Dorsey High School is a place of education and growth, within the halls we see future innovators public servants, movers and shakers of the community. Elite branding agency, Deutsch LA collaborated with Dorsey High School to foster a new idea into a marketable product, the Dorsey Green Sauce. This was an eye-opening experience for students looking to get into businesses and marketing; they were able to exercise their creative process to deliver a fully developed brand.
Neils Cotter, philanthropist and businessman collaborated with the students and came up with a brand of green sauce that brought awareness around the notion of marketing and creating a product for the consumer to students.
Cotter orchestrated the design of the product, the seeds of the idea sprouted after Cotter became acquainted with Sonja Briscoe, an LAUSD educator that oversees the culinary art department.
Since then, Cotter volunteered as an entrepreneurship teacher at Dorsey for five years. “I was inspired by my students to start a student-run business called Dorsey Green Sauce, with avocados donated from my farm and guidance from the Sonja,” said Cotter.
Noted Chef, Mel Nicola, worked as a critical component in bringing the Dorsey Green sauce to life. She helped the students build the green sauce recipe; there were over 300 iterations and volunteers would come to Dorsey High School to create meals with the students on a weekly basis. The Volunteers included members from Village Green Foods and Zazzle.
Deutsch LA worked as the bridge to next level branding for the Dorsey sauce company, they devoted their time to coach students in marketing and brand development. They would visit the school and invite students to their office to work on the project. The sauce took two months to produce. All of the proceedings earned circulates back to the students participating in the program.
Deutsch LA Chief Design Officer, Adhemas Batista stated, “We’ve partnered with Dorsey on other initiatives in the past. This collaboration was a no brainer since we were already familiar with the school and felt our creative expertise could really help the students and the project overall. We’re really excited for everyone to try this sauce!”
Cotter stated, “Over the summer, students had amazing success selling at farmer’s markets in LA and are currently selling the fresh sauce at dorseygreen.com for LA county residents.”
Students made executive decisions about how the avocado-based hot sauce would taste. They chose the avocado base because there was easy accessibility to avocados. There is a nationwide sauce that includes wasabi.
In reflection of the most rewarding part of the student collaboration, Cotter stated, “Watching the students gain confidence with this opportunity and exposure to building a company, discovering career opportunities in the creative sector, and through all the support they’ve received from our various amazing partners. We’ve also learned so much from the student’s fantastic ideas, their spirit, creativity, and pride that inspire our partners and our customers.”
