Julie Funderburk is capitalizing on one of the family’s favorite traditions—the sauce...
The Palauian named Olokoi sauce, bottled by Julie Funderburk and created by her Palauian mom, is on the table at every meal for the family. The brown, citrusy sauce has a soy base with no sugar, is vegan, and has no monosodium glutamate in it.Julie Funderburk lived in two different worlds growing up. The Micronesian heritage of her Palauan mother, who married her U.S. Military father while he was stationed in Palau, afforded her familiarity with both cultures.
Funderburk realized she wanted the sauce to be a large part of her life and had the idea to bottle and sell it. Her next call was to her parents who gave her their blessing.She spent most of 2018 in research and development, creating a logo, prototypes and finally the first pitch for her new Olokoi sauce. The word Olokoi comes from Palau but is spelled differently, Funderburk said. It is an expression of surprise that has different connotations depending on context.
Two weeks later, she discovered she was the winner. By August she was on the shelves of 400 Kroger stores.“Somehow or another we continued on. In two weeks, we’re doing our first big trade show in Chicago,” she said.Now, DPI Specialty Foods is her distributor and she’s hoping Kroger in Houston will pick up the sauce.
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