Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n- Fiorenzo and Prakash reached out to Italian producers to launch their brand Sfizi.<\/li>\n
- Sfizi translates to whims in Italian; the couple considers them little pleasures. <\/li>\n
- Now, they\u2019re targeting $100,000 in annual sales and eyeing product expansion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
This as-told story is based on a conversation with Joe Fiorenzo. Fiorenzo and his wife, Sheela Prakash, co-founded <\/em>Sfizi<\/em><\/a>, a food company curating Italian products in celebration of aperitivo culture. They launched their first product, ring-shaped snack crackers called taralli, in December 2025. Now, their business sees an average of $8,000 to $10,000 in monthly sales, on track for $100,000 in its first year, as it plans for product expansion. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/SFIZI-Lifestyle-0297-1.jpg?w=683\")
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi. Sheela Prakash and Joe Fiorenzo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u200aI started the business with my wife, Sheela. Sheela has studied and lived in Italy off and on for the past 10 years. We\u2019ve been together for all that time, and we\u2019ve traveled in Italy together. During that time, we fell in love with Italian culture. I also have an Italian American background, so I\u2019ve experienced some of those Italian influences over the course of my childhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sfizi translates to \u201cwhims\u201d in Italian. We like to refer to them as little pleasures. The goal is basically to celebrate little pleasures of Italian culture. We launched with Italian Taralli crackers, the small bagel-looking crackers. You do see them throughout the United States. A lot of times they\u2019re in those clear cellophane bags. They\u2019re often very dusty looking, at the bottom of a basket somewhere in the cheese section. We wanted to start with that product because it felt like an easy segue.<\/p>\n
Starting a self-funded business without a CPG background <\/h2>\n
Neither of us have a CPG<\/a> background. I worked in corporate insurance for 17 years. Sheela has a food background, but not in the CPG space. So we wanted to start small. We figured, if we can\u2019t figure this out, then we probably are in the wrong business, so we should probably do something else. But it\u2019s been good so far. We launched with three flavors; we wanted to make them fun, approachable and eye-catching.\u00a0<\/p>\nWe started reaching out to brand design companies in early 2025. At the same time, we reached out to various producers in Italy to see if they could accommodate what we were looking to do. The first probably six months were mostly going back and forth on the brand identity<\/a> and our vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/SFIZI-Lifestyle-0034.jpg?w=819\")
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe sent out about a dozen cold emails to Italian producers to get a sense of what was possible. Then we spent two to three weeks traveling the Puglia region of Italy, visiting producers and sampling taralli and other products that they had, trying to develop a rapport in that short amount of time. Of course, there was a little bit of a language barrier, so we wanted to make sure there was somebody on their team who could communicate in English in case there was something that needed to be kind of articulated that we couldn\u2019t necessarily translate. So that was a fun but long process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re completely self-funded. Total startup costs<\/a> were around $50,000. We are looking at potential investors going into next year. So hopefully we have a little bit more support. We have a steady stream of revenue. We had a pretty aggressive launch and pretty good revenue stream the first few months. Then it kind of evened out a little bit, and now we\u2019re pretty stable. Depending on the month, we\u2019re averaging $8,000 to $10,000 gross sales. We\u2019re targeting over $100,000 in gross sales for the first year.\u00a0<\/p>\nWe have a social media person who works with us, a contract worker who\u2019s a friend of ours. And we\u2019ve been leaning heavily on her for putting inspirational, creative and fun posts out. We have 10 to 12 posts go out a week to keep that interest going. Also, we\u2019ve done some partnerships with other brands. We\u2019ll do a collaboration where we give away both of our products. There\u2019s a lot of opportunity in that space because there are so many different CPG brands<\/a> out there looking to gain exposure. We\u2019re obviously willing to partner with anybody who\u2019s willing to do the same for us.\u00a0<\/p>\nNow, we are fully focused on the business, with the exception of some side projects<\/a>. My wife is a cookbook writer, so she\u2019s been working on that as well. And side projects that I\u2019ve been working on that are not CPG-related. The day running Sfizi can be very time-consuming, but it can also be less time-consuming, depending on what\u2019s going on. So you have to put other things on your plate as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/SFIZI-Aperitivo-0062.jpg?w=1024\")
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nNavigating timing and order flow for success<\/h2>\n
