Today we’d like to introduce you to Traci Angelelli.
Hi Traci, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My name is Traci Angelelli. I was born in Houston 50 years ago. My husband, Carl, was born in Pittsburgh, PA 52 years ago. His parents and older sister moved to Houston when Carl was an infant. He knows no other place as home. We met in 1986, I was 15 and he was 17. We attended high school together and hung out in the same peer group. We became very good friends. Carl graduated in 1987, and I had two years left of HS. He went to the University of Houston, and we usually hung out on the weekends with our group of friends.
When I graduated in 1989, two years later, I did not have the means to attend college. Most of my friends had left Houston for college, and I got a job. Carl and I began hanging out, our friendship grew. I think we always loved each other. We married young, I was 19 and he was 21. We started a family right away with the birth of our oldest daughter, Alix.
Carl worked as a Designer in the oil and gas industry. I became a stay-at-home mom. When we first married, our little family lived with Carl’s parents. And I was introduced to the art of cooking. They were foodies before the term even existed. Carl and his sister grew up with food being a big part of their lives. And Sunday family meals became a tradition. Especially the Italian meals. I had grown up in a Southern family where beans, cornbread, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings were staples at my grandma’s house for Sunday lunches. And Italian food was spaghetti made with jarred sauce. Carl’s mom, Carol, was a very picky eater and never ate chicken. But her taste pallet was extraordinary. She made delicious fried chicken even though she never tasted it. Our little family grew when our daughter Madilyn was born. Carl worked hard climbing the ladder in his career. He provided and took care of us. We were so young.
Over the years, the volatile oil and gas industry had its ups and downs, and Carl endured several layoffs. But he persevered, was highly skilled and always got a better job. After decades of working, he was getting burned out. His stress level was through the roof.
2017 saw another layoff and he was out of work for almost a year. When he got back into the workforce, the stress ate him up. Shortly thereafter, his mother, Carol, got sick. Sunday family meals stopped. And June of 2019, sadly, Carol passed away. We were all devastated and depressed. Carol was so much fun, so loving and very intuitive. She loved her children and grandchildren with all her heart, and she loved me too. Since we had grown up together, our families became close. Both sides gathered for every holiday. We always felt supported and were supported by both of our families. We all rejoiced together. We all laughed together and we all loved each other.
Carl was deeply depressed by his mom’s passing, and several months later, in February 2020, just before CoVID Lockdown, Carl was laid off. He had worked hard for 30 years, he was beat down, and he missed his mother. We all did. Knowing the Oil and Gas industry was dying in Houston and after months of not finding a job, we had no plan. I had worked here and there over the years and got my college degree at the age of 37. But never had a career. I found a job and began working. Carl was happy having time off, but my income wasn’t enough for us. I had been thinking about a “side gig” for a while. I have several friends who had side businesses, either selling face care, jewelry, art, and baked items. I started consulting with my friends but wasn’t sure what direction we were heading.
One of my girlfriends was a Market vendor at our local Farmer’s Market, and she was very successful selling her bundt cakes. She loved what she was doing, created a following and has had great success. My mind started thinking. Carol made us foodies! We knew how to cook and we knew our food was good. Living in Houston, we have been exposed to some of the best and most diverse foods in the country. In Texas, we have flavor in our food. Whether it’s southern cooking or Italian cooking, the flavors were always bold and delicious.
So, we decided to cook and see if people would purchase our products. Carol had handwrote her special recipes and given them to me over the years. We pulled them out and started making a plan. We wanted to pay tribute to her; we played around with names Carol’s Kitchen was on the list but didn’t really catch the essence of what we wanted to do and sell. We brainstormed, talked with friends, and gathered together some names to call our company. A friend suggested Tuscan Texans and it worked, it describes us. Italian fare with Texas Flare.
We had a list of recipes and were ready to form the company and get started. Both our families were highly supportive of our idea. And so it began. Carl’s sister, who had gone to culinary school, helped us get started and helped with ideas for our logo and label design. After weeks of mock-ups and font choices, we decided we needed a graphic designer to help.
We met Bob Weaver with Smoke Signal Graphics and threw a bunch of scattered ideas at him. He listened, mocked up designs and it never seemed quite right. It was the font. My wonderful friend who had her own business said to me, “you need a story to inspire you” I thought about those words. What had inspired us was Carol and her handwritten recipes. I approached Bob and asked if I sent him images of her handwriting could he recreate it as our font. He came through, and the labels were perfect.
