Sponsor: Nana Pasta Sauce

[maxjay]

Hello maxjay,

How did the the sauces work out for you?

Please let me know your thoughts....

Thanks.

I have to admit. I've been a tad bit lazy in my kitchen duties lately.

However, tonight I cooked your recipe: Penne with Chicken and Mushrooms in Sugo Rosa. Very easy to follow directions and results were delicious! My wife, a simple country girl from Sakon Nakhon, sent her: "compliments to Chef".

I've always enjoyed a cream style Italian tomato sauce. I used to get a bottled brand in the States and have missed it, until tonight.

We accompanied it with a fresh green salad and garlic bread.

Thank you for bringing your products to Udon Thani.

[thaigerd]

It's on my shopping list for tomorrow: A nice Nana tomato sauce, good pasta and a piece of parmesan cheese.

Gerd

[junkofdavid2]

Interresting, I will settup and sale 1 PastaBox in our Bangkok Pasta Pronto quick food restaurant with your Nana SAUCE; I will provide you customer feedbacks.

lets see , bye

Hey, are you the Pasta Pronto along Narathiwat Road in Bangkok?

I pass it everyday but I've never tried it...

[Damaz6052]

in relation to my above comment...

For Tops patrons:

Currently Tops carries only two flavors of Nana Pasta Sauce (Note: their sister stores, FoodHall, does carry 5 flavors, and not all Tops stores even carry our sauce).

If you shop at Tops, and would like to see additional Nana Pasta Sauce flavors available at your store, please let us know here so we can use your comments as evidence to expand their selection:

If you would be so kind as to help us out, please provide:

1. The flavor(s) you'd like available (aside from Traditional and Amatriciana, which they already carry) Click on the yellow banner at the top of this forum and then go to our Available Flavors page)

2. which store location you'd like to see it(them) at

3. a name that I can use as a reference (doesn't need to be your whole name, or even your real name - simply a first name and initial would be great). The name should at least appear to be realistic - you know, nothing like Casanova Frankenstein, Beer4Ever or the likes...

4. permission to reference and use your comment when dealing with Tops

Thanks greatly to all who participate.

Chief,

After the Traditional I just tried the Amatriciana. Excellent. I'm writing from Chiang Rai. Our Tops, the big small one has only those tastes. Supported you. Bought half of their shelf stock. Never will buy the other brands anymore. Also my Thai wife said : first class. No problem it is plain and good I can adjust to my taste with a little chilly powder. Good fresh taste. Good herbs. Good price. Of course the Sarge is right with a lot of points but I'm happy you offer this in Thailand. You think my homemade sauce comes out always as good as your sauce just out the bottle. Try Tops to put carefully Olive and Champignon in their assortment. Yes, you can quote me and I will give you a mail on your personnel page with the items under which Tops can reach me.

I wish you good luck. I think you deserve it.

Cheers,

Shrednyneas

Would any other Tops patrons like to see other flavors available?

I wouldn't mind stocking your sauces in my mini mart where can I get a wholesale pricelist?

Lincoln

Farangmart

[surayu]

Hello ChefHeat, i finally had the opportunity to try your "amatriciana" sauce, i am a big fan of the Barilla brand and my second choice is Agnesi, usually i avoid other brands as i am a bit strict on food taste, however, the price is definetely honest, nice label, the first time i saw it on the shelf i tried to think from where it all came from, as it say "Nana,Made in Thailand" i had in my mind the image of a mamasan investing her small fortune in tomato sauce so i declined a purchase, after reading your story here and having seen your effort i decided to give it a try, if you eat "proper" italian food you will easily come to the conclusion that 1)you must cook those onions more(if you cooked them at all?) as it is now it leaves an unpleasant "aftertaste" tipical of raw onions and also that "heavy stomach" kind of feeling 2) the tomato sauce also taste kind of "raw" 3) you can achieve a better result with less ingredients.

To understand a bit more about real traditional tastes, you can try the most of the italian restaurants in Bangkok and Pattaya, make sure there is a "real" italian person working in the premises which is usually an extra guarantee the food taste is right.

In the end, congratulation for your enterprise, you seems to be interested in the quality of your products and that's surely one of the key for a succesfull end, i am sure you will be able to achieve a better result by doing some little changes and sorry if i might sound kind of crytical but that's just the opinion of a recidive pasta eater, no offence intended, just "constructive" rants ciao.

[NanaFoods]

1)you must cook those onions more(if you cooked them at all?) as it is now it leaves an unpleasant "aftertaste" tipical of raw onions and also that "heavy stomach" kind of feeling 2) the tomato sauce also taste kind of "raw" 3) you can achieve a better result with less ingredients.

Thanks for your feedback, surayu.

I glad you took the time to provide your input.

