Sapori Sardi: How Paola and Patrick Bring Sardinian Delicacies to Germany
Volume #25 of "Happy Bootstrapping" Newsletter
Paola Sanna and Patrick sell Sardinian delicacies online at sapori-sardi.com – alongside their full-time jobs. After a year of full-time founding, Patrick returned to employment. With 193 products and €47,000 in revenue since October 2023, they show how to bootstrap an e-commerce business as a couple.
This is a summary of Episode 136 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).
The Founding Story: From Longing to Business Idea
When Paola and Patrick moved from Berlin to Vienna, they missed the Sardinian specialties from Paola's uncle's wholesale business. "We wanted to have these products more often at home," Paola recalls. Her uncle has been running an import wholesale business in Berlin for over 20 years – starting with products in his campervan, today supplying restaurants and delicatessens.
The idea matured slowly: friends constantly asked for guanciale for carbonara or Sardinian wines. In April 2023, Patrick quit his job, three days later they founded the company. After six months of building, the shop went live in October 2023. "It was somehow three to six hours later that the first order came in," Patrick still recalls with amazement.
The Business Model: Asset-Light with Family Support
Sapori Sardi benefits from the existing wholesale business:
Warehouse and logistics in Berlin available
193 products from Sardinian family businesses
DHL pickup almost daily
Product margin: over 40% possible
The challenge: "All the work that goes into it, the families who naturally want to earn something, then bringing everything here and still at a fair price," Patrick explains. The average customer is 56 years old – affluent and quality-conscious.
Surprisingly: The elaborate recipe packages aren't working as hoped. "People prefer to put together things themselves that they're looking for, that they love," Patrick observed. The Father's Day package with 7% discount? Barely requested. Instead, customers prefer to order individual products from their Sardinia vacation.
Marketing and Biggest Challenges
The marketing mix consists of:
Google Ads (main channel with Performance Max campaigns)
SEO (customers search specifically for products)
Meta Ads (works "more or less well")
Newsletter to 1,000 subscribers (€50-400 revenue per email)
A content agency will soon create videos – in exchange for sales coaching from Patrick. "We don't have the money to invest in UGC," Paola explains pragmatically.
The biggest operational challenge: refrigerated shipping only Mondays and Tuesdays in summer. "The risk is too great that if we send it on Thursday or Friday, it will sit somewhere in a package center," says Paola about the DHL problem.
Life as a Founder Couple: Shift Work and Sunday Meetings
After initial growth (from €1,000 to €5,000 in three months) came the January slump. Patrick decided to take a new full-time job. Now both work in "shifts":
"Monday mornings I have my check-in with my team, so Paola is on duty. Monday evenings I take care of things," Patrick describes the division. Sundays after sports is their fixed business meeting.
The relationship? "There are always difficulties when you say things to each other that you read on the relationship level, but that were actually meant on the founder level," Paola admits openly.
Patrick and Paola's Learnings:
Product packages aren't always a hit – customers want to choose themselves
Minimum quantities from wholesale can become a problem (600g instead of 300g cheese)
Influencer marketing brought reach but no revenue
Facebook groups work with the older target group
A concrete time goal helps: The wholesale business should be taken over in 3-5 years
"It doesn't feel like work," says Paola about their hobby business. With the clear vision of taking over the uncle's wholesale business in a few years, they have a concrete plan – and the necessary motivation for the double burden.
What I Learned as an Interviewer
I was particularly surprised that the lovingly assembled recipe packages don't work – I would have seen them as the perfect entry point. The insight that customers prefer to search specifically for "their" salciccia from vacation shows: sometimes less is more.
I was impressed by the pragmatic approach to Patrick's job change. Instead of seeing it as failure, they use it as a chance for stable growth. And the clear deadline through the uncle's upcoming retirement? Brilliant – nothing motivates more than a concrete time window.
Happy Bootstrapping is a German podcast where I interview bootstrapped founders, indie hackers, and solopreneurs about their startup journeys.
Over the years, I've connected with many successful entrepreneurs who have built e-commerce shops, SaaS platforms, mobile apps, content businesses, or hybrid models.
Furthermore I am a bootstrapper myself and growing my DevOps-as-a-Sercice and Web Operations Company “We Manage”.