Sicilian Inspiration

Joseph A. LoBue and Anthony J. Marciona of That’s A Nice! talk about pure flavor, celebrating their tenth anniversary and why they are obsessed with Southern Italian food.

Why did you decide to sell Sicilian-style foods?
JLB: My family is originally from Palermo and Messina and Anthony’s is originally from Messina so it was only natural to focus on Sicilian products. My parents started in the restaurant business in Shreveport, La., in 1943 selling pizzas using only this little bitty oven, and I got my first experience there. But I also had worked in fashion retail for 18 years and I knew I wanted to have my own product to sell.

What was your first product?
JLB: It was the Sicilian olive mix called Olivetta. No one had it here in Los Angeles. If you go to New Orleans the Muffuletta is huge—with the distinctive ingredient being olive mix—so we knew there was an opportunity. From there we made our Sugos, our sauces, plus a private-label pasta so that we could make a nice package for gift baskets. Then came the Bacio, our “kiss of garlic” spread. It is our number-two item in the line. Our line had always been all natural but that product helped kick that reputation off.

How did you begin to get attention for your company?
AJM: I come from an entertainment background and at the time, in addition to my acting work, we were producing some theater. During intermission or at the concessions we started selling our products—it was almost like a little Italian market—and began to get a local following. We are also techno geeks and launched our line on the internet before many companies were doing it. We had products, recipes, Sicilian secrets—customers loved that whole thing.

How many products do you have now?
AJM: We have about 16 and we are introducing the Pure line with several new sauces at the Winter Fancy Food Show. They are all organic with low sodium and no added sugar.

Do people ever wonder about you having an Italian food company out of Los Angeles?
AJM: Well, it can be challenging pitching sauces in New York that were made in Southern California from Sicilian recipes. People just don’t expect authentic Italian foods to come from L.A. But we explain that we do have access to a lot more local fresh products—the garlic capital of the world is right here—so that customers can understand the benefits.

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
JLB: I would make my own pizza dough, let it rise, use our sauce, make some mozzarella cheese and mix in parmesan and garlic and spread it on. We eat that a lot.

AJM: I agree. I would have Joe’s pizza, plus some of our pasta and a side of garlic bread. I swear, we used to be lean and trim before we started a food business. |SFM|

Susan Segrest is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine.

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