Lindsay Marie Morris

Between Sicily's cannoli, cakes, and gelato-stuffed brioche, the island offers plenty of tempting sweet treats. But not everyone can partake.

 

Kasia Bos, who suffers from gluten intolerance, was tired of the lack of choices for people like herself. So, in 2022, she and her partner, co-founder Diego Di Giovanni, launched Terved, a Catania, Sicily-based company committed to not only meeting dietary needs but also exceeding taste and quality expectations. 

I caught up with Kasia and Diego to discuss Terved and its inspiration, the challenges the young entrepreneurs faced, how they balance tradition with necessary ingredients, how they build relationships, what Terved's future looks like, and their advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

 

 

What inspired Terved?

Kasia: I had gotten prescribed a gluten-free diet because of problems with my intestine. So my doctor advised me to go gluten-free, and from there, it started this new world of gluten-free. 

Diego met me a little bit after I had started this gluten-free diet. We were both young, and we wanted to do something. We thought, "Why don't we do something about the problem many people have, which is that it's still impossible to be gluten-free?"  We turned it into something productive and beautiful.  

 

Tell us about your product offerings.

Diego: We focus on the more regional and typical products, such as the cannoli and brioche we use for ice cream. But then the demand and the market also asked us for more and different products. We also developed products such as donuts that are more international. We made muffins and mini tarts with pistachio and apricot jam. Right now, we are trying to evolve and adapt to the market demand to satisfy and cover all the possible scenarios that we can. 
 

What challenges did you face starting your business?

Diego: We started very young. I was 22, she was 18. So, we both didn't have much life experience to deal with failures. So the first nos were very hard to take. Also, it was difficult to co-work and have two minds, two ideas that had to meld together at the end of the day. 

The most difficult, from my point of view, is the financial part because business knowledge is something that we managed to get from studying from other people as well as from experimenting, from failures, and so on. But the financial part is tricky because to make money, you have to invest money. And when you are so young, you don't have money. No one wants to give you money. 

 

Terved Co-founders Kasia Bos and Diego Di Giovanni

 

What is your process for developing products?

Kasia: When we started, we thought, "We are in Italy. He's Sicilian. So what can we do? Where can we start? What do people need?" So we came up with the concept of cannoli and the brioche, the most typical Sicilian products you can find. 

We already had a small community of people who followed us during the beginning of our journey. So we would try recipes with them. People who had celiac connected with us, and we asked them, "Is this an interesting product? Could this be a better product?" We did a little quiz. 

The difficult part was actually making that product happen. So we went from making recipes at home to going to specialists who could actually make those products last. From there, it's just been about spreading the product as much as possible. 

 

How do you ensure there's no cross-contamination?

Diego: All the products are individually packed. So even when they arrive from the laboratory to the final destination, we make sure that they are one hundred percent safe.

  

Kasia: At the end of the day, it goes from the laboratory to the hands of the consumer without getting touched by anyone. 

 

How do you balance traditional recipes with the need for gluten-free ingredients?

Diego: Of course, the flavor is not the same because when you change the flour, you change both taste, texture, the proofing of the product, the softness, the air—a lot of things. But our goal is to make a gluten-free version that reminds us of the traditional products. We are trying to develop a product that is as close as possible to the original one. 

 

How do you build relationships with clients, customers, partners, and distributors?

Diego: It depends on where these customers are located, but let's say that from a broader vision, we have a first approach on email. We use LinkedIn a lot. We introduce our company and what we do and send a catalog and a company presentation. Then, if we make a call, for example, to discuss a possible partnership, we send samples. If they're here in Sicily, we go meet them.

In our packaging, we include a little bit of our story and how we started. On social media, we try to entertain and talk about, for example, what we ate for dinner. We also try to attend events and fairs so we can meet customers. 

 

What's been the most rewarding part of this journey?

Kasia: For me, at least, it's actually having a face-to-face with the final consumer. When the actual client comes to you or writes a message to you and says, "Oh my God, your brioches are amazing!" 

The whole point of doing this is connecting with those people. In person, it's even better because once or twice, we were walking on the street, and out of nowhere, someone popped up and said, "Please never stop. You're amazing!" 

Diego: That's very heartwarming and beautiful. I would also like to add that I was astonished when a company reached out to us and told us they would like to bring our cannoli to Boston. 