Its posts like yours where we have a chance to improve.

Regarding your points:

1) OK, we will do some experiments with caramelizing the onions more. Thanks for the suggestion.

2) not sure how address that... any suggestions?

3) can you please be more specific? Less what?

Thanks.

[surayu]

1)you must cook those onions more(if you cooked them at all?) as it is now it leaves an unpleasant "aftertaste" tipical of raw onions and also that "heavy stomach" kind of feeling 2) the tomato sauce also taste kind of "raw" 3) you can achieve a better result with less ingredients.

Thanks for your feedback, surayu.

I glad you took the time to provide your input.

Its posts like yours where we have a chance to improve.

Regarding your points:

1) OK, we will do some experiments with caramelizing the onions more. Thanks for the suggestion.

2) not sure how address that... any suggestions?

3) can you please be more specific? Less what?

Thanks.

1) good

2) probably increasing the cooking time?

3) garlic, butter, herbs(?) for sure and if i was in you i would try to get rid of the cheese and tomato paste as well, some oregano might help too.

[NanaFoods]

1)you must cook those onions more(if you cooked them at all?) as it is now it leaves an unpleasant "aftertaste" tipical of raw onions and also that "heavy stomach" kind of feeling 2) the tomato sauce also taste kind of "raw" 3) you can achieve a better result with less ingredients.

Thanks for your feedback, surayu.

I glad you took the time to provide your input.

Its posts like yours where we have a chance to improve.

Regarding your points:

1) OK, we will do some experiments with caramelizing the onions more. Thanks for the suggestion.

2) not sure how address that... any suggestions?

3) can you please be more specific? Less what?

Thanks.

1) good

2) probably increasing the cooking time?

3) garlic, butter, herbs(?) for sure and if i was in you i would try to get rid of the cheese and tomato paste as well, some oregano might help too.

Thanks much for elaborating a bit...

OK, regarding points:

1) will update here after we do some experiments. We have been caramelizing to translucent... so will try taking that up a notch or two.

2) I find this a bit baffling... we do cook for a rather long period, and then there is the heat treatment process for bottling. In fact, another poster who seems to work in the food industry, and appears very knowledgeable (Sarge) said most Italian tomato sauces aren't cooked for a long time when prepared at a restaurant or at home - of course, this is not possible for a bottled sauce. So this seems a bit confusing to me...

3a) Italian Amatriciana recipes do include cheese (which is absent for some reason in Agnesi's). Ideally, it should be pecorino romano, but we have a hard time finding that in Thailand, and what I have found is quite expensive and would affect the price... If I can find a reasonable supplier, I would be eager to switch, as mentioned previously to Sarge.

3b) Butter is optional for Amatriciana recipe: some recipes include it; some don't. I decided to use a small bit of butter for a touch of richness, and to differentiate from the others. If other people feel the same way, perhaps we can drop out the butter.

3c)There is no oregano in Amatriciana recipe - only Italian sweet basil and Italian flat-leaf parsley. We do include oregano in our "Traditional", "Mushroom", and "Olive" recipes.

3d) We do use slightly more garlic in our Amatriciana recipe than the others (except Arrabbiata, which has even more). I would like to solicit others opinions on whether they think there is too much garlic in our Amatriciana. If there is a concensus, we will make adjustments.

FYI - Our Amatriciana flavor is our #2 best seller overall; our "Traditional being #1 for us.

OK, TV people, please let me know what you think about the above issues.

Thanks to all for your inputs.

Edited April 20, 2009 by ChefHeat

[surayu]

2) sorry for the confusion Chef, yes sauces are generally made quickly, however i believe whatever you do, the importance of the taste should follow the one of the safety, always taste what you do, different quality of ingredients will react in a different manner so try to "calibrate" things in a way that works, if a product is hopeless(ie: canned tomatoes) than look for the next option untill you achieve your target.

3a) yes Pecorino cheese ( http://www.amatriciana.eu/sezioni.php?f=A_...ingredienti.htm ) however IMO if the sauce taste right you can easily do without

3c) that's something can help you to work around many troubled tastes

If you can fix it and keep your price stable one day you might save millions of italians from the Barilla's extortionating price, be our hero!

[maxjay]

I have now tried the El Sapo salsas from Nana Foods. As a lover of Mexican food, I can recommend them. A friend of mine came over last night for drinks. I popped open a bottle of the Jalapeno (medium spice) salsa to go along with corn chips. He lived in New Mexico for many years and he also gave his thumbs-up to the salsa. When I mentioned to him that I would be visiting Tang Ngee Soon Superstore in Udon today, he asked me to pick him up a few bottles.

[wolfmanjack]

i haven't seen the Nana sauces yet but i bought a jar of picante at Rimping Hang Dong. I liked it very much. I am now going to go to Rimping by the Airport to see if i can find the Nana sauces.

