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Our Back Story
Creating a business from a mission. My wonderful husband, Eric, died from complications due to Alzheimer’s disease. The Alz. Foundation created a refuge for us w/ a support group, a lifeline for Eric and me.
My goal was to find a way to give back, honor Eric and refill the bank account (sell biz in 10 years). We baked Biscotti together, Eric could still turn Biscotti long after losing many of his capabilities. We baked more than we could eat. After Eric died, Hope & Main, a kitchen incubator, in Warren RI, was the Engine that brought it all together.
We donate monthly to the Alzheimer’s Assn. and attend events and activities. I participate yearly in The Ride To End Alzheimer’s. This year, 2024, we had 5 riders on our Team, we biked the 30 mile course and raised $5,000. Please think of joining us for the 2025 Ride (kbellicchi@gmail.com).
After 4.5 years baking at Hope & Main, I began looking for a copacker to produce our new product line. We morphed from a 2 oz. pkg to a 6 oz. box and sold to HomeGoods in national distribution 2020-21, then pivoted to Whole Foods Fall of 2021 – Bellicchi’s Classic Biscotti, a Local product available in Whole Foods stores throughout New England.
An intense One - Star of the Show – ingredient for each Biscotti flavor. We rely on the quality of our ingredients and our baking process to max the taste in each Biscotti flavor. 6 oz. box - 2 resealable packages of 6-7 Biscotti in each pkg. Classic Italian ALMOND Classic New England JONNYCAKE CRANBERRY COCOA Crunch Toasted COCONUT
Three years in to an extremely labor-intensive business I began working on a sister co. Nona The Stonah’s CannaBiscotti. We are fully licensed in MA, have sales collateral, graphic identity and a partner co. who sells edibles. Our trial run was successful, delivered to targeted dispensaries, sold out first day in two of four dispensaries. We are currently back in trials to find a method that will produce an even weight Biscotti to ensure consistent milligram dosage, critical w/ THC edibles.
The Back Back Story…
At twenty-one, envisioning a robust and healthy life for me and my soon to be Family, my husband and I subscribed to a Macrobiotic approach to eating and living (lightly on the earth and giving back). I have fulfilled and realized this mission throughout my adult life. My Three Children are an inseparable threesome – all have loving families and two children each – They are kind, loving, embody our larger mission, and contribute in their own individual way that ripples out into the world. Jay is a Muralist artist (remoteroc.com) James a Chef in Chicago, Jessica and her husband own a growing PT company. Jessica has taught her two daughters ABK – Always Be Kind. Jason weaved ABK into murals he created in their PT clinics.
My children were born when I was 22, 24, 27. My husband and I matured as our children grew. We lived an alternative lifestyle centered around Macrobiotics. Ever the Entrepreneur, following my love of cooking great big bowls of delicious food…
I prepared and sold Macrobiotic pastries at the Erewhon store and restaurant in Boston 1970-72. Carrot Squares – roasted onion and carrot puree, baked in whole wheat pastry crust and raisin oat cookies. I wrote a monthly cooking column for the East West Journal (Macrobiotic espoused philosophy) for 8 years along with food columns related to growing and processing whole foods – then a brand new emerging and burgeoning industry.
We lived at Erewhon Farm 1972-75. I learned cooking from the ground up – planting seeds to harvest, living off the grid, learning about living in a market community – if crops fail, or there is too much of a crop it can spell financial hardship. Mother earth can be a fickle landlord/mistress. Communally there was enough person power to do the work the crops demanded and resources to backfill.
Our main crops – daikon and Chinese cabbage were sold wholesale weekly in Chinatown NYC; dill pickles – 50-50-gallon barrels a year sold to restaurants from Boston to NYC; sauerkraut sold in bulked and canned. A 1,000 tree stand of sugar maples, we sugared and collected sap by hand with tractor and horses, boiling sap nightly for a month to produce syrup for Erewhon and others, grew popcorn and made caramel corn with Barley malt. We also had an outlet to sell locally, Erewhon Farms Store, in nearby Keene NH.
After the fact, I discovered I had learned the importance of supply and demand. Customers vote with their wallet; competition; building a business based on solving a problem(s) for your customer; and supporting a local community. It was truly a blank slate in the early to mid 70’s. The market for organic goods was in its infancy. Any product could get On the shelf, but… Who wants it? What problem does it solve? What is evidence of its sustainability, ecology? And surprisingly toward the bottom of the list – does it taste good? (A rubbery carrot was evidence of it’s being organic…)
In the early 70’s there was a growing awareness and break with mainstream dietary norms and definition of what was healthy to eat. It was a time of food fads, some disappeared quickly, others have become dietary norms. Today our lifestyle would appear mainstream. In the 70’s we were “wierdos”.
My corporate career was fueled through teaching cooking classes. Cooking Class Participants asked me to conduct cooking classes with their work staff – “cooking as a metaphor for teambuilding”. I backed into an OD/Training career after getting a M.Ed. I joined a hotel company as Regional Director of Training for hotels in NE & Canada. Then joined their International Training Team.
My husband’s declining health led me to become an independent consultant. My niche for the past twenty + years has been Communication - public speaking, presentation delivery skills and building targeted compelling presentation content. Currently teaching entrepreneurs to Pitch their Business/product.
After Eric died… I began Bellicchi’s Best Handmade LLC to fulfill a lifelong dream to build a Biscotti bakery/Co. to give back to the Alzheimer’s Foundation whose support made a huge difference in the quality of our lives as my husband’s health declined and He disappeared. And, to build a business I could sell in 10 years to replace the nest egg we built and I watched disappear in healthcare costs. Nine years in, my current focus is to grow the business and become attractive to buyers; building a successful value-based company that buyers vie to acquire.
Our Core Values:
Courage – I’ve learned to be humbly courageous – going beyond the bravado to be open to all that courage presents. Slow down, reflect, step back, regroup, are strengths. Stand your ground, and you don’t have to ‘go down with your ship’ pivoting is courageous as well (HomeGoods to Whole Foods)
Principles Give Back – as the eldest girl of 9 children, look out for all and share the wealth, whatever form that takes. Hope & Main fosters this principle. Offering coaching to new food entrepreneurs. Anyone starting a new food business can count on ample resources, including other members, to wend their way to a grocery shelf, a seat in a café, a spot at a Market, or meeting with a large grocery buyer.
Emphasize Quality - Our Biscotti is founded on quality ingredients and our baking process to coax the max essence of flavor for each Biscotti. Our self-sealable packaging ensures Biscotti stays crunchy after opening. At demo’s I use Biscotti end and pieces served in a small see through package w/ a ribbon. An extra step, that garners frequent appreciation by shoppers.
Important Values – Offer a healthy clean product that tastes Delicious! – the intersection of creativity and integrity. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle (Ghandhi) A prayer I say in the morning before I open my eyes “May this new night of rest repair the wear of time (I add mind and body) and restore youth of heart for The Adventures that Await Today.” John O’Donoghue (a carpe diem message)
Our tagline says it ALL – Dunk! Crunch! Yum! Bellicchi’s Classic Biscotti – Smaller than many Biscotti, our distinguishing factor is the CRUNCH in each Biscotti flavor. Crunchy rather than hard, not too sweet. A Trip to Italy in a Bite.
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