A New Haven-based frozen foods company is increasing its distribution footprint after reaching an settlement with a pure meals grocery store chain with places within the Mid-Atlantic states.
Fireplace Ox Meals will now be obtainable in MOM’s Natural Market places, in keeping with Zoe Geller, founding father of the vegan, nut and gluten-free frozen meals firm. Maryland-based MOM’s Organic Market has 22 stores in 5 states and the District of Columbia.
With the addition of the MOM’s Natural market chain to its distribution community, Fireplace Ox’s line of frozen meals is now obtainable at over 70 places across the nation.
There are 10 Connecticut pure meals places that carry the Fireplace Ox product line. The Connecticut shops are: Thyme & Season and the Whitneyville Meals Middle in Hamden; The Frequent Bond Market in Shelton; Elm Metropolis Market, Fringe of the Woods and Atticus Market in New Haven; New Morning Market & Vitality Middle in Woodbury; Greiser’s Espresso & Market in Easton; Village Market in Wilton and Walter Stewart’s Market in New Canaan.
On-line ordering of Fireplace Ox’s dishes can be obtainable. The distribution possibility is extra expensive for the enterprise, Geller stated, “however by providing our merchandise by mail, we’re in a position to comply with up with individuals who purchase from us and ask them questions.”
“That’s actually, actually priceless,” she stated.
The enlargement of the Fireplace Ox distribution community comes at a crucial time for the model. Geller stated she and her enterprise companion Jason Yang wish to increase $500,000 that can go towards product improvement and advertising and marketing.
“We wished to create one thing impressed,” Geller stated of Fireplace Ox’s dishes. “We’re attempting to achieve well being aware people who’re searching for one thing handy.”
Fireplace Ox affords 5 dishes: Braised Ethiopian Greens; Provencal Ratatouille; Massaman Coconut Curry; Chipotle Pink Bean Pozole and Mushroom Oat Risotto.
The 5 frozen meals can be found for between $7.99 and $8.99, in keeping with Geller.
Enterprise has Yale roots
Each Geller and Yang have levels from Yale College, though they attended at completely different occasions.
Geller bought a twin graduate diploma in environmental administration and enterprise from Yale in 2017. Yang bought bachelor’s diploma in economics and math from Yale in 2009 and has grasp’s diploma in enterprise from Columbia College.
Fire Ox is an spin off of Zoni Foods, an organization that Geller co-founded in 2017. Geller and Yang met at a Yale entrepreneurial occasion a couple of years later and launched the Fireplace Ox model in 2020.
“Jason was selecting my mind and it seems he was engaged on his personal line of dishes,” she stated. “I used to be initially involved that he was a competitor, however we determined it made sense to work collectively and quite than competing with one another.”
Yang stated he grew to become all for launching a meals enterprise as a result of “I really like meals, I really like eat it and I like to prepare dinner and feed it to others.”
“I began this enterprise as a result of, whereas I knew how compelling good vegetable dishes are to eat, I additionally skilled how troublesome they had been to organize – or purchase ready – on busy weekdays,” Yang stated.
Earlier than launching Fireplace Ox, Yang was an analyst and the primary worker at Improvement Capital Companions, an Africa-focused funding fund. Previous to that, he was a method and operations advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
