Dyana’s Aji began when the Gonzalez Biagi family immigrated from Colombia to Canada in October 1999. Aji is the Spanish word for ‘pepper’, and the name of a traditional condiment often made with a combination of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro which people use on everything including meats, rice/pasta dishes and soups. Dyana would make this mixture to accompany most of their family’s meals to keep a reminder of home in the fridge.
One day, Dyana and Carlos (Dyana’s husband), received an invite to a potluck dinner and being South American, were asked to bring the guacamole. Dyana had never made guacamole, as it is not a big part of Colombian culture, but she knew she could figure something out. At the last minute, Dyana decided to mash some avocado with the Aji she had in the fridge. The guacamole was a HUGE hit!
People couldn’t get enough and told Dyana she should make it and sell it. At first, Dyana didn’t think much of it. After some time, Carlos received an architecture job on the Lower Mainland, and the family moved there. At dinners, Dyana volunteered to bring the guacamole and continued to get the same response. Then Dyana started thinking about what it could be.
During a “Professionals in Transition” course, she got the contact of a woman who worked in specialty foods and decided to reach out. In meeting with her, she brought Dyana’s Aji for her to try and received a call from a distributor the next day saying that if Dyana made it, he would sell it. They met at a coffee shop, and the gentleman gave Dyana a to-do list to get the company started including where to find the bottles, where to print labels, etc. Dyana did her homework and got everything set up when she was contacted by a friend of a friend who owned a shop and wanted to carry Dyana’s Aji! They then had an assembly line at the production facility with Allison (daughter) filling the jars and weighing them, Carlos putting on the lids, Dyana, Nicholas (son), and Augusto (Dyana’s father) putting on shrink wraps and stickers. That is where the company started, and they now sell in most major retail chains. Dyana (CEO), Carlos (CFO), and Nicholas (COO) are all working full-time in the business, with Allison playing an important role in large business decisions, marketing, and advertising.
Dyana’s Aji’s chunky chili sauces and guacamole mixes are made with all-natural ingredients and no preservatives. They are also low sodium, sugar-free, keto-friendly, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, and vegan!
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: We look to support local in every way, from our ingredients to packaging and business services. We try to source local ingredients whenever possible. Our packaging is solely purchased from locally owned/Canadian companies from our labels, glass bottles, and guacamole pouches. We also work with local small business accountants and bookkeepers to keep our dollars circulating in our communities.
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve had some great opportunities to work with other local small and medium-sized enterprises. First, we created a “Local Recipe Collaboration” where we partnered with seven other local producers to create content in the form of professionally taken/edited recipe videos and images.
Secondly, we created a merchandising program where we are helping small local producers who don’t have the time/resources to get to every store that carries their brand to check on inventory. While we are in our stores doing just that, we are also gathering stock information for these other companies and maintaining their products to help keep their shelves clean. This is helping everyone stay on top of their customers’ inventory to have the ability to stock stores up when they are low. Because of the pandemic, we noticed that stores are understaffed regularly, which has made it difficult to stay on top of ordering products.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: We are very proud of the number of charitable donations that we can give out every year to local organizations like Disability Alliance BC and Crossroads Hospice Society to name a few. As we are still a small company with limited resources, this is the best we can do for now, but philanthropy is part of our mission (both for the business and ourselves). This commitment to helping others will continue to be a big focus for us as we grow.
We are also very proud of the programs that we created this past year (mentioned in the previous section). Our company is still quite small, so it’s fairly easy for us to maintain a small environmental footprint. As we grow, we are looking forward to exploring new and innovative ways to keep our footprint small.
Woman Owned, Youth (under 30 years old), Immigrant / New Canadian
Follow @dyanasajisauces on Instagram: