By: Elizabeth Flynn
Steve Schirripa is best known for his role in the TV series, ‘The Sopranos’, in which he played Bobby Baccalieri. In addition to a career in acting, he is also the producer and host of ‘Karma’s A B*tch!’ and ‘Nothing Personal’. Both are TV series broadcast on Investigation Discovery. However, he has now gone in a completely different direction with his career by entering an industry unrelated to media or the television. He has launched his own range of pasta sauces.
The company, called ‘Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties’, was originally launched in 2014. The inspiration for the business was his late mother as she made fantastic Italian sauces. According to Schirripa’s childhood friends, it was the best sauce in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
‘Uncle Steve’s Italian Specialties’ is very much a family run business and it has received fantastic critical acclaim. In fact, the ‘New York Daily News’ claimed their sauces were the best jarred sauces currently available. In the past, the unique selling point of these sauces was that they are healthy. Schirripa didn’t want his television persona connected to his sauce business in any way.
In 2017, all this has changed as he now has a line of sauces that feature his picture on the jars. He claims this is due to demand from his customer base who have repeatedly requested he is in the photographs.
This is not the only change to the labeling as there is some important information Schirripa wanted to include. As the sauces are now Paleo certified, it was important to let the customers know. On the labels, it now informs consumers that the sauces are gluten and sugar-free. The sauces are also kosher, vegan, dairy free and use entirely organic products that have not been treated by pesticides.
