Mangia! 66-year-old Dayton gem bottling famous sauce for first time

Giovanni's Italian Ristorante, 215 W. Main St. in Fairborn, officially released Giovanni's Marinara during a special family-friendly event beginning on Monday, Feb. 11.

"Offering our signature marinara sauce to the public is something we wanted to do for a while now. Here at Giovanni's, we are all about community and family, and sharing a meal is a great way to bring members of a community and families together,"  Cassaundra Spaziani, the restaurant's manager, said in a statement.

Marinara sauce  is $6 per 32-ounce bottle.

Reached by phone, Spaziani told this news organization that the sauce will be sold in the restaurant and on the restaurant’s website and Amazon.com.

The plan is to eventually see the sauce sold in Dorothy Lane Market and Kroger stores where it would retail for about $6.59, she said. 
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The restaurant — officially Tony Spaziani's Giovanni's Pizzeria é Ristorante Italiano — was founded in 1953 and is owned by  Spaziani's family.

Her father Tony Spaziani  purchased it about 20 years ago from the DiPasquale family and began adding his own touches.

Giovanni’s marinara is based on a Spaziani family recipe. Cassaundra said her father, a University of Dayton grad who sold insurance before buying Giovanni’s, grew up in family that owned restaurants in New York.

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Cassaundra said bottling the sauce was the natural next step in providing service to customers.

Giovanni’s sauce does not contain sugar and therefore is not as sweet as many marinara sauces.

“Our sauce is a little bit more robust,” she said. “We think it is a great sauce and we are glad to be marketing it.”

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A portion of proceeds from the dinner and marinara sales will be donated to the American Heart Association.

“Being part of a community is lending a helping hand to those around you. It’s important to us to help others whenever we can. That’s why we are donating a portion of proceeds to the American Heart Association,” Spaziani said.

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