The biggest challenges have revolved around timing and order flow, both in terms of customer ordering<\/a> and placing orders with our Italian producers for our product. It\u2019s difficult because you can\u2019t always anticipate what sales are going to be like. When we first launched, we had a relatively small volume because we really had no idea and we needed to have a baseline. So just in case we weren\u2019t able to sell anything, we weren\u2019t out of pocket a lot of money.<\/p>\nLuckily, we sold out very quickly \u2014 in less than a month. So from there, we ramped up production and scaled that way. The timing of that plus the other elements that go into delivering the final product, whether it\u2019s design for the packaging<\/a>, printing packaging, etc. \u2014 coordinating the timelines of all those different vendors \u2014 can be tough. And then we have a third-party warehouse that stores our product and also fulfills orders.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s really been a learn-on-the-fly process because we didn\u2019t have the experience with it. But we have a much better handle on it now than we did eight months ago. Now, we have enough order volume that we\u2019re comfortable with ordering more product than we might actually need for the very foreseeable future. Our product does have a long shelf life right now, about a year. So if the product has to sit for a little bit, that\u2019s fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Expanding the product portfolio<\/h2>\n
We\u2019re definitely looking to broaden the product portfolio<\/a>. At least for now, we want to stay within the Italian aperitivo angle because that\u2019s popular in the U.S. People are always looking for new, fun snacks or products to go along with their spritz or negroni or whatever the drink of the week is. So we\u2019ve reached out to a few different Italian producers for a few different products, though we don\u2019t have anything lined up definitively yet. But we\u2019re pretty certain we\u2019re going to launch at least a second full product early in spring of 2027. We just haven\u2019t ironed out all the details yet.\u00a0<\/p>\nDown the road, we would certainly like to dip into the pantry element of things, whether that\u2019s a fun pasta, sauce or even flour. These days, there\u2019s such a focus on good flours, bread and healthful snacks. So we\u2019re in a good spot for a lot of different directions from a product standpoint. Currently, we don\u2019t import in bulk, but that is something we would consider because we\u2019ve gotten some interest from restaurants and bars.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.entrepreneur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/SFIZI-Lifestyle-0123.jpg?w=1024\")
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sfizi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAdvice for other CPG founders<\/h2>\n
To anyone considering starting a business in the CPG space, don\u2019t be afraid to ask people for help<\/a>. Meet with other brands and companies doing similar things. Because what you really come to realize is nobody knows that much, but somebody might know just a little bit more, or maybe they\u2019ve had a certain experience with something that you haven\u2019t. So pick people\u2019s brains and just try to understand how they\u2019re doing things. You might be able to apply what they\u2019re doing to your business, even if it\u2019s not exactly the same thing.<\/p>\nYou can\u2019t be afraid to fail<\/a>. We went into this business with good intentions, but we truly did not know how it was going to work out. So you have to have a little bit of humility. Don\u2019t be afraid to be vulnerable and ask questions. Because without the tips from some of these other founders, I don\u2019t know if we would be where we are now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\nKey Takeaways<\/h2>\n\n- Fiorenzo and Prakash reached out to Italian producers to launch their brand Sfizi.<\/li>\n
- Sfizi translates to whims in Italian; the couple considers them little pleasures. <\/li>\n
- Now, they\u2019re targeting $100,000 in annual sales and eyeing product expansion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
This as-told story is based on a conversation with Joe Fiorenzo. Fiorenzo and his wife, Sheela Prakash, co-founded <\/em>Sfizi<\/em><\/a>, a food company curating Italian products in celebration of aperitivo culture. They launched their first product, ring-shaped snack crackers called taralli, in December 2025. Now, their business sees an average of $8,000 to $10,000 in monthly sales, on track for $100,000 in its first year, as it plans for product expansion. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u200aI started the business with my wife, Sheela. Sheela has studied and lived in Italy off and on for the past 10 years. We\u2019ve been together for all that time, and we\u2019ve traveled in Italy together. During that time, we fell in love with Italian culture. I also have an Italian American background, so I\u2019ve experienced some of those Italian influences over the course of my childhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sfizi translates to \u201cwhims\u201d in Italian. We like to refer to them as little pleasures. The goal is basically to celebrate little pleasures of Italian culture. We launched with Italian Taralli crackers, the small bagel-looking crackers. You do see them throughout the United States. A lot of times they\u2019re in those clear cellophane bags. They\u2019re often very dusty looking, at the bottom of a basket somewhere in the cheese section. We wanted to start with that product because it felt like an easy segue.<\/p>\n Neither of us have a CPG<\/a> background. I worked in corporate insurance for 17 years. Sheela has a food background, but not in the CPG space. So we wanted to start small. We figured, if we can\u2019t figure this out, then we probably are in the wrong business, so we should probably do something else. But it\u2019s been good so far. We launched with three flavors; we wanted to make them fun, approachable and eye-catching.\u00a0<\/p>\n We started reaching out to brand design companies in early 2025. At the same time, we reached out to various producers in Italy to see if they could accommodate what we were looking to do. The first probably six months were mostly going back and forth on the brand identity<\/a> and our vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n We sent out about a dozen cold emails to Italian producers to get a sense of what was possible. Then we spent two to three weeks traveling the Puglia region of Italy, visiting producers and sampling taralli and other products that they had, trying to develop a rapport in that short amount of time. Of course, there was a little bit of a language barrier, so we wanted to make sure there was somebody on their team who could communicate in English in case there was something that needed to be kind of articulated that we couldn\u2019t necessarily translate. So that was a fun but long process.