Luca’s flavours from Turin enjoy decade of tasty success in Ards

13th May 2025

​Copyright: Newsletter's Farming Life by Sam Butler, full article 'Luca’s flavours from Turin enjoy decade of tasty success in Ards' [Published 7 May 2025]

Taste AND member, Luca Montorio of PEPPUP sauces, is celebrating his 10th year in business this year, a business of sauces for pasta dishes created by the Turin native, which he started with Liz, his wife, at their home in Portaferry in the borough.

Celebrating a decade of success that includes retail business throughout the British Isles and UK Great Taste Awards, Luca, a marine biologist by profession, says: “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster of successes and setbacks over the past 10 years.

“Fortunately, we’ve enjoyed many more successes, critically in terms of sales to supermarkets, delis, farm shops and butchers, than setbacks. And the business continues to flourish,” he adds.

Now operating from Newtownards, Luca has developed an extensive range of authentic Italian sauces that includes ketchup, sauces for pizza, Bolognese and pasta. Other products created by Luca include relish, dips and pickles. All ingredients used are natural and are based on roasted tomatoes and peppers.

The small company has developed reduced sugar and fat-free and allergen-free products. The products, in addition, suit people who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome.

“We’re passionate about home cooking. PEPPUP uses only a few simple ingredients to create authentic, versatile and fresh flavoured cooking sauces that all the family can enjoy,” Luca continues.

Luca brought his love of delicious sauces from his family home in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, one that's famed for its peppers and tomatoes used as ingredients in tasty dishes, to Northern Ireland when he came here with wife Liz, also a marine scientist, to pursue their careers.

A passionate foodie, Luca saw a business opportunity here to develop a new range of table sauces as an alternative to mass produced sauces and set up PEPPUP in 2015.

Find out more about PEPPUP

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