Every food brand at some point in their operation begins a research phase to discover LA’s local food production landscape and see where their brand fits best. There always lies the very familiar crossroad. After months of visiting facilities the discovery is the “traditional co-packer” route and the “traditional commercial kitchen” route. But there is little if nothing to cover the gray area between those two avenues. Foodies evolved out of this NEED and gap in the food production space. After years of speaking to clients it became easy to identify what this large gray area is.
THE COMMON CROSSROADS
What if I do not have the sales to meet the high minimums of a large co-packer?
What if my shelf life is too short to warrant making so much volume of a product in a given time frame?
What if I do not have the capital to afford a “Traditional Co-packer?”
What if my product is too artisanal to be made via a co-packer? Meaning it is finicky to produce or the ingredients are too difficult to source?
What if I literally cannot find a co-packer to take on my brand?
What if after attempt after attempt the co-packer cannot get my product right?
What if after attempt after attempt no machine can master my product and it must be made by hand?
What if I can get on the co-packers schedule for January but then they are full for my next run?
What if my co-packer drops me because larger clients can make more volume and larger orders always take precedence?
What if the co-packer wont let me be involved in the beginning stages to do the correct quality control so I am continuously unsatisfied with the finished outcome?
These questions are serious concerns for any food brand and happen quite often. This is where Foodies comes in. We coined the term “Mutual Co-Packing” to cover this gray area. This model serves to alleviate the questions above. Foodies Urban Kitchen is a full service commercial kitchen with staff, storage, shipping and receiving capabilities, production billed by the hour to meet the ever changing demands of a small to midsize food ventures orders. It is not cost prohibitive to produce your orders and great, if you have the cash flow to build an inventory that is even better. The client, you can be involved in as little or as much of the process as you wish. You can direct every shift...or you can be hands off it is your product so you call the shots.
FOODIES URBAN KITCHEN IS A
HAND-CRAFTED, FULL-SERVICE, COMMERCIAL CO-PACKING KITCHEN THAT IS CCOF CERTIFIED ORGANIC
FOUNDER / ARIA STARUS
Aria Starus began Foodies Urban Kitchen in 2011.
Her fascination with health food, production, manufacturing, nutrition, and research and development urged her to get heavily involved in Foodology, her family company. Foodology, which began in the 1980′s has been an innovator in the health food movement. A brand which started out as an urban farm in her backyard developed into a well known local and national brand that was shipped all over the country. It is here where she gained a wealth of knowledge in sales, marketing, employee management and overall company operations. The mission of Foodology, “providing affordable health food to the mainstream community” carries over into her own business philosophy.
In 2011 she started Foodies Urban Kitchen which provides small food companies the skills and tools to grow and thrive in the current food manufacturing landscape. Finally in 2012 she bought Healing Movement. She looks forward to growing this venture and educating the world on how to heal through pure foods. Currently she plays an advisory role at Foodies. The company operations have been taken over by a fantastic support staff that keeps this vision alive.