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Nov 13, 2023

From one stock pot to 1,200 jars a week, Manchester partners expanding sales of My Papa’s pasta sauce

Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant At My Papa's Homemade Pasta Sauce in

Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant

At My Papa's Homemade Pasta Sauce in Manchester Dylan McCall, foreground, feeds jars into a labeling machine, while partner Dimitrios Lazaridis checks the labels before packing. (Jesse Leavenworth / Hartford Courant)

The inspiration for My Papa's Pasta Sauce was Dimitrios Lazaridis' father, Angelo. (Jesse Leavenworth / Hartford Courant)

Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant

Partners Dimitrios Lazaridis, left, and Dylan McCall started with one stock pot and now sell 1,200 jars a week. (Jesse Leavenworth / Hartford Courant)

Since launching My Papa's Homemade Pasta Sauce in Manchester four years ago, boyhood friends Dimitrios Lazaridis and Dylan McCall have gradually boosted production and automation in their corner of the historic Hilliard Mills complex.

The partners have done much of the work by hand — cooking and stirring the red sauce in 40-gallon pots with a paddle the size of a rowboat oar; filling, capping and labeling each 24-ounce jar; packing cases for shipment.

In an interview Wednesday, the two Glastonbury natives, still the company's only full-time workers, said they have invested $150,000 in an expanding production line in the 2,500-square-foot space. An automatic filler and capper are the latest additions.

The company that started with one stock pot now sells 1,200 jars a week at 200 stores throughout New England, and the partners said steady growth is their goal.

Their inspiration, Lazaridis and McCall said, comes from Angelo's Pizza and Restaurant in Glastonbury, where both worked as teenagers washing dishes, slicing pizza and doing every other chore for owner Angelo Lazaridis, Dimitrios’ father and the "papa " in the company name, whose mantra was, "Never say it's not your job."

"He worked eight days a week," Dimitrios said of his father.

The image of Angelo Lazaridis holding a plate of steaming pasta and red sauce is on every label of My Papa's sauce. Lazaridis said he grew up in the restaurant and knew his father's sauce recipe from a young age.

The two teenage boys did not particularly notice the quality of the sauce, McCall said, but they did hear customers always asking for extra.

"If they got a grinder, they wanted extra sauce to dip in," he said.

Both men graduated from Glastonbury High School in 2006. Lazaridis attended St. John's University, pursuing a degree in biology until he realized after four years that it wasn't for him. McCall received a bachelor's degree in criminology from Central Connecticut State University.

Both men found they had an interest in business, and the notion of selling the popular Lazaridis sauce to a wider market never left them. In 2014, they sought public reaction at Glastonbury's Apple Harvest Festival, handing out 2,500 sample cups with chunks of dipping bread. The feedback was all positive and the seed of the company was planted.

My Papa's Homemade is based on his father's sauce and "adjusted to our tastes," Dimitri Lazaridis said. When they first started hawking the brand to food market managers, McCall said, they handed out jars, but soon found a better tactic was to bring samples of heated sauce in a thermos with dipping bread so managers could try it on the spot.

Production ramped up from a single pot to four 40-gallon pots. The partners use peeled plum tomatoes from California in most of their all-natural, gluten-free sauces, including the flavors classic, slightly spicy and tomato basil, but Connecticut-grown tomatoes go into the fall harvest variety.

The partners recently purchased a 500-gallon steam kettle, essentially a giant double boiler, and plan to add it to the production line within the next six months. McCall and Lazaridis, both 34 and single, said they may outgrow their current space at Hilliard Mills, but they plan to stay in Connecticut.

Additional workers also may be needed down the line, they said. For now, they rely on each other and some relatives to help when needed. It has been a lot of hard work, the men said. Running the automatic labeling machine Wednesday, they remembered hand labeling their first 100,000 jars.

Lazaridis said he has found his knowledge of biology helpful in the business, while McCall, who also is a jet engine technician with the Connecticut Air National Guard, said his mechanical know-how has been useful.

Asked how many hours they put in each week, the partners said sometimes it's 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; other times, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The jars are listed for $7.99 on their website, and they wouldn't disclose their profit margin, but McCall said, "The money we get inspires our work ethic."

Stores that sell My Papa's Homemade and more information can be found at mypapashomemade.com.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at [email protected].

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