The cooking and jarring began. Our original plan was to join local farmers’ markets and try to sell our products. We knew our food was good and we knew the packaging was appealing. About the time we thought we were ready, a new store in a suburb of Houston was about to open, The Painted Tree Boutique. It is a place where vendors can sell their products, not as much of Farmer’s Market and food vendors but the home decor, clothing, candles, soaps and such. No kitchen or food vendors. The concept is you rent your booth, decorate and stock with an inventory. The store has employees who manage the store, we didn’t have to be there everyday. We only needed to come in and add inventory or do anything to our booth we wished. We decided to try this concept to sell our brand of jarred foods. We also added kitchen wares and some home decor to the booth.
After a few months and doing relatively well with our Tuscan Texans booth we decided it was time to try out true Farmer’s Markets. In the beginning, we had a whole list of jarred recipes, and we tried several. Cranberry jalapeño chutney in time for the holidays, dried Italian herb mixture, corn and poblano chowder, Carol’s caponata (eggplant appetizer) and The Sauce a rustic Marinara.
Well, the caponata and The Sauce were big hits. And that’s what we focused on and took to our first Farmer’s Market in March. We did well. We sold more in a day at the Farmer’s Market than we sold in our booth at the Painted Tree. Because of Covid protocol at the markets we were not giving samples of our sauce. People were buying it on good faith.
After a few weekend markets near our home, we heard about an upscale market in The River Oaks District in the heart of Houston. We applied and got a spot. There was another vendor selling sauce and she was giving out samples. But we did well at that market without samples and with the competition. A lot of cooking by husband while I worked each week so we could supply our booth and continue markets. Great feedback and response from customers that had tried out Sauce. Barely six weeks on the Market scene and we figured out how to give out samples, and we sold out. It was wonderful actually seeing people taste The Sauce and love it.
That same week we were contacted by Urban Eats Bistro, Bar & Market. The owner had tasted our sauce, saw our labels and packaging and contacted us on social media. He was interested in putting our marinara on his shelves; he bistro also sells fresh foods from some of the top market vendors in the area. He said he had been looking for a shelf-sustaining marinara for a while. Ours came highly recommended, he tried it and loved it and wanted The Sauce in his store. We had just created a second marinara called Speziato and it is our marinara filled with roasted garlic and chili’s. So he said he would like to try that on his shelves as well.
Here we are, April 17th, six months since the formation of our company and our product will be on the shelves at Urban Eats, which really great place in a very trendy part of town. This is super exciting for us. We plan on continuing the Farmers Markets and traveling around the city selling Tuscan Texans jarred foods. We feel like we honor Carol with every batch we make. It’s been cathartic and healing for us.
And the support of our entire family has been amazing. We are loved and fortunate. And we are truly excited for this adventure. We have the support of my mom, sister, and brother, as well as many friends. And we hope to leave a legacy for our granddaughter Logan. Her face is on our labels.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been pretty smooth, actually, and we’ve gotten some recognition pretty quickly. The struggles we have had have come from testing new recipes and now keeping up with demand. We will most likely have to bring in some help and move to a bigger kitchen soon.
I quit my job so that we can focus full time on our business. We have to sell our house, this would now be our struggle, to take the equity and put it into our business. It’s going to definitely test us, our strength and tenacity. But we have really good friends who are ready to help us do this, they believe in us and want to be part of it in the beginning on the ground floor. On the fall we plan on expanding and having 3 vendor booths at the markets every weekend.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?Traci, me, works for Aberdare Business Solutions, a bookkeeping, accounting and tax company. I love my job and coworkers. I’m not sure what sets me apart from others, I’m smart, hard-working and I try to be enthusiastic.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
That family is everything. That is going into a book of family recipes can heal a soul and bring happiness and joy. Feeding people, good food was what our family has always done. And we would not be where we are without the love and support of each member of our family, not to mention our friends that are like family. It’s all that really matters.
Contact Info:
- Email: Tuscantwxans@yahoo.com
- Website: www.Tuscantexans.com
- Instagram: @tuscantexans
- Facebook: @tuscantexans
- Other: https://www.texasrealfood.com/tuscan-texans/?fbclid=IwAR2sut8MBpUs4_bo69A2fUBDJ596fHdT_e4Vdcc4VicDwxZW0Lni9PmEjxs
