Introducing, Dips Kitchen!

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Dips Kitchen is the new kid in town, and we are so excited they're here! Take one taste of their dips and you'll understand. We asked founder Jeff Scardino how they got started and what Dips Kitchen is all about–read on to learn more, and add their dips to your next G&G order here!

Tell us about Dips Kitchen! How and when did you get started?

Dips Kitchens is an eatery turning dips into meals. A concept inspired by an old family tradition — an all dip Christmas Eve dinner. Every year, my Italian family gets together in my small hometown. Food is shared while opening gifts and revealing adolescent stories my parents never knew about nor wanted to know about. The menu consists of all homemade dippable foods: jalapeño and pimento spread, pepperoni balls with marinara sauce, shrimp cocktail with special sauce, cookie cream dessert with cookie dippers, and the star of the show: my mom’s famous cheese ball with assortment of crackers.

Eating dips for meals is something we have always done, before girl dinners was a thing and before Martin Short’s character in the Hulu show Only Murders in the Building only eats dips for dinner. And we’ve met a lot of people over the years who eat the same way. So we knew it would resonate.

Originally the idea was going to be a brick and mortar spot in New York City, where we lived for twelve years. But we ended up leaving NYC when Covid hit and moved to Atlanta. That’s when we switched the idea to a mobile model because post-Covid Atlanta became one of the top work-from-home cities. So we thought, what if we could come to people in a new and innovative way. And what if we could cut out the high delivery fees that third-party delivery apps charge.

After talking with a lot of companies and researching a lot of different vehicles, we ended up partnering with one in New Jersey to create a street-legal version of an Italian tuk tuk that was powerful enough to get up and down the hills in Atlanta. The fleet is outfitted with a custom back that has temperature control technology to store our dips, so we could drive around like an ice cream truck, but carrying gourmet ready-to-eat dips. People can wave us down or order through our custom location based app.

New unique way of eating, check. New unique delivery model, check. Now we just needed to find a notable chef to create an original menu. And that’s when we found Whitney Otawka, who is an award-winning chef, most recently of the prestigious Greyfield Inn on Cumberland Island. She's appeared on Bravo’s Top Chef, and was also named one of Star Chefs’ Rising Star Chefs. She has spent time working with acclaimed chefs such as Hugh Acheson, Linton Hopkins, Dan Barber, Thomas Keller, and others. We pitched her the idea and she loved it. Now the rest is history.

The branding is amazing! What were your inspirations?

There were a lot of important things that came out of the 1950s. But arguably one of the most important things that became a thing was dips for chips. Finger-licking finger foods started to become a party favorite, and we’ve never looked back.

Our design pays homage to the origin of dip fanfare by reflecting a mid-century look, but with a modern twist. Because we are taking the proverbial dip baton and moving its popularity even further by turning dips into meals.

How many dips do you offer on your menu?

We offer eight Signature Dips that are always on the menu: Schug Hummus Dip, Slow Roasted Chicken Salad Dip, Cracklin’ Pimento Dip, Fried “Hot” Chicken Dip, Low Country Shrimp Dip, Artichoke & Burrata Dip, Moroccan Spiced Carrot Dip, Smokey Vegan Queso Dip.

And then we offer three Seasonal Dips, and the Winter Seasonal Dips right now include a Lobster & Clam Chowder Dip, Loaded Baked Potato Dip, and Dark Chocolate Pudding Dessert Dip.

Plus we just launched our Dipwiches, which are gourmet sandwiches, rolls, and wraps using our gourmet dips.

What’s the process like for creating new dips?

Whitney and I went through close to a hundred recipes when we were first creating the menu based on different flavor profile categories. So we have some guardrails, but also I love thinking about all the things we can make into a dip. Like coming up on our menu we are going to have a Kale Caesar Dip.

Where might we see your Dip Mobiles around town?

Right now, they are only driving around the Buckhead area of Atlanta, where you can wave them down or order through our app and they deliver your dips right to your door. But we are looking into parking a few Dip Mobiles in permanent locations around Atlanta, which will be an exciting expansion for us.

If you had to choose just one of your dips as your favorite, which would it be? (Can you even choose just one?!)

Our Moroccan Spiced Carrot Dip is truly unique. It’s also the one dip I thought for sure I wasn’t going to like when we did our first menu tasting before launch, and it ended up being one of my favorites. I have been proud of the fact that when you ask people this question you get every single dip we make as their answer so I know we are doing something right.

What’s your favorite thing about being part of Atlanta’s food community?

It truly is a community. I’ve been able to pick the brains of so many successful restaurant owners. They've put me in touch with different retailers when I was looking to get into wholesale or different vendors when I was sourcing ingredients. I’ve truly been supported.