Meet Francesca Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Francesca Smith.

Hi Francesca, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We are Francesca Smith and AJ Lawson, and NU Food is our company. We’ve both spent the better part of our lives as competitive snowboarders and action sports athletes. We’ve always been on the search for healthy, plant-based snacks.

We grew into veganism as a way to reduce our carbon footprint, live cleaner lives, and do the least amount of harm to every living creature in this world.

The need for delicious snacks didn’t stop when we adopted a vegan diet. Changing to a plant-based lifestyle expanded our tastes in new and exciting ways, introducing foods we hadn’t yet experienced.

We’ve been making our popcorn and queso for years, perfecting the recipes. All that time, we’ve dreamt of finding products just like them in stores.

We decided to create Nu Food after seeing a need for healthy plant-based snacks that are beneficial to one’s health. All of our products have added Pea protein to keep you fueled for the day. All of our products are nut, soy and gluten-free so everyone can enjoy them.

Our dream is to deliver healthy, delicious, plant-based foods to everyone. We want a Nu wave of food.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a company from the ground up has definitely had its challenges. We spent long nights and early mornings creating everything from our logo to our packaging design. Being a part of such an amazing community of vegan businesses gave us a lot of support and help when we needed it. We were lucky to be able to navigate the challenges of COVID and a number of our partners having to close up shop. But, we are consistently growing with new retail locations every month and growing demand for our product.

There are times of struggle and exhaustion but bringing our snacks to people and seeing the difference we have made and continue to make keeps us going. We are passionate about our mission and our products and will continue to grow and bring plant-based healthy and delicious snacks to as many people as we can.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We both spent the better part of our lives as extreme sports athletes and avid animal lovers. When we saw a lack of plant-based protein-filled snacks, we brought our knowledge of health and fitness and our love of vegan food into our company. We are most proud of being able to feed people with all diets, lifestyles and allergies and contribute to the vegan community.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Honestly, luck has not played a role in the success of our business. We both put our blog, sweat and tears into this company to continue to grow and be successful. We started with no funding or background in business and spent endless hours navigating the challenges and roadblocks of a startup.

Pricing:

• $5 popcorn bags
• $8 popcorn bags
• $10 Queso jars

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nuvegfood.com
• Instagram: @nuvegfood