[Jingthing]

Congrats to Nana on your continued success. I always have a stock of your sauces in my food cabinet. At one point, I thought you should have used a larger bottle, but now over time I admit I was wrong, your size is excellent and it is working well for me. BTW, I find 1/3 of the bottle per serving is perfect rather than the suggested 1/2 of a bottle per serving.

[NanaFoods]

I have now tried the El Sapo salsas from Nana Foods. As a lover of Mexican food, I can recommend them. A friend of mine came over last night for drinks. I popped open a bottle of the Jalapeno (medium spice) salsa to go along with corn chips. He lived in New Mexico for many years and he also gave his thumbs-up to the salsa. When I mentioned to him that I would be visiting Tang Ngee Soon Superstore in Udon today, he asked me to pick him up a few bottles.

That's wonderful feedback. I am honored you and your friend enjoyed our salsa.

Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts.

[NanaFoods]

i haven't seen the Nana sauces yet but i bought a jar of picante at Rimping Hang Dong. I liked it very much. I am now going to go to Rimping by the Airport to see if i can find the Nana sauces.

I am surprised Rimping stocked our salsas at Hang Dong. At one point they did have our Nana pasta sauce, but sales may have been a bit slow and they didn't re-order. You might consider asking the manager to stock them again if it is more convenient for you.

Glad you liked the salsa

Thanks so much for your information and feedback.

[NanaFoods]

Congrats to Nana on your continued success. I always have a stock of your sauces in my food cabinet. At one point, I thought you should have used a larger bottle, but now over time I admit I was wrong, your size is excellent and it is working well for me. BTW, I find 1/3 of the bottle per serving is perfect rather than the suggested 1/2 of a bottle per serving.

Interesting. Thanks for returning to inform your change of heart on the bottle size.

Yes, my observations are you can get anywhere from 2 to 3 portions (4 if a small side dish) if the servings are either smaller, or lighter on the sauce. This all depends, of course, on individual tastes for the ratio of pasta to sauce, as well as your appetite or body size (Thais usually can get 3 portions). Personally, I like my pasta swimming in sauce, but I understand others may not. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

[Goinghomesoon]

Sales must be pretty good at our Tops, Nanglinchee/Yen Akart as they only had 2 bottles of traditional flavour left when I shopped earlier this week. I picked up the mushroom flavour somewhere else, I don't think our Tops carry it. Used it in vegie lasagne and it worked perfectly. Teenage son eats a LOT. He cooks a whole packet of penne mixed with a whole jar of traditional sauce, he eats it straight from the saucepan. I could see us buying it by the case if we had space.

[NanaFoods]

Sales must be pretty good at our Tops, Nanglinchee/Yen Akart as they only had 2 bottles of traditional flavour left when I shopped earlier this week. I picked up the mushroom flavour somewhere else, I don't think our Tops carry it. Used it in vegie lasagne and it worked perfectly. Teenage son eats a LOT. He cooks a whole packet of penne mixed with a whole jar of traditional sauce, he eats it straight from the saucepan. I could see us buying it by the case if we had space.

That's wonderful feedback. Thanks so much for sharing.

I am happy your lasagna turned out the way you like it.

Your teenage son reminds me of when I was a teenager... I used to eat out of the pot as well, and had twice the appetite I do these days... even though I was bit thinner then

Your feedback could also be great for the case I am trying to make with Tops to carry our mushroom flavor. Would you please permit me to use your post as "evidence"? Would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Cheers.

[Goinghomesoon]

Well I was in there again last night (bought 2 bottles of traditional but really would have preferred the mushroom). They only had 6 bottles of traditional on the shelf. Either it sells really well or for some reason they only put a few bottles out each time. Yes please use my posts to help get a greater range on Tops shelves.

[NanaFoods]

Well I was in there again last night (bought 2 bottles of traditional but really would have preferred the mushroom). They only had 6 bottles of traditional on the shelf. Either it sells really well or for some reason they only put a few bottles out each time. Yes please use my posts to help get a greater range on Tops shelves.

Interesting.... for Tops, we deliver to their DC (distribution center) then they ship out to individual stores. Our cases come in 12-packs, so each store must order a full case. Usually, they put out a case at a time on the shelves... Tops works on a JIT (just in time) basis, as they don't want to carry inventory in the stores. My guess is they must be selling quite well at that store. Thanks for the information... very useful. I know that store wasn't doing so well at first... seems sales have improved there. That's great.

...and thanks for allowing me to use your post... we really think our mushroom sauce will do just as well as the other two at Tops. Problem is, most Tops stores are at max capacity for shelf-space, so we have to make them confident (by providing evidence) enough to replace another product on the shelf that isn't selling so well.

