Souvei, LLC was an amazing personal and professional journey. I had the privilege of creating something from nothing and I didn’t do it alone. I had the support of my (then) husband Justin Domnitz, my friends, neighbors, local Georgians and local Atlanta business partners. We were all in it together, excited for a product that was pure in its intent, origin and content, to flourish.
In 2014, I was elated that Souvei’s chutney was a finalist in the Flavor of Georgia awards.
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2014/02/18/35-named-finalists-in-flavor-of.html
I had a pivotal decision to make. Should I try to scale with the attention and interest it was getting from the award? Would it scale successfully? With some honest soul searching on the product and it’s intent – I realized that to preserve the flavor and freshness, the chutney’s had to be made without preservatives. Inherently a major design flaw rendering to low shelf life. The product could not last from production to consumption for longer than 3 months. This reduced the distribution radius and scalability. I researched local manufacturing facilities, but all would recommend “natural preservatives” that didn’t truly have natural sounding ingredients.
With a heavy heart, I closed Souvei. I would continue to get emails through the website asking about the product availability, that I had to turn down. I felt sad to do so.
To me the product may no longer exist in the market. However, I do intend to bring the spirit of it back – something created from the heart, kept pure in its natural form and meant to be shared for everyone to experience and enjoy.
Until then… thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all those who were part of this journey!
Sona.
Souvei 