After Philadelphia chef Danny Giorgio catered a friend’s small Poconos wedding in April 2020, he received a wave of positive feedback.
Guests urged him to sell his culinary creations, which included an array of dips. They went so far as to give him a nickname: "Dip Daddy."
Giorgio decided to roll with it. This June he formally launched Dip Daddy, a line of six staple dips and bonus seasonal concoctions, plus four "dippables." Prices range from $5 to $13.
The company is also a nod to Giorgio's upbringing. A self-described introverted child, Giorgio spent a lot of time on the stoop of his South Philly home with women from the neighborhood for "dip nights," where everyone would bring a dip they made to share over porch-side chats.
“That's where the passion for it came, because I grew up always surrounded by that and dips are a very convivial type of food,” Giorgio said. “They definitely bring people together.”
Dip Daddy recipes include OG Pimento (roasted peppers, cream cheese, pickles, Fresno chilis, cheddar, cayenne pepper), The Buff (roasted chicken, jack cheese, gruyere, hot sauce), and The Arty (artichokes, tomato, pecorino, roasted garlic). Dippables include Baltic bagel chips, pita chips with za’atar seasoning, and pretzel 'staches – Giorgio’s signature everything-spice-topped product modeled after his own mustache.
Dip Daddy initially launched as delivery-only with the pandemic in mind, but the service was not as popular as anticipated. It’s still available on Wednesdays and Fridays, but products are now mainly sold at market, Giorgio said. That includes pop-ups at Herman’s Coffee, Olde Kensington-based Perrystead Dairy, and Wenonah Farmers Market in New Jersey. Events are in the works with Rival Bros. Coffee and Primal Supply Meats.
Giorgio previously spent six years as a chef for Safran Turney Hospitality, working at Philadelphia concepts like Little Nonna’s, Barbuzzo and Bud & Marilyn's. About a year before Covid-19 struck, he departed from the scene, opting to do food sales at Primal Supply Meats and teach in-home cooking classes via the platform Cozymeal.
Ultimately he decided to leave food sales, and the pandemic scrapped the Cozymeal business that had become his main source of income.
Giorgio now sells between 150 and 250 units of Dip Daddy products per week, he said. The venture is backed by an investor who wishes to remain anonymous. Giorgio personally executes every step of the process including production, packaging and delivery.
He aims for Dip Daddy to be “a household name in Philadelphia” with products carried by local retailers like Di Bruno Bros. and Riverwards Produce. Giorgio hopes to ultimately ship his products nationwide.
Giorgio said he's not focused on being in major supermarkets because he wants to keep his products free of shelf life-extending preservatives. Instead, he aims to create restaurant-quality dips with “bold, in-your-face” flavors.
"I don’t want to just do a simple, plain hummus and try to make it the best. I want to do something completely different to be unique," he said.
