Local Vendor Q&A: Rooted Vegan Cuisine
Rooted Vegan Cuisine is still considered a new vendor for us but it is very likely you have already had a chance to meet co-owners Naomi and Mike Oyegoke. They have been enthusiastically serving up hot samples of their lasagna and mozzarella sticks on a regular basis in the stores; usually leading to a great conversation and almost always resulting in the shopper taking home one of their products. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with them and I am happy to be sharing their story here with you via an interview with Naomi.
What is your origin story? Who started the business and why?
The idea to start selling vegan food came to me about three years ago shortly after losing my father Gary. (Aka “G-Daddy” to his grandkids.) It was a rough time, but I would always laugh thinking about him calling my meals “rabbit food”. Needless to say, he wasn’t vegan. Haha! However, he was always pleasantly surprised at how tasty my vegan foods were and was so supportive of my decision to be vegan.
I started the business under the name Rooted Soul Food using the inheritance my father left us. I dedicated the business to him and his mother Jaunita, aka Wheatie. Two people that I knew would be so proud of what I was doing, no matter how well the business did. It was, and very much still is, a passion project.
Starting in October of 2019 you could find me around San Antonio serving hot food at pop-up events and even doing a weekly kitchen take-over at the famous La Botanica here in San Antonio. Things were moving quickly, my lines were getting longer, and I was selling out quicker at each event. Then Covid shut everything down. I remember my last weekly kitchen takeover well. It was March of 2020 and I created a special meal for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m ¼ Irish and was so excited to share dishes that I grew up making with my mother, that I later veganized, of course. Guinness stew, colcannon, and Irish soda bread all from scratch. It was delicious but the lasagna was still the reason my lines kept growing longer each week.
When Covid brough the world to a standstill I started getting lots of requests for meals through my DM’s. Most of these requests were for lasagna. I decided the best way to service my clients was to freeze the lasagnas, deliver them around town, and the customer could heat and serve them at home.
Meanwhile, we now have two toddlers’ out of daycare and at home. I’m staring at the freezer section at the grocery looking for easy to heat and serve, healthy vegan meals to serve my family. Honestly, the options were so disappointing. I knew that if I was looking for a higher quality, better tasting frozen options, others were too. That’s when it hit me, and I knew I wanted to be in the freezer section.
This idea also coincided with the loss of our previous business due to Covid related setbacks. Thus, allowing my husband, Mike, the time to come over and help me turn Rooted from a small pop-up, side hustle, into a legit frozen food manufacturing business. With him came a wealth of skills, knowledge, focus, and unmatched hustle. Most of his many contributions to our business are behind the scenes. Although, he is the artist behind all of our company’s photography and video. I know I’m a bit bias, but he’s pretty amazing both behind the lens and during postproduction. #biggestfan
Rooted Vegan Cuisine’s official launch was 1 year ago this month. So, Happy Anniversary to us! At the time of our launch, we were only offering our products through our website for local delivery. We quickly partnered with a couple local San Antonio shops and, over time, expanded out to freezer sections in Denton, Austin, and most recently Dallas. We are also now servicing restaurants that want to sell Rooted Vegan Cuisine on their menu.
The reception we have received from the community and our customers have been incredibly humbling. The support means so much for so many reasons. Losing our previous business due to Covid was scary. Rebranding Rooted and learning everything about frozen food manufacturing, from the beginning, during the one of the most stressful and almost unbelievable times in recent history, with two toddlers? I mean, come on.
Knowing that we are helping more people find restaurant quality vegan food in their freezer section makes me so happy. And in turn, their purchases and continued support is helping my family get through these crazy times. It’s also helping us build my passion project into a business I’m proud of.
What are your most popular products and why?
Lasagna gets most of the spotlight but honestly, our mozzarella sticks are right up there with lasagna in terms of popularity. In select markets we also sell broccoli cheese soup and spinach and cheese manicotti. Every customer will tell you a different one is “best”. We stopped manufacturing our collard green, sausage, & potato soup, 3-bean “beefy” chili, and white chicken chili over the summer but the requests for those items are now picking back up as the weather cools down. So, they have a chance of coming back soon if time allows.
What makes your products unique?
Our product is unique because of the hand crafted, high quality nature of the dishes. Our tagline is Restaurant Quality Frozen Foods because the recipes are complex and time consuming. The flavors are deep, developed and bold. The dishes are filled with tons of fresh produce and low-cost fillers are left out. We make all of our various cheese recipes from scratch, in house. While most vegan cheese recipes are filled with oil, ours are not.
What positive feedback have you heard from your customers?
“These meals taste so fresh and not like a typical frozen meal at all! I was most blown away by the gluten-free mozzarella sticks. They were better than I ever remember mozzarella sticks to be. They had a very gourmet flavor with gooey cheese and a crunchy outside. I love how non-greasy it was!”
“Their lasagna is out of this world! My husband is convinced they have an Italian grandma in the kitchen. I’m a soup fiend too, every single one of their soups is incredible. Comfort food, all of it.”
Where do you see your business headed in the next year and beyond?
We are working hard internally on learning all the ins-and-outs of high-level food manufacturing. We are implementing new protocols and procedures regularly to help us move closer to the highest levels of food safety certifications. The goal is for customers to be able to access our dishes in freezers near them, from coast-to-coast. So yeah, we have some long-term plans that are already in the works.
Short term, we are really looking forward to offering nationwide shipping. Even figuring that out is a challenge but we suspect we will be ready for this service just in time for the holidays. I’m also very anxious to bring old dishes back and introduce everyone to dishes I’ve never shared before. I’m confident one of my favorite parts of growing this business will be creating and sharing new dishes. That excitement goes way back to my childhood where my love language has always been to cook and serve people my meals.
Anything else we should know?
This business, what it represents and where I want to see it go, is about so much more than frozen food. I don’t want to build this business if it can’t be done in a way that aligns with my values around issues like veganism for the animals, environment, health, and the people. I want to make sure our products, brand, voice, and our overall presence is a safe space for all. Especially those that are part of historically marginalized communities.
We are trying to build this business on a solid foundation of ethical practices that only improves as we grow. I know this will be a never-ending process as capitalism, in general, makes every step forward challenging. I don’t want to own a company that puts profits over their employees. I don’t want a company that doesn’t think, or care about, our carbon footprint. I don’t want a company that doesn’t give back to the people that made us successful and helped us to grow. I don’t even want a company that doesn’t stand up, and speak out, when things need to be said and voices need to be amplified. I want a company that my dad, grandmother, and all my ancestors could have only imagined in their wildest dreams.
I know we have a long challenging road ahead. And we are nowhere near as sustainable as I want us to be. We are not yet able to offer our employees the wages and benefits I want them to have. The prices of our foods are not as accessible as I want them to be. But I’m committed to working on improvements, in all areas, regularly. We have been told that you can’t be successful and profitable without ignoring some of the above issues. I refuse to believe that to be true. ❤
Thank you Wheatsville for inviting us into your store and community.