Sandy Springs-based Diana’s Specialties was inspired by family and friends.
In 2006, Diana Fitzgerald received a small electric smoker as a gift from her father. It started her experimenting with smoking salmon.
In addition to the gift of the smoker, her father also supplied apple wood for smoking the fish. “He has about 100 acres in North Carolina, with lots of apple trees, and he’s a wood turner. When he turns a bowl or a lamp from apple wood, he gives me the chips. And, I have bags and bags of chips from him — a lifetime supply,” she said with a laugh.
Recipes perfected, the salmon and herb aioli became staples of her own party menu and her contribution when others were entertaining. Her friends loved what she was making.
Credit: Libby Patrick
Credit: Libby Patrick
“‘You’ve just got to sell this,’ a friend said to me one day, and she was my first customer, buying eight pieces of salmon and eight containers of aioli and giving them as gifts to her neighbors,” Fitzgerald recalled. “That made me think this could really be a business. I borrowed my mom’s vacuum sealer, packaged some smoked salmon, and took a sample to the owner of Lucy’s Market. She called me within an hour and said they would take all I could give them. I realized at that point I needed to upgrade my operation and equipment.”
Fitzgerald’s brother, Kent Dalton, is a chef, and he had a friend in the restaurant business who sold her a used commercial smoker. Dalton and his wife let her modify their basement kitchen, so it would qualify as a commercial operation.
Credit: Diana Fitzgerald
Credit: Diana Fitzgerald
“That was over 12 years ago,” Fitzgerald said. “Now, I have built a commercial kitchen at my home, so I can work from here and close down when I want to go on vacation or have other things to do.”
She added smoked trout to her offerings after meeting with Steve Alterman of the now-closed Horseradish Grill in Chastain Park.
“I took him my salmon and aioli, and he was gracious, but explained that they wanted to serve local products as much as possible, and salmon from Norway didn’t fit that model,” Fitzgerald said. “He suggested I try smoking trout. Smoke binds to fat more readily, and salmon is a fattier fish, so the salmon ends up with a smokier flavor. With the trout, you end up with a delicate smoked flavor and you taste the incredibly fresh fish.”
Credit: Diana Fitzgerald
Credit: Diana Fitzgerald
Diana’s Specialties went from selling at Lucy’s Market to a half-dozen other retailers, and she also began selling at local farmers markets. Her brother now is part of the company, and the two of them staff booths at the Decatur, East Atlanta, Marietta, Peachtree Road, Brookhaven and Tucker farmers markets. In May, they will be selling on Sundays at the Smyrna Handmade Market. The siblings purposefully keep the market footprint small, because they want to be sure the perishable fish is kept in the best possible condition.
“A market day is four hours spent talking about something you love,” Fitzgerald said. “I enjoy selling at the markets because of the people who shop there. They are looking for local farm produce and well-made products like ours, products people are putting their time into. They love to hear about what we do, and I often say, if I can get someone to taste our fish, I’ve got a customer for life. Really, we have more than 70 percent repeat customers, and I feel really good about that.”
Fitzgerald said the plan is to keep the company small. “We may add a few more retail outlets and expand into one or two products, like smoked salmon salad,” she said, “but we don’t want to be in large retailers. I see our company staying small, so it’s something my brother and I can manage. My parents contribute, with the wood chips from my father, and my mom helps out, too, coming over occasionally for a cup of tea and helping us with labeling and packaging.”
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