Business moving into Elks; plans to rent kitchen

Josephine Oria wants to help local entrepreneurs and thinks Sharpsburg is the perfect place to do it.

Oria of O'Hara runs La Dorita with her husband, Gaston. The company produces dulce de leche, a jam, and also has started making a liqueur.

Currently, the two make everything out of their home but plan to move into a former Elks lodge building on Main St. in Sharpsburg.

They hope to have some company.

The building has a kitchen and bar, which Oria said they would like to rent out to start-up food companies. To do that, they'll need to make renovations, which led them to begin a Kickstarter campaign The company has set a $50,000 goal. The drive ends on Oct. 25.

“We're going to try to raise enough money to bring this kitchen back to life,” Oria said.

The building also will include space for La Dorita to move into a larger facility.

Oria said finding a kitchen with enough space can be challenging for people starting their own food business, something they experienced firsthand.

“We just really want to help people,” Oria said. “We want to create synergy.”

La Dorita's dulce de leche is packaged with the image of Oria's grandmother, who lives in Argentina, and the company bears her name. It was her recipe that is the basis for the company's products.

That connection to family and personal history is something Oria wants to other cooks to have an opportunity to bring to their products.

La Dorita uses mostly local products for its recipes. That desire to help companies in the region is part of what led to planning a kitchen space that others can rent.

For information on the Kickstarter campaign, see www.kickstarter.com and search for “A Golden Taste of Argentina.”

For details on La Dorita, see www.ladorita.net.

Tom McGee is an associate editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-856-7400, ext. 1513 or tmcgee@tribweb.com.