $8,000 to $10,000 successful monthly sales, connected way for $100,000 successful its first year, arsenic it plans for merchandise description . The portion has been edited for magnitude and clarity. 

Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi. Sheela Prakash and Joe Fiorenzo.

 I started the business pinch my wife, Sheela. Sheela has studied and lived successful Italy disconnected and connected for the past 10 years. We’ve been together for each that time, and we’ve traveled successful Italy together. During that time, we fell successful emotion pinch Italian culture. I besides person an Italian American background, truthful I’ve knowledgeable immoderate of those Italian influences complete the people of my childhood. 

Sfizi translates to “whims” successful Italian. We for illustration to mention to them arsenic small pleasures. The extremity is fundamentally to observe small pleasures of Italian culture. We launched pinch Italian Taralli crackers, the mini bagel-looking crackers. You do spot them passim the United States. A batch of times they’re successful those clear cellophane bags. They’re often very dusty looking, astatine the bottommost of a handbasket location successful the food section. We wanted to commencement pinch that merchandise because it felt for illustration an easy segue.