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Thanks for your feedback, ElsieD and donk79. It's very helpful, and I think your points are very sound.

By the way, would you all suggest that we start with only spicy products such as hot sauces, or with both spicy products and savory ones that are unspicy or only very slightly spicy? This is one of the planning questions under consideration, and your input as people who purchase these kinds of products could help us.

Hi, everyone! I'm just back from a trip to San Francisco, where I attended the Fancy Food Show at the partially under-construction Moscone Center - my first Fancy Food Show. It was a very interesting experience. It's easy to get sidetracked: I tried some outstanding 13-year Wisconsin cheddar, the best asiago cheese I've ever had (also, amazingly, from Wisconsin) and some delicious chocolate and toffee, but none of those are things the site will carry. My brother, who's assisting with this project, and I concentrated on the purveyors of spicy and other savory condiments and sauces. For example, there is a man named Jake who makes barbecue and hot sauces, and we liked every one of them - here is his website. He was friendly and gave us the last two ribs he had cooked, so that we could have lunch. In fact, most of the purveyors we spoke with were nice, which is not surprising if you think of them as people who are passionate about food and delight in bringing people pleasure. Some other highlights were a Bavarian company named Essendorfer - I thought all their flavored pestos were delicious, so I'd like to carry some of them but have to make a decision about the scope of what we're selling, at least at first. Another category of great condiments we tried were mustards. For example, there's a guy from Wisconsin who makes an outstanding Fig Balsamic Mustard. He also makes a great lemon curd, in case we decide to carry sweet sauces sooner or later. The scope of the items we will carry is one of the things that has to be decided on before launch. We're currently planning on concentrating on spicy and savory sauces, though we might also include some dry spices or spice mixtures that are really outstanding. A propos, there was a vendor who had voatsiperifery for sale. We sniffed it and were very impressed. However, the wholesale price is very high, which is a consideration. Also while I was in San Francisco, I tried a bunch of Japanese condiments my brother bought during trips to Japan. We can't even read many of the labels, but quite a lot of the sauces were very good to excellent, well-balanced ones. My sister-in-law is Japanese, so either she may translate the labels or we can get someone else to do that. Then there's the task of contacting the companies and finding out what the wholesale prices and minimum wholesale orders of the products are. You might think that at a food conference, everyone stuffs themselves, but that's not the case when you're walking through every aisle looking for the best condiments and sauces you can find. It actually requires a lot of stamina to do business at the show when you're scouting out whatever you can find in one or two categories, and someone who's as focused as we were doesn't eat more than small amounts of samples of extraneous products. On the afternoon of the last day, though, a lot of vendors give away large quantities of products, because they can't take them back with them. So my bag almost broke that day, but mostly because of samples of hot sauces. In the coming weeks, we will be trying more samples of sauces and condiments and getting more pricing and minimum order information. If you have any other ideas of particularly great spicy and savory condiments the site should carry, of course we're all ears, and thank you for all your advice.

I'll look into it. Thanks for thinking of me, Jo.

Great, liuzhou! A question about Sriracha: The kind we usually have in the U.S. is manufactured by Hoy Fong in Rosemead, California. Have you compared the Sriracha sauce from Sriracha with the Hoy Fong Sriracha sauce? Also, what brand makes the Thai Ginger Sauce? Is the brand name really "As Delicate As Thai Performing Arts"? If so, my web searching skills may need work to get a useful result.

I'm a big fan of Angel's Envy and Templeton Reserve Rye, myself. :-) Thanks for the info, andie.

It can't be considered a condiment, but do you have a favorite producer? I do speak French pretty well in practice and can write in French. Thanks for the link, which I'll have a look at.

Thanks a lot, Jo! Is it not possible to purchase the vinegar directly from the producer? http://www.martin-pouret.com/en/contact Maybe that requires an importation license, something we would obviously need if we intend to do wholesale trade from foreign countries.

Yes, I plan to ship to Canada, too.

Thanks for the suggestions, anomalii and Jo; I'll see what I can do. Jo, what's special about that red wine vinegar in particular?

Thanks a lot, haresfur.

Anna, all of you are helping me make preparations to start this business, and I will certainly continue to post while I continue to do research and get this off the ground. andiesenji, thanks a lot for the link. Australian $145/kg isn't cheap, but how long would it take you to use up that amount? I see they're currently out of stock in that, but they do have the extract: https://cherikoff.net/shop/product/wattleseed-extract-1kg/. Would you use that, or do you prefer the powder? haresfur, I don't think I would want to sell a product that might be dangerous for children. But in terms of wattle seed, would you trust the safety of the product Vic Cherikoff is selling? https://cherikoff.net/shop/product/wattleseed-1kg/

Anna, thanks for the quick response and for helping me avoid going in the wrong direction. Of course there are passion fruits, too, which I'm quite familiar with (they are wonderful in Hawaii!), but I knew you didn't mean those.

Anna, could you describe these a little? I don't think I've had passion berries before. Do you find this description accurate? Are the ones you have dried? What do you use them for? Also, how is Timur pepper different from other varieties?

andiesenji, which company have you ordered wattleseed from? Can you compare the taste to anything else you've tried? I hope I can find a jam like the one you described.

You're right. The neighborhood was rough, dangerous and gritty, but it was integrated ethnically and in terms of income, and families and non-rich single people could afford to live there.

To nyctc7: Nedick's was on the northwest corner of 97th and Broadway, and I remember from my early childhood that they had artificially red grape drink and artificially orange orange drink. They were definitely not "long gone" in 1973, and I think they hung on until the mid-to-late 70s, then the place was empty for a couple of years, and then (I think after several businesses that lasted only a few months at a time) there was a Korean-owned bar/lunch counter that had a separate little room with video games. I went there often in the late 70s to play Dig Dug. I lived a block away, on 97th and West End.

First, congratulations, and may you have a long and happy marriage! I saw your post on Food Talk Central. You want to spend no more than $65.00-70.00 per person. That can be pretty difficult with large groups in New York, especially if that figure includes alcohol. Also, if the ceremony will be at the restaurant, are you looking for a private room or looking to rent out the entire restaurant? My general feeling is, if your guests are OK with going far south in Brooklyn (e.g., Sheepshead Bay), you'll have a better chance at getting something old-school that's not expensive. I'm not so knowledgeable about this, but I had a very good lunch a few years ago at Vesuvio in Bensonhurst. They're not so cheap but my lunch was certainly less than $65 including a glass of wine and tip but excluding dessert. I'm not sure how much seating they have, but I thought the place had charm. I hope you get some good recommendations.

Thanks a lot for the additional information and ideas. You folks really know some interesting stuff.

Anna, do you have any idea where the person who gave these to you sourced them?

Does anyone have any other suggestions of products for me to look at?

I guess I don't get why the companies don't just charge somewhat more, so as to make enough profit for it to be worth their while.

Kerry, is Cedarvale the name of the brand and/or place where it's manufactured? Smithy, I love wild rice. I don't know if that would be the kind of thing I'd initially sell, but I love the idea of promoting a great Native American product!

Yes, I would plan to do so. Lots of details remain to be worked out, but I think that may end up being one of the less difficult ones. Why do so many sites not ship to Canada?

I had to look that up. A wild pepper from Madagascar. What's great about it, and who do you get it from?