Young Millionaires Part I
How 30 super achievers grew their million-dollar businesses.
Article Contents
- America's Finest Pasta Sauces Inc.
- AltiTunes Partners LP
- Rumpus
- Anthony Mark Hankins, 28
- Amy Scherber, 37
- Jeff Haugen, 26, & Tim Cady, 28
- Marc Levy, 29; Spence Levy, 27; & Jay Abramowitz, 30
- JoAnne Jonathan, 39
- Lisa and Randy Carson, both 37
- Greg Maples, 34
Owners: David Gamperl, 30, & Mary Gamperl, 28
Year Started: 1995
Start-Up Costs: $250,000
1997 Projections: $3.2 million
Raised on his mother's authentic Italian sauces, David
Gamperl never thought of touching bottled sauce. Ironically, the
self-described "niche entrepreneur" found the perfect
niche . . . in bottled pasta sauces. "I
knew Americans weren't eating good Italian foods," says
David. "They were eating whatever was on the
shelves." He started his Chicago-based pasta-sauce-of-the-month business
with the blessing of his wife, Mary. "Usually I came up with
ideas, and she'd say, 'That's OK.' But when
she said, 'This might work,' I wrote the business
plan." Content Continues Below
The idea that hooked Mary was to gain exclusive rights to
original recipes from the nation's top Italian restaurants.
Each month, they mail two pasta sauces, along with recipes, a
newsletter and two packages of imported Italian pasta, to 10,000
hungry subscribers. Within seven years, the couple plans to place
their products in grocery stores and open stand-alone eateries.
Pasta will be "the hamburger of the '90s," says
David, if the Gamperls can help it.
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