About 2002

Q&A
Janis M. Dalessandro, 2000

(continued)

It sounds like a lot of work. Were you prepared for this?
People have always told me that they wished they could bottle my energy. Really, in creating each of three sauces, we've done this. Boy, am I thankful for that energy now. We all worked full time jobs, (though I think jobs is too light of a term...we all had careers) while creating this company. There were so many late nights. I am tired now just thinking about it. It was a lot of work, but we always remained focus on our goals of presenting a great gourmet, spicy company that represented our love for heat, comittment to nutrition and our energy. You know, eating a lot of hot sauce does give you incredible energy~

Was it worth it?
Anytime you dream of something and it comes to fruition, it's worth it. But, I have to say now, we're each still working on finding balance. Family is more important than a dream.

What did you do when you finally got the product?
We brought a bottle of Vulve Cloquot (which I cannot pronounce), toasted, cried, folded brochures and licked envelopes. I am sure in our hearts we hoped that a few years from now, we'd find that task a funny and humbling experience.

The names of your products are great, how did you come up with them? What does d'Oni mean, your last name is Dalessandro?
I can only take credit for part of the names and the slogans. Let's see, how did we come up with those? I'll start with the easiest one: d'Oni. Oni is a name I woke up calling my husband one morning. It really means nothing. It could be affectionate or it could be used in a really harsh tone. It's been our "pet name" for each other for years. d' indicates from, hence d'Oni.

When we were naming the products we wanted the names to depict our passions or ourselves: Some would say I'm quirky, David and Michael are musical, Eileen, Mike and I love any type of heat, we're passionate, I take dance lessons, we're all good and not evil...When you create a product, you really hope that you are able to capture who you are in a bottle or name. I had gone off a little into left field on the dance part (I love to dance), a friend emailed me and said: No, this is not a ballroom...try these. We ended up using one of his and the rest of ours.

I think the names clearly depict who we are as people and as a company.

Was the same theory used with your labels?
Yes, I asked the artist to draw a stick person, that danced and threw peppers. It really does look like us as we were trying to figure out how to create the sauce from our kitchen to the market.

The labels also had to depict the product that was inside. Our sauces are truly gourmet sauces, they are not just hot. Burning Desire is one of the most gourmet hot sauces that I have ever tasted. So how do you put that story on a label? I selected the color coordinations based on the product and the name. In the end I was very happy with the presentation of our products, I felt each of them told a great story.

What was the most irritating part of the process?
Oh please, after 5 years, let me have a couple? One, before we met our wonderful co-packer, we ran into some real gems (sic). It was rare they would take us serious. I guess they were used to people wasting their time. But it was really hard. That's why I will forever be indebted to John Kidde.