We started from Catania, a small city of 200,000 citizens. Now, we are bringing our products to Boston, Australia, and the UK, and it happened so fast. We have another possibility for Miami and another company in Boston. Having your product so far away from your hometown is almost unbelievable.

 

Terved brioches on display at a supermarket.

 

What does Terved's future look like?

Kasia: We want to create more products and products that maybe haven't been seen before. We want to create more options. Right now, our focus is on supermarkets to really get in the hands of as many people as possible with higher quality products.

 

Diego: We have so many products that we could create. Another thing that we are trying to do is bring to supermarkets not just another gluten-free company but a premium gluten-free company. Our goal is to create a variety that is not currently in the market, at least here in Italy.

 

Kasia: The U.S. is way more advanced in that supermarkets carry 20 different kinds of gluten-free breads and 50 types of cookies. In Italy, it's really bad. You see two companies where there should be more options.

 

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Diego: We started with no experience, with no money, with nothing. We were very naive and a little bit reckless.

Surround yourself with experienced people. Try to listen because we gained knowledge from people who knew the business and knew more about life. Don't be scared of losing friends or sleep. Eventually, it's all going to be rewarded.

 

What experience do you want for your customers?

Diego: We just want them to feel listened to, not to be excluded.

Kasia: This is why we started, right? For them not to feel excluded. So when they eat, it's not like they have to think about it. It is just there. We want people to feel at ease.

 

 

 

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Kendra Matthews is on a mission to feed kids better and make mealtime easier for overextended parents. As a busy entrepreneur with two sons, she's got first-hand experience juggling responsibilities and ensuring a proper supper lands on the table.

 

The founder and CEO of San Diego-based Hidden Foods attributes her passion for food to her Sicilian side. Her father's family has roots in Palermo and Grotte. 

She recently took time out to chat about her background and journey to Hidden Foods, the challenges she faced along the way, product offerings, and more. 

 

 

What is your background?

My dad is fully Sicilian, and my mom is fully English, so I'm about 50/50. It was always a joke between my sister and me: Italian is a huge part of just who we are, and it's this weird pride, even though we're here in America. My mom got us the DNA test, and we said, "We don't want to take it. What if it turns out that we're not?"

 

So, I had it sitting on my counter for probably two years, and I finally sucked it up and took it. And it came back half Italian (40% Sicilian and the rest from other parts of Italy).

 

As a Sicilian, besides the fact that we use our hands a lot, cooking ends up being a really big part of my family and who we are. At the table, my kids laugh and say, "Oh, the Sicilians, they all just say mangia!" And I say, "Well, then, mangia, sit, and eat your food."

 

When I talk to the kids, if we go on a trip, my first question is, "How are you? What did you eat?" Because I think we're constantly trying to feed people, and that is a very strong part of who I am.

 

Share your journey to Hidden Foods.

Deep down, I'm an entrepreneur at heart. I consider that a sickness because it just doesn't stop. You're just like, "What's the next thing?" It's always been food. 

 

I started with tea, which I was very passionate about. Then, I moved on to cake truffles, which became really popular. Then, I had a macaron company, which kind of led to this.

 

Baking and sweets and pastries are something that I have always been passionate about, but I have two kids: a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old. My younger one got really picky about eating, and he still is.

 

I always make homemade sauce. We don't eat anything out of a jar. I make ragù that will sit for a day or two, and then we freeze it, and that's what we eat all year. Those are the things that he liked. It was getting to the point where it was like, "Well, I don't have time, so here's something out of a jar."

It made me feel guilty, so I decided I could do it on my own and bottle it so we could have it. I would also stick some stuff in it to make up for the lack of nutrition that they were getting in other places.

 

For me, it's about flavor because I want them to shape their palettes. I can give you chicken all day and a piece of broccoli, and I can say, "Yeah, that's really healthy." But if you don't have a variety of foods you're tasting and experiencing, you're not going to grow up to appreciate those different flavors, which I think is a really big deal for an Italian.

The project actually started with ravioli. I had created pasta that had nutritional value in it, so it had some protein, and it had different powdered veggies in it. And then I thought, Well, I can double it up, and then I can put some really good ingredients in the ravioli.

 

The kids were loving it, they were eating it, and then I coupled it with the sauce and put it all together. 

 

What were some of the challenges you faced?

