A London couple who created a sustainable snack brand, inspired by their travels, have landed a deal with Selfridges.
“Snackaholics” Nat Wood and Dan Twiss, from Willesden, founded Soul Fruit in August 2021 to satisfy their own cravings.
While living in Hong Kong, the pair loved eating exotic fruits, which were unavailable back in the UK.
Four years later, their first products, dragon fruit chips and soft dried dragon fruit, will be available on the shelves of Selfridges.
“It was very much a passion project and a passion company,” said Dan. “We don't come from food and beverage backgrounds or anything like that, but we've always had a big, big passion for snacking.”
Nat, a yoga instructor, and Dan, a sports enthusiast, dreamed of a snack that's healthy, but does not compromise on flavour.
The name combines their vision for a snack that feeds the body and the soul.
They say sustainability is at the forefront of Soul Fruit. The fruit is grown in Asia, packaged at source and then dried at a solar-powered factory. Products travel in sea freight containers and the company offsets any carbon emissions.
Dan said: “We think of it being the only real way of sustainably bringing exotic fruits to the West. Because if you want to bring fresh fruit, you have to fly it in fresh – and the wastage for that, how bruised it gets, how much carbon that emits – flying fresh fruit around the world is just not a sustainable practice.
“We don't have the perfect solutions in place to really have the perfect sustainable solutions to everything,” he admitted, particularly with the finances of a small company. For example, biodegradable packaging would not allow the 12-month shelf life necessary for transportation.
The contract with Selfridges is an exciting step for the brand. New products on the horizon include jack fruit chips and keo mango, both as chips and soft dried.
“We had the best four years of our lives out there and to bring something back with us and to hopefully nurture it into a brand which like you said it can just, you know, be our baby we would be the dream,” Nat said.
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