Frequent Flier
Published: August 2, 2010

A FEW years ago, I left a three-decade career running clothing companies to follow my dream. I always wanted to head a company based on the recipe for meatballs my Grandma Anna taught me how to make when I just was 15 years old.

Lois Najarian O’Neill

Daniel Mancini, founder of MamaMancini’s, with his meatball sample bag.

Back in the day, we always had a houseful of people eating together when Grandma would come over to cook. I was convinced these meatballs could bring families together, at least for dinner, like when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn.

People thought I was crazy when I dropped everything and started the company, with my business partners, Carl Wolf and Matt Brown.

Now I travel throughout the United States with my meatballs.

I learned the hard way that our meatballs don’t always make it through security, especially if they’ve thawed. That can get ugly. I’ve tried checking them, but that takes too much time. We finally settled on shipping the product ahead of a presentation. But that doesn’t always work, either.

I was recently in Charlotte, N.C., for a meeting. Meatball samples were shipped ahead to the place we were having the meeting, but apparently they weren’t labeled properly.

The label was supposed to give instructions not to open the package, and to hold for me. That didn’t happen. Someone unpacked it, threw the meatballs in a refrigerator, and then ate them.

I hope he or she enjoyed the food. But my potential buyer wasn’t happy. Fortunately, there was a store nearby that stocked our product. I went and bought some, full price. Once I brought them back, the meeting went well.

Anyone who is an entrepreneur knows that work can become overwhelming. You are responsible for everything, and it can become exhausting. Sometimes you can’t help but think that maybe you made a mistake, even if your job is your passion.

I was flying out of Milwaukee recently. I was pretty tired after a long week. I really needed some affirmation that everything I was doing was, well, worth it. I was slumped in my seat, half asleep, when I overheard a man chatting with his seatmate, an older woman.

It was a little after midnight, and they were talking about how hungry they were since they couldn’t find anything they wanted to eat at the Milwaukee airport.

The woman asked this gentleman about his favorite food. He said meatballs. She told him that was one of her favorites, too. I thought I was dreaming.

I went up to them and told them that I just happened to have some meatballs with me.

At first they looked at me like I was crazy man, but I went into my carry-on and took out a meatball package that was left over from a sales call. Their eyes lighted up and you would have thought we were eating a filet.

The woman started buying rounds of cocktails, and we partied the entire way back to New York. It was one of the best times I had on a plane, and reaffirmed my belief that meatballs can indeed bring people together.

I always make a point of trying local places to eat when I’m traveling. I get tired of the fancy places recommended by the hotels.

One of my favorite places is a little gas station about 90 minutes outside of Dallas. I walked in and I swear there were 20 feet of fountain drink choices. The best part: a 44-ounce drink, which is about the size of Montana, only cost a buck. With tax, it was $1.07.

Add some meatballs into the mix, and that drive into Dallas doesn’t seem so bad after all.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 10:21 am and is filed under Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.