Infusing Food with Love a Recipe for Success

At Cucina Aurora in Salem, employees are required to spend at least five to 10 minutes a day in the company’s meditation room. They can read, meditate, do yoga, whatever it is that centers them. The reason is simple: Owner Dawn Aurora Hunt believes putting positive energy, love and mindfulness into what you’re cooking is central to the success of her line of infused olive oils, risottos and gluten-free treats.

“We must admit that when grandma makes something, it’s a lot better than when we buy it from a supermarket,” Hunt says. “The reason is she does it with love and happiness. It’s spiritual nutrition.” Hunt is not a grandma, but she is Italian and a self-proclaimed Kitchen Witch, which she defines as connecting family to the earth.

The recipe is working. Hunt founded Cucina Aurora in 2008 in her home and moved the company to the Salem facility in 2012, where business really took off. Revenue quadrupled between 2011 and 2013. Where a year ago a pallet of 3,000 bottles would last two to three months, she recently went through a pallet in a month. Then she needed to order two more. Hunt says that growth is in part due to a venture capital investment team that recently came on board, though she stresses she is still the majority owner.

Her top sellers are handmade olive oils infused with such ingredients as rosemary, oregano and roasted garlic. Her pouches of risotto, which include fresh dried vegetables and herbs, are second in popularity. 

Hunt’s products are sold in nearly 50 stores including Monadnock Food Co-Op in Keene, Natural Choice Market Place in Hooksett, LaBelle Winery in Amherst and a few Whole Foods stores, including the new one in Nashua. She and her staff also travel to farmer’s markets and fairs in New England and the East Coast. Hunt has produced a cookbook and recently launched a You Tube channel where she does cooking demonstrations. And she is often a featured guest cook at the William Sonoma stores in Lynnfield and Boston, Mass.

“The company is based on my spiritual beliefs, this idea of putting energy into food,” Hunt says. She currently has two full-time employees and four part-timers, though with Cucina Aurora’s recent growth she is looking to make some of her part-timers full time. For more information visit: cucinaaurora.com.