Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Manuel Villarreal, founder of I Eat My Greens, located in Encinitas, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I Eat My Greens will make you fall in love with veggies! We are a San Diego-based company that makes refrigerated superfood soups that can also be used as a sauce or base on top of your favorite meals to make it easy for you and your family to get your daily veggie intake in just 90 seconds.

People are aware of the importance of healthy eating. However, they struggle to find a practical, healthy food that actually tastes amazing for their everyday life. That's why we work directly with farmers and talented chefs to create the ultimate healthy comfort food, made with clean whole veggies and flavorful herbs (no fillers, starches, powders, or added sugars) while offering unique mouthwatering flavors never seen in the market before. Say goodbye to boring salads and overly processed foods, and welcome your new favorite food!

Tell us about yourself

I am a former Olympic athlete that immigrated to this great country from Mexico eight years ago with a dream "Making healthy food available to everyone while building a business where all the parts involved would benefit, especially when thinking about people, communities, and the planet."

My heart is filled with joy every time we make healthy eating available to someone, and we positively impact their life, especially those in most need. It's what gets me up every day and drives me to create the most nutritious, tasty, and available food possible.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

We've lowered our environmental footprint. Working closely and directly with our farmers, we've increased the number of organic vegetables in our soups and continue to develop regenerative agriculture practices and the use of upcycled produce in our soups.

Expanded Our Presence- We've been working on expanding regionally and were recently approved at Mother's Market 11 locations in Southern California.

New Products- We've grown our soup line with the launch of 2 new unique soup flavors, including one Keto-friendly option, which further expands our reach and connection to different food lifestyles groups like vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian, keto, and plant-based.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Work-life balance- Operating a fast-evolving brand while having time to spend with family and pursue personal interests can be quite a challenge. I've been working on balancing both aspects by following an organized and thoughtful agenda while partnering with key people that help me grow the business in specific areas.

Being pioneers of a new product category- People tend to go for products or concepts they are familiar with, so launching a new product that is a category disruptor needs a lot of clear communication, education, and appealing messaging, so people get familiar with the product.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Know your customers- knowing what pains, desires, and solutions they are looking for, whether they are functional or emotional desires, will make you understand them better and be able to offer more assertive solutions that they actually care about.
  2. Test your ideas in places like Farmer's Markets to make sure people (especially not only your friends and family) will pay and repurchase your products or services over and over again.
  3. Think outside the box- We tend to follow what other people are doing. That will make you very similar to others. Success happens when you step out of your comfort zone and revolutionize the way things are done, people love authenticity.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

We believe food can truly change people's lives, bring together communities, and help the planet. That's why together with our farmers, we've developed social programs to give back to the communities we work with. We are very fortunate to work with amazing people, of which 80% are women. We're working to provide free vegetables to people working in the fields and teach them how to prepare fresh, healthy meals for themselves and their families. This program aims to reduce their intake of unhealthy, highly processed food, which constitutes a large part of their diet. We're also donating a portion of our sales and volunteering to connect underserved communities with healthy, nutritious food in partnership with Feeding San Diego.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://ieatmygreens.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iEatMyGreens
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ieat.mygreens/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-eat-my-greens/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.