Ain't Nobody Got Time for That
As if life isn't hectic enough between work, meetings, household chores and basic hygiene, you've decided to add a baby into the mix.
We understand you want the best for your baby. But let's be realistic: Not everyone has the time, energy, skill, patience or desire to spend precious cuddle time in the kitchen making locally grown, organic, homemade baby food.
So let's say these things are really important to you in a baby food (and we'd certainly agree):
- Organic
- Local
- Nutrition
- Convenience
- Variety
Rutababy offers a way to round out your baby's diet without cutting corners. Our subscription service offers chef-prepared purees made from certified organic ingredients that are sourced almost entirely within 50 miles of our home base in Cleveland, Ohio. Every week, you'll receive delicious purees made with ingredients you know and love from your local farmers market -- rainbow carrots, golden beets, kohlrabi and rutabaga -- which simply aren't available in the baby food aisle.
And because our foods are frozen, we've preserved many of the nutrients that are lost in the high-heat processing required for traditional shelf-stable jars and pouches, including B vitamins and folate essential for infant growth and development. Just thaw and go: Our low-waste, recyclable packaging is ready the next day when thawed in the fridge or in just a few minutes when submerged in simmering water.
Why Local?
Pediatricians agree that babies actually begin to develop taste preferences in utero. But while Cleveland is increasingly recognized at the top of the list for best dining destinations in the U.S., we're becoming foodies too late in life.
The earlier children begin eating healthy, wholesome ingredients, the more likely they are to prefer them later in life, and good nutrition can have a profound effect on your child's physical and mental growth. Getting children to eat their fruits and vegetables doesn't have to be a struggle -- if you start early with high-quality ingredients grown with care and harvested at the right time. You love farmers markets and CSAs, so why wouldn't your kids?
Organic is a good start that reduces the icky effects of large-scale agriculture like polluted water runoff. But buying locally means growers can select for taste and nutrition instead of how well the produce holds up over long-distance shipping routes. It also reduces fossil fuel consumption and supports biodiversity for a healthier planet.
By using the best of what's available in each season, we can create a new generation of healthy eaters who know that fresh ingredients aren't just better for us, they also taste better. And we can strengthen communities along the way by supporting the farmers who've believed in local foods all along.
Nice to Meet You
Rutababy is owned and operated by Laura Adiletta, a food writer for
Cleveland Magazine and a chef with half a decade of experience working in fine dining establishments in California, New England and the Midwest, most recently with James Beard-nominated chef Doug Katz of
Fire Food & Drink in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a finalist in the Spring 2015 class of
Bad Girl Ventures business accelerator and presented at Cleveland SOUP's quarterly micro-grant competition.
You Put the 'Go' in 'Goal'
We can't make Rutababy a reality without you, so here's where we want to head and how you can help make it happen:
- We've already spent about $2,000 on things like early-round batch testing, business classes, legal fees, website tools, etc.
- Next we want about $3,000 to perfect our recipes and packaging, from getting the taste and texture perfect to figuring out how many pounds of carrots we need for a standard batch to seeing how our pouches perform once they're sealed and delivered. That will help us set the right selling price.
- After that we need about $3,000 to send our recipes to the lab, get our organic certification and establish accounts payable with the farms and providers that will supply our foods and vital business services.
- Then we require nearly $8,000 to get started with a two-month trial round, where we will operate our business with a limited number of customers who will receive a discount in exchange for detailed feedback on the process and food.
- Finally, we'll get started in September with $4,000 for marketing, inventory, a few extra hands in the kitchen, some cooking equipment that will let us make larger batches and a delivery service to bring it all to you.
In exchange, we're offering incentives that will outfit the cutest baby you know, rock your farm-to-baby support on your car bumper or set you up for delivery in the fall at a discounted price.
If we don't reach our overall goal, there are a few things we can do to get started with a leaner budget, including reducing the variety of flavors on offer, eliminating some equipment purchases in favor of beg/borrow/pleading, simplifying our packaging, doing the labor ourselves when we get home from work and forgoing nutritional labeling (which are required for sales at grocery stores).
Mother's Little Helper
We know it's difficult just to remember to shower in the morning. It's challenging to eat right, to support local farmers and to prevent food waste. By supporting Rutababy, you're helping (yourself or others) access the benefits of homemade foods in a more convenient and efficient way than going it alone.
Laura already knows how to manage a professional kitchen, how to find quality vendors, and how to manage perishable inventory. But she can't fund this project alone. She tried. Her husband got tired of ramen noodles and sadness.
May the Road Rise to Meet You
It's a long road ahead. Even with a successful campaign, Rutababy faces challenges. We're confident we've got the skills and drive to meet them head-on, but we want you to know we've thought about these potential speed bumps:
- We're short on time: If you're a potential customer, this one doesn't require explanation, but Laura still has to work full time as a food writer and business magazine editor and needs to hire kitchen help to manage production.
- It's more complicated than a Craigslist ad: Good help is hard to find. Luckily, Laura's extensive network and her experience as a head chef and manager will help mitigate this problem.
- See the value: For Rutababy to be successful, our customers have to see the value in our product and service. We're confident that the market research we've done so far supports our idea, but you never know for sure until you try.
- Spreading the word: A fantastic product and well-run business is no good if no one knows about it. Laura's background in publishing and her extensive network is a tremendous asset in helping get the word out, but we've also included marketing expenses into our business plan for additional help in this department.
Other Ways You Can Help
We've included asks for small amounts, because every little bit helps. Still, we've been there. If you can't donate monetarily, you can still make tremendous impact by telling everyone you know about Rutababy and our Indiegogo campaign, liking us on Facebook and commenting on our posts, and approaching random parents with babies on the street about us.
On second thought, maybe don't do that.