Everyone aspires to eat healthy food that’s fresh, organic, and healthy. We all know the shortcomings though, it’s inaccessible and sometimes, unaffordable. This is why Sara-K. Hanning Nour, an entrepreneur based in Egypt, launched her startup Sara’s Organic Food, that delivers fresh produce straight from the farms to your doorstep.
Sara started growing organic food in 2012 and soon launched Sara and Lara’s Baskets in 2014 after realizing that there is a lack of clean organic produce in Egypt.
We spoke to Sara about her startup and how it came to be and what she’s achieved thus far.
Can you please introduce yourself and your startup?
My name is Sara-K. Hannig Nour and I’m the founder of Sara’s Organic Food. My team and I grow, source and deliver good, clean food to people’s homes. Our vision is for people to know where their food comes from and lead a healthy lifestyle.
We supply healthy and nutritious food that has been produced responsibly and hygienically, with minimal impact on the environment and maximum benefit to our health and the health of farmers. Customers receive fresh, nutritious organic and premium vegetables, fruits, honey, and eggs on a weekly basis, straight from the farm to their homes in a reusable handwoven basket.
What was the inspiration behind Sara’s Organic Food?
When I first moved to Egypt, I was amazed by the beautiful produce available in the market. I wanted to make informed choices about my food sources, but there was no availability of good clean produce without pesticides, chemical, and other contaminants. I needed to supply my family with clean nutritious food and I wanted my children to grow up knowing what they put in their bodies.
It was a stark realization that a large disconnect existed between people and their food sources. This also represented an opportunity and a need in the Egyptian market for clean produce from a trusted source.
Can you explain how your startup works?
Sara & Lara’s Baskets sources and delivers clean food, hassle-free, from farm-to-home. Customers can order seasonal, clean food online or over the phone, saving consumers time from searching for clean food in supermarkets. Individuals and families are able to connect with their food source as they know where the produce was grown and they can visit the farm to see first hand where and how healthy food grows.
Customers can subscribe to receive Sara and Lara’s Baskets weekly or order a single basket. Baskets can be customized according to their needs and can be purely organic or premium (pesticide free) or mixed. The produce is brought to the customer’s home in a hand-woven, reusable and 100% biodegradable basket, with minimal packaging, once a week.
What was one of the hardest challenges you’ve faced while building your startup and how did you overcome it?
We have faced and are still facing many challenges, but none that are impossible to solve. We are farming and managing a customer service business, this is a challenging combination. Our main challenge is mostly logistical in nature, because of the nature of organic and premium produce, the quantities that we have are finite. Right now we are trying to catch up on quantity while always remaining on quality.
Since your startup deals with offering organic food, how do you ensure and maintain the quality of the food item offered?
We source organic produce from our own farm and premium produce from neighboring farms. The organic food is organic certified by an international certification body (European Commission Organic) and grown at our farm.
Lara’s Premium Produce is not organic certified, but the next best thing available. It is sourced from responsible growers, such as hydroponic and aquaponic pioneers in the market or from small farmers that grow without chemicals and pesticides. We do random testing and laboratory analysis to make sure what we source is indeed clean. All food is harvested by order and subject to strict quality control in our on-site packhouse.
How did you reach out to the public? What are your marketing strategies to promote Sara’ Organic Food?
We began by using social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to build a
relationship with our customers, by showing them where their food comes from and who grows it. Later on we built a visitors center at our farm where we invite people and their kids to come see first hand where their food grows. Up until quite recently we merely relied on word of mouth to build a customer base.
Current promotional activities include social media campaigns, farmers’ markets promotions and events at the farm. We have been using social media organically with “boosted posts” once or twice in the span of 2 years and more so now as we are ready to scale. Another promotional tool is creative package design that points back to our website.
If you’d like to know more about Sara’s Organic Food, you can check out their website here. You can also keep up with their updates by following them on Instagram and Facebook.