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019re completely self-funded. Total startup costs<\/a> were around $50,000. We are looking at potential investors going into next year. So hopefully we have a little bit more support. We have a steady stream of revenue. We had a pretty aggressive launch and pretty good revenue stream the first few months. Then it kind of evened out a little bit, and now we\u2019re pretty stable. Depending on the month, we\u2019re averaging $8,000 to $10,000 gross sales. We\u2019re targeting over $100,000 in gross sales for the first year.\u00a0<\/p>\n We have a social media person who works with us, a contract worker who\u2019s a friend of ours. And we\u2019ve been leaning heavily on her for putting inspirational, creative and fun posts out. We have 10 to 12 posts go out a week to keep that interest going. Also, we\u2019ve done some partnerships with other brands. We\u2019ll do a collaboration where we give away both of our products. There\u2019s a lot of opportunity in that space because there are so many different CPG brands<\/a> out there looking to gain exposure. We\u2019re obviously willing to partner with anybody who\u2019s willing to do the same for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, we are fully focused on the business, with the exception of some side projects<\/a>. My wife is a cookbook writer, so she\u2019s been working on that as well. And side projects that I\u2019ve been working on that are not CPG-related. The day running Sfizi can be very time-consuming, but it can also be less time-consuming, depending on what\u2019s going on. So you have to put other things on your plate as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n The biggest challenges have revolved around timing and order flow, both in terms of customer ordering<\/a> and placing orders with our Italian producers for our product. It\u2019s difficult because you can\u2019t always anticipate what sales are going to be like. When we first launched, we had a relatively small volume because we really had no idea and we needed to have a baseline. So just in case we weren\u2019t able to sell anything, we weren\u2019t out of pocket a lot of money.<\/p>\n Luckily, we sold out very quickly \u2014 in less than a month. So from there, we ramped up production and scaled that way. The timing of that plus the other elements that go into delivering the final product, whether it\u2019s design for the packaging<\/a>, printing packaging, etc. \u2014 coordinating the timelines of all those different vendors \u2014 can be tough. And then we have a third-party warehouse that stores our product and also fulfills orders.<\/p>\n It\u2019s really been a learn-on-the-fly process because we didn\u2019t have the experience with it. But we have a much better handle on it now than we did eight months ago. Now, we have enough order volume that we\u2019re comfortable with ordering more product than we might actually need for the very foreseeable future. Our product does have a long shelf life right now, about a year. So if the product has to sit for a little bit, that\u2019s fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019re definitely looking to broaden the product portfolio<\/a>. At least for now, we want to stay within the Italian aperitivo angle because that\u2019s popular in the U.S. People are always looking for new, fun snacks or products to go along with their spritz or negroni or whatever the drink of the week is. So we\u2019ve reached out to a few different Italian producers for a few different products, though we don\u2019t have anything lined up definitively yet. But we\u2019re pretty certain we\u2019re going to launch at least a second full product early in spring of 2027. We just haven\u2019t ironed out all the details yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n Down the road, we would certainly like to dip into the pantry element of things, whether that\u2019s a fun pasta, sauce or even flour. These days, there\u2019s such a focus on good flours, bread and healthful snacks. So we\u2019re in a good spot for a lot of different directions from a product standpoint. Currently, we don\u2019t import in bulk, but that is something we would consider because we\u2019ve gotten some interest from restaurants and bars.\u00a0<\/p>\n To anyone considering starting a business in the CPG space, don\u2019t be afraid to ask people for help<\/a>. Meet with other brands and companies doing similar things. Because what you really come to realize is nobody knows that much, but somebody might know just a little bit more, or maybe they\u2019ve had a certain experience with something that you haven\u2019t. So pick people\u2019s brains and just try to understand how they\u2019re doing things. You might be able to apply what they\u2019re doing to your business, even if it\u2019s not exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t be afraid to fail<\/a>. We went into this business with good intentions, but we truly did not know how it was going to work out. So you have to have a little bit of humility. Don\u2019t be afraid to be vulnerable and ask questions. Because without the tips from some of these other founders, I don\u2019t know if we would be where we are now.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nStarting a self-funded business without a CPG background <\/h2>\n
Navigating timing and order flow for success<\/h2>\n
Expanding the product portfolio<\/h2>\n
Advice for other CPG founders<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
\n