The Inspiration Behind Pure Foods
By: Claudia Lasso
Three months before the pandemic started, a little boy was born. His name is Joaquin, and he is Paola’s first nephew. When he was born, his mother Sofia, asked Paola what they should give him to eat.
Paola went to the supermarket and looked though some options, but none of them were what she wanted for Joaquin. That’s when she had the idea to cook some meals herself and try them with Joaquin.
Paola has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics from Penn State University. She also is a registered dietician after one year of internship, focused on pediatric nutrition and a master’s degree in human nutrition from the University of Texas in Austin. Therefore, with her knowledge in pediatric nutrition, she selected some ingredients that were highly concentrated in zinc, vitamin C, iron, etc., and she prepared some puree.
As Covid cases grew exponentially in Ecuador, Paola’s sister-in-law and Joaquin’s mother, Sofia, wouldn’t leave the house to take care of her family and herself. Paola decided to help her by going to the supermarket in her own time. Choosing different ingredients, she prepared the food and took it to Sofia’s house.
Joaquin was loving his new food and was a healthy and cute baby. After a few weeks, Sofia told Paola that if she could have the privilege to have healthy and delicious food for her baby, everyone should have it as well. That’s where the idea of Pure Foods was born.
They started talking and, with the help of Paola’s brother, Alejandro, and Joaquin’s father, they created Pure Foods. Pure Foods is a delivery service for organic, nutritive, and fresh baby food. It offers food for babies starting at six months and up to three years. According to Karen Jill, American Board of Medical Specialties board certified pediatrician, “babies who started eating some types of solid foods by 6 months old had a reduced risk of allergies and asthma.” Depending on what developing stage the baby is, different textures and ingredients are combined and played with to meet the baby’s needs.
Product Options and Packages
“We have five stages. It varies from soft purees to food with different textures. It really depends on what stage the baby is, and what he needs. The first few stages have less ingredients and less textures. When they get older, they need more ingredients and textures. There is also food they can touch and chew, like our Finger Foods. Finger Foods are different foods that they can take to their mouth with their own hands, such as cookies and muffins,” said Paola.
Their products are high in iron, vitamin C, calcium, zinc, and other minerals that babies need. They have two women who help them in the kitchen to cook the food. It’s a small business that has what it needs, and that would later like to grow and expand.
Asking Paola what her target market is and how her menu looks, she gave me a quick idea of how they worked cohesively. The market is mostly mothers who are between high and middle class, who have a good income, and moms between 20 and 30 years old. Since their product is more expensive than their competitors, the company is aiming at people who can afford them on a regular basis.
The company works with two different packages. It has an individual package and a monthly subscription. It has packages with either 4, 8, 16, or 24 weekly foods and each customer can choose how many they want. “Normally, moms buy the individual package to try the product. Next thing we know, they’re coming back for the monthly subscription. They come back and tell us that their baby loved Pure and that they want more,” said Paola. Sofia and Paola are the ones who deliver the products, but they also have delivery to the entire country.
Aside from the food, the company offer other services as well. A nutritional consultation comes with the monthly subscription package. Paola does this part: she checks the babies and tells their moms important data such as what the baby should and shouldn’t eat, they talk about allergies, and all the important information that they should know. According to what they talk and figure out in this consultation, Paola gives her recommendation of what the baby should eat, including her Pure products as options. Customers who buy the monthly subscription will go first to the consultation and choose what products they want from the Pure menu.
The Challenges of Small Businesses
Paola’s and Sofia’s focus is on the food products they offer, but they have been trying to expand their business through different paths. When asked if she ever wanted her product to be sold at stores, she was eager to tell that they had been contacted about it many times.
“We have talked about the possibility of going to stores but not with our purees. The idea of our products is that they are fresh and have no additives. If we sell them in stores, we have no way of knowing the temperature they are in or if they are being correctly conserved. What we have been thinking about is selling our Finger Foods in store, but they would be frozen. That way, we can try to preserve the freshness of the product,” said Paola. Her biggest goal is to one day expand the business to all Latin America, and that when people think of food for their baby, they think of Pure Foods.
Being her own boss is what most excites Paola. Even though it has its pros and cons, she finds it amazing. “It is very exciting, but it’s also very scary. I have a lot of freedom in my work and my schedule. I can decide a lot of things, but there’s also a lot of responsibility. I have to do things that I would have never imagine. Sales, social media, accounting staff, there are infinite things that I had to learn on my own. Luckily, my two co-founders are great in these areas,” said Paola.
Alejandro and Sofia have been a great asset to the company. Alejandro oversees sales and accounting, while Sofia oversees everything related to marketing and social media. They each have expertise in a different area, so their help is valued. Paola says that for her, having a good team from the start was essential to succeed.
Being a small business owner has its challenges. For Paola, her biggest challenge was Ecuadorian culture. In Ecuador, the food culture is not the principal thought in people’s mind. It’s not as important for them as it is for others, like for people in the United States. Therefore, it is difficult to make them conscious about what they are feeding their babies. Also, pediatricians in Ecuador give recommendations that Paola believes use outdated data. There are more studies and recent data that gives a different approach and should be considered when giving a recommendation, she says.
Pure Foods Mission
The company’s slogan is baby nutrition simplified, which essentially describes its mission. The purpose of Pure Foods is not only providing the food, but also that whatever information someone want to know about nutrition, they will find it in Pure. Their social media is always running with facts, information, and even live streaming with other health professionals. For Paola, being successful is not about money, but it is about having a positive impact in people. That is why she decided to study nutrition in the first place.
Joaquin is the company’s biggest celebrity. Pure’s social media always has photos and videos of Joaquin with his food. He is indeed his biggest and best customer. Go check them out on Instagram at @my.babypure to see more of Joaquin’s moments and learn more about the products and services they have to offer.
Pure Food continues to grow, continues to have more and more babies join their family, and is happily expanding with upcoming new projects.