Story Behind the Sauce

While working at our families local Italian Grocery Store, Maureen would notice women "coming in to buy a jar of Ragu or Prego and some Pasta and that would be supper."

Maureen had been making Pasta Sauce using the family recipe since she was a young girl. So, she put one and one together and decided to start her business which would eventually be known as Nonna's Pasta Sauce.

Maureen built out a full commercial kitchen in the basement of her home to prepare her Pasta Sauce that she would hopefully sell in local grocery stores. She applied for all the licenses and permits she needed to start selling. She finances all of this herself by using her savings.

Maureen opened her business in September of 1992, selling her Pasta Sauce direct to customers and at our families local grocery store. Eventually, she got her products into HyVee, Dahls, Fareway and some other local markets.

As Maureen continued to grow her business, the Des Moines Register wrote an article in the Small Business section of the newspaper that featured her Pasta Sauces and her journey from the beginning.

Business was booming for Maureen! She continued to grow her customer base, and even began handling distribution of the Pasta Sauce herself by reinvesting her profits back into the business to purchase a refrigeration truck.

Maureen had poured her heart and soul into creating her business. Unfortunately, her health began to decline and by 1997 she was unable to continue running Nonna's Pasta Sauce, and the company went on the back burner for 22 years.

Maureen's grandson, Dominic decided to relaunch Nonna's Pasta Sauce in his grandmother's honor. He vowed to sell the three Pasta Sauce varieties Maureen originally launched with, and continue growing the product line.

Taking over a year to renew licenses, purchase supplies, real estate, and establish reliable and quality manufacturing, Nonna's officially reopened in April of 2020 using the same family recipe his grandmother used nearly 25 years ago.