Giulia Baretti launched Sunny & Luna in 2022 with a vision of offering authentic Italian pasta that appeals to the demands of the modern consumer.
Speaking on the Food Manufacture Podcast, the entrepreneur said the category, especially when it comes to fresh pasta, had seen no real “innovation”.
This wasn’t something she witnessed across the restaurant scene, but was certainly the case in retail. While hospitality tends to be ahead of the curve in many categories, Baretti said fresh pasta in the supermarkets had been really left behind.
She reasoned that that’s down to convenience – the consumer goes out for a meal that has taken time and care to make (by someone else, and they’ll pay a premium for that). The consumer goes to the supermarket to get food they can make quickly and easily after a busy day. Replicating that experience at-home in a fast format is hard.
For Baretti, the aisle was filled with the same old raviolis, pizzas and bread. At the same time, she noted there was no nutritional value in these offerings, it would have to be added in separately via the consumer (i.e. with vegetables).
“I don’t like the word functional, it’s very trendy right now, but let’s say that we were trying to tick the box of having something tasty that felt still Italian, but with nutrition that normal Italian food lacks,” she told listeners.
An important part of Baretti’s strategy was samples. As she explained on the pod, she soon realised that people don’t head to the fresh pasta category when looking for something healthy.
Sunny & Luna’s target consumer are not those looking for the typical ‘ravioli with sausage’ and quite frankly, those shoppers probably think something like cauliflower gnocchi sounds awful.
“We were in between,” she said, describing her position in the market. “And so that’s why we had to work so hard to actually make people try it.”
This translated into entire weekends spent in Whole Foods, Planet Organic and at numerous food and drink events trying to convince people through trial.
From there, she could let the product speak for itself – and it worked.
“Last year we did a study with Ocado, and we found out that 90% of our sales are increment.
“A lot of people that never bought fresh pasta, now do because of us.”
Alongside hearing about Baretti’s vision and early strategy for launch, listeners will also learn about the technical challenges she experienced in scaling homemade recipes, the lessons learned from products that underperformed, and how the brand’s packaging has evolved over its journey.
Baretti also shares her views on balancing business life with family life and the importance of supporting female-founded brands.
The full podcast interview with Baretti can be listened to above or whenever you usually get your podcasts.
