Due Sorelle Food Imports offers shoppers a taste of Italy delivered to their doorsteps. The company was incorporated in 2023 by sisters Lindsey Jeffreys and Ashley Foster of Salem. Pictured is a box of ingredients shipped by Due Sorelle. (Photo submitted)
LISBON — It started as a love for fine food, led to a partnership between two sisters and evolved into a thriving business that gives its customers a taste of Italy without leaving Columbiana County.
Established in October of 2023 by sisters — Lindsey Jeffreys and Ashley Foster — Due Sorelle Food Imports imports fine European ingredients, food and wine straight to area doorsteps.
“The idea was a way to keep us together, and to bring our love for European food to the United States,” Foster explained. “Both Lindsey and I find it extremely important to know what is in our food and what we are consuming. We have quickly realized many other people are now label checking and want pure foods.”
Due Sorelle fittingly means two sisters in Italian, and while a sisterly bond and shared love of Italy may have been the motivation behind the business’s inception, its prosperity would require more.
The sisters had that covered.
“I moved back from working overseas in restaurants last September and I came home and decided after nine years working in kitchens I had enough and wanted to try something new,” Foster said. “My sister, Lindsey, who works for Global-Pak Inc. as the director of marketing thought we should do something together that is a collaboration of both of our backgrounds — hers in sales and marketing and mine in culinary and education. My sister, Lindsey, is incredibly talented and business oriented. She still works for Global-Pak in addition to being a mom of a 1-year-old and she is the CEO for Due Sorelle.”
Foster said Due Sorelle’s first shipment hit the USA border in January 2024 and imports high-quality and traditional Italian food products from all regions of Italy — olive oil from Lazio and Tuscany, balsamic vinegar from Modena, dried pasta from Pisa, salt from Sicily and mushroom products from Turin. Due Sorelle prides itself on not only purchasing the best ingredients but purchasing from vendors whose livelihoods count on the quality of the products they provide.
“A big part of the manufacturers we buy from are family owned, two are on their fourth generation and have been in business for 100 years,” Foster said.
Due Sorelle also has plans to add hand-painted Italian ceramics to its Christmas inventory this winter and offers products to wholesale retailers as well as special procurement of items for restaurants.
Currently, all of Due Sorelle’s products are available online at duesorelle.com, but the sisters hope to eventually have a brick and mortar location.
“We do not have a storefront yet,” Foster said. “Our goal is by the first quarter of 2026 to have a retail store and culinary education center.”
Until then, residents wishing to taste what Due Sorelle has to offer in the ways of inventory and culinary education can do so at several events.
The sisters, who are both from Salem, partnered with The Smucker House in their hometown to offer cooking classes to students of all ages. Each class will be different and is focused on seasonality and locality of ingredients. Tickets can be purchased at www.duesorelle.com/education.
Due Sorelle will be a featured vendor at the “A Night at the Museum” — a collaboration between Beresford’s Craft Meats and Deli at the Lou Holtz Museum in East Liverpool on Thursday, July 25 from 5 to 9 p.m.
In addition, Due Sorelle will be featured at “Flavors of Italy: Cocktails with Birdfish Brewing Co. and Cuisine with A Movable Feast.” That event will take place July 26 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Birdfish located at 104 E. Park Ave. in Columbiana.
Due Sorelle will also have products featured on The Vault’s menu located at 200 E. Fifth St. in East Liverpool.
For a complete list of events and additional information, visit the events tab atduesorelle.com.