The manufacturing process for all of this is really hard because once it leaves your kitchen, it's got to go to a really grand scale. You get into this problem where, first of all, you're too small for somebody who has the machinery to be able to do it. Second, when you decide, "Okay, we're going to do that huge gigantic run, and we're going to test it out," some of it just becomes a little complicated. To get the right flavor, it has to cook this way, or it has to do this, and they said, "That's not going to happen. It's going to be all thrown in a pot, and that's just what it is."

 

So it was kind of a balance to figure out, "Does this work?" I ran into so many roadblocks with it. My husband and I sat down and just said, "Well, let's just start with this sauce and see if we can get that made."

 

That, in general, was really, really difficult, too, because if you understand anything about products on a grocery shelf, they have to be obviously shelf stable. But in order to do that, they have to maintain a certain pH. When you stick all those healthy vegetables in it, the pH goes through the roof, which is why it's healthy. Typically, tomato sauce is fine because it's got that acidity to it. And if it's all done, the only thing you're worried about is botulism, which is not small, but that can be something you can fix.

 

We've got pureed beets, carrots, kidney beans, and spinach in there. And so it was really complicated. I talked to a ton of different manufacturing sites, and they all looked at it and said, "Nope, we're not touching that. The pH is way too high."

We ran across somebody who said, "Listen, we'll entertain this." They were able to help me with that one. We actually have five sauces; it's a really big process to get these done.

 

I don't want to go down the refrigeration road. Our mission is to really make it easier to feed families better. So by having those shelf-stable products, they last longer, and people can take them with them.  

After a year, we launched the marinara sauce, and I also had a meat sauce. Our family sauce is really good. But that's been a really big challenge because then the USDA gets involved and wants to tear everything apart, and it has nothing to do with your ingredients. It's solely your label.

 

I would say "no added sugar" and then "zero added sugar," and they'd say, "No, you can't." Then I'd go back, and they'd say, "Add not a low-calorie food." And I'd say, "Well, it's not really high-calorie, but OK, I'll write that on there." Then you'd submit it, and the next time, they'd come back and say, "Now remove that." I said, "But you told me to put it on there."

 

After a year, we finally got it approved.

 

School children are being served Hidden Foods muffins.

 

Where can we find Hidden Foods?

We're on Amazon and sell through our website. We're in a lot of stores in San Diego, like Seaside Market and Frazier Farms. We're also in some Sprouts down here. We just launched in Lazy Acres up in Los Angeles, and it's kind of a test. Then, we'll branch out to their other stores, just slowly growing that way.

 

We also have a line that we're working on with the school districts. Again, my goal is really to feed kids better. A lot of their nutrition—in California, especially—comes from the school. So they go in, they have breakfast, and they have lunch. There are also a lot of rules coming down from Sacramento about what these kids can eat—reducing added sugar products and no fake dyes.

 

We're slotted as a perfect match for the schools. So, right now, we're working with them to make sure we can create some long-lasting, pre-made, and prepackaged products. We just launched some muffins, and so the kids are getting those at school for breakfast. 

 

You've mentioned sauce and muffins. Tell us about your pancakes.

We have four flavors for pancakes. We have homestyle, chocolate chip, cinnamon churro, and gluten-free. All of those include our vegetable blend, so it's essentially your greens for the day, as well as high protein and oat flour, flaxseed, and no added sugar. Those are sweetened with monk fruit and banana powder. You just add water. Again, we're just trying to make it easy for families.

 

What is your goal with your products?

I'm on a mission to make sure that people are fed better. And how this kind of started was just being so sick of kids having cancer and being sick. The lack of nutrition is so much more than even being physically sick: There are attention deficits and behavior problems and patterns. A lot of that comes from that lack of nutrition. So, my goal was really to feed these kids better. It also needs to be easy because I think parents are saying, "Yeah, I want to feed my kid better, but I'm going for the easier one. I'm going for what's in a jar."

 

My goal is to partner with moms and say, "We've got your back. Here's some really good stuff, and let's branch out."

 

I would like this to be everywhere. I want parents to rely on us, trust our brand, and say, "If it's Hidden Foods, it's got to be good. " I know I'm going to give them the nutrition that they need.

 

So obviously, to get in stores everywhere would be my goal, but also to really break through school districts because I feel that is also something that when it's in front of a kid, they'll eat, and then they move on. And I don't need this to be, "Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I've ever tasted." I mean, I would hope that it is, and I think so. But really, I want them to just eat it and move on. If they don't stop and say, "Oh, what is this? Why is it different?" and they eat it, that is a huge win because of all the nutritional benefits in it. 

 

 

 

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