[NanaFoods]

Well I was in there again last night (bought 2 bottles of traditional but really would have preferred the mushroom). They only had 6 bottles of traditional on the shelf. Either it sells really well or for some reason they only put a few bottles out each time. Yes please use my posts to help get a greater range on Tops shelves.

Interesting.... for Tops, we deliver to their DC (distribution center) then they ship out to individual stores. Our cases come in 12-packs, so each store must order a full case. Usually, they put out a case at a time on the shelves... Tops works on a JIT (just in time) basis, as they don't want to carry inventory in the stores. My guess is they must be selling quite well at that store. Thanks for the information... very useful. I know that store wasn't doing so well at first... seems sales have improved there. That's great.

...and thanks for allowing me to use your post... we really think our mushroom sauce will do just as well as the other two at Tops. Problem is, most Tops stores are at max capacity for shelf-space, so we have to make them confident (by providing evidence) enough to replace another product on the shelf that isn't selling so well.

Hi again Goinghomesoon,

My wife informs me that Tops has recently remodeled that store and changed it from a "Tops Super" to a "Tops Marketplace". Is that right? That may partially explain an increase in sales there.

She also told me (since she used to work at Carrefour as a section manager) that if you would be so kind as to request the store manager to stock our Mushroom sauce, that would be a very powerful influence. Their DC may even have stock of our mushroom sauce, as their sister stores, Central Food Hall, carries it...

There may even be something in it for you, as I promised another member who helped us get into a private market - an embroidered shirt. We are currently looking for a suitable embroiderer... should be availably soon, hopefully.

[Sarge]

yo kirk, I see you still distributing the sauces with original labels; when are you going to phase-in the new labels and have you finalised the artwork?

[NanaFoods]

yo kirk, I see you still distributing the sauces with original labels; when are you going to phase-in the new labels and have you finalised the artwork?

The new label motif is utilized on our new products, Sugo Rosa and Arrabbiata (see one of the 3 rotating banners at top, or our website, or some demo pics a few pages back in this thread). To transition the other products, it takes time and the FDA here is fickle. Plus, my wife loathes going there because the head lady seems rather random in her requirements. Yes, the artwork is pretty much done... simplified as best I can...I may have another go over if and when my wife decides to deal with "Ms. Random" again.

[NanaFoods]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know I put up a few recipes that either utilize, or just go good with, our El Sapo salsa.

Just a few to start with...but I am working on more....

The flour tortilla recipe (Sonoran style) I posted on our website is quite authentic, easy to prepare, and no store-bought tortillas taste better than freshly made ones. Mmmm.

Click the banner at top left of this forum (where it says "Sponsored by:") to check them out.

[NanaFoods]

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Nana Pasta Sauce and El Sapo salsas are now available at Chern Chim in Udon.

Chern Chim is a new store that just opened its doors. It is operated by a Farang (Jon) and targets Western cuisine. Those who live in that area, please check it out.

Thanks.

-Kirk

Edited June 1, 2009 by ChefHeat

[gisjames]

Just had the traditional, very tasty and an improvement on the other brands i've had in Thailand. Keep up the good work.

[NanaFoods]

Just had the traditional, very tasty and an improvement on the other brands i've had in Thailand. Keep up the good work.

Hi James,

Thanks so much for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed our pasta sauce.

Out of curiousity (OK, I am dying to know the comparison), what brands have you tried in Thailand?

Thanks again.

Cheers,

[NanaFoods]

UPDATE:

After good feedback and repeat orders from the test stores that we have placed our El Sapo salsas in, we felt confident enough to approach Villa. Just pitched to Villa a few days ago about having them carrying El Sapo. Hope to know the results by next week. Please wish us luck. Thanks.

Cheers.

-Kirk

[NanaFoods]

ANNOUNCEMENT

Well, for those of you who live in or near Roi Et, we are back into Roi Et Plaza.

They carried us several months ago, but then decided not to re-order (Nana Pasta Sauce).

But apparently, due to customer requests, they have ordered again and we should be on the shelves once more.

Thanks so much to all the Roi Et customers who made the requests.

Even better still, they are also testing out our El Sapo salsas as well.

Please try them out!! Thanks.

Cheers

Edited June 26, 2009 by ChefHeat

[NanaFoods]

ANNOUNCEMENT

Good News!!

It seems Villa Market has agreed to pick up our El Sapo salsa line, as well as the two new flavors of Nana Pasta Sauce (Sugo Rosa and Arrabbiata).

They may start off with about 5 branches, I am told.

Just waiting for their initial order, we expect that to happen next week.

Will update as to when you can expect to see them on their shelves.

Cheers.

[Datsun240Z]

He Guys,

Can I also get Nana Pasta Sauce somewhere in the South of Thailand? Can I order it somewhere?