Tag Archives: asulia foods

Asulia at Whole Foods Charles River Plaza

I love living in The Bean. One of the things that I love about Boston is how accessible everything is, including grocery shopping. Off the red line at MGH, Whole Foods Charles River Plaza is one of the best locations to get everything you need.

I’m ecstatic that Asulia’s taro root, kale and chick pea dumplings are now available in the freezer aisle at Charles River Plaza Whole Foods!

When I used to work in the financial district, I would walk to Whole Foods Charles River Plaza at lunch time to pick up lunch and or groceries for my newest kitchen adventure. It was a treat to get out and escape from work and the gym, where I was indoors in a basement doing yoga. A lovely, well-lit studio, but I preferred shopping and lunching at Whole Foods instead!

In the past, when I didn’t know what to do with my vegetable obsession (#vod), I’d go to my happy place — the produce section — for inspiration and dream of a day I could make a career in food. Well, I’m happy and humbled to see it come full circle.

Thank you for your continued support. We have added lots of new stores to the list and we have some fun event coming up. Come say hi!

2 Recent Projects Completed at Asulia

asuliablog-2 recent projects completed at asulia

Asulia Dumpling Packaging

We launched Asulia’s new website! The design process, including packaging design, has been months in the making, and I’m so excited that the design portion is all set now. Two major projects have been completed. Only a million more to go.

This journey so far has been more rewarding than I ever thought it would be, and I know it’s only just the beginning. As an entrepreneur, you really hit the highest of the highs and lows I’m thankful to be able to come through. My days are often challenging on all fronts, from bootstrapping everything to learning new things quickly. Time seems to fly by because of all the work that I need to do. I can’t tell you how often I find it’s suddenly the afternoon and I’m still in my pajamas and haven’t eaten anything. My new goal is to create a standing desk so I can get a work out in no matter what. As I write this post, I’m at a makeshift standing ‘desk’, a stack of storage boxes! On the plus side, I did manage to eat brunch today :)

asuliablog-2 recent projects completed at asulia

Next on the list is getting things lined up for Asulia’s Kickstarter fundraising campaign to go live. Dumpling packaging is finalized, Asulia’s video is back in the editing room, and I’m working on rewards. Sourcing custom-made things for rewards without knowing exact quantities has proven to be more difficult than I anticipated. I feel fortunate to have the help and support of my advisors and friends as issues like this come up.

Stay tuned for more on our Kickstarter campaign!

command lines

I never thought I’d be programming anything on my computer. It all started because the nutrition software I’m familiar with didn’t seem to suit the needs of the labels I need to make. I’ve contact some food labs, but I went online to see what I could find. Long story short, I came across open software programs that I want to test out. Luckily, a friend of mine used to work in the industry and when he couldn’t get remote access to my computer I became the default. I found myself entering commands in terminal today. I can fully say now that it’s not a fit for me.

I’m finally starting to see quotes from printers trickle in. It’s pricey to say the least when you’re just starting out. I’m trying to decide how to go about this dilemma. I don’t want to end up with boxes extra boxes I won’t use during the first run. There will be changes as I’ve been told by nearly every entrepreneur in the industry when we chat about packaging. Print a small quantity.

Every morning I wake up instantly thinking about all the things that need to done. Nutrition labels still need to be made, packaging design needs to be finalized, our permanent website needs to be completed, the blog needs to become active, run a large scale test batch and more…

Moving day 1 of 2

Time to move again. A friend let mine loaned me their car to move some things. As I was running errands, I stopped by Russo’s and picked up some tindoras. Initially, I was going to cook them in a curry sauce, but I ended up sautéing the them with spicy Thai chilies and garlic instead.

Tindoras with toasted peptias over mixed rice, Pete and Gary’s egg. I thought the veggies would taste like cucumbers, they don’t. There’s a nice crunch and a bit of sweetness comes through.

Entrepreneurs

I’ve been fortunate to connect with entrepreneurs who have been in business for many years. While I’m surrounded by foodie entrepreneurs who have made it, advice from other wise business friends has not gone in one ear and out the other ear. Being in the food industry is challenging. When I look at the numbers, a slight change can make you or break you. Here’s how I look at it though, if the only products that made it on the shelves was determined by the highest turning items say snacks for example, then there would never be anything new to discover in grocery aisles or at farmers markets.

I think I’m finally getting to a point of finalizing the logo. Production costs are higher than anticipated, but I’m focused on decreasing the cost of goods so the final retail price makes sense for buyers. It’s a fine line.  At least a wheat wrapper is now an option!

Veggies working it

Photo shoot day! It was rather odd to be scouting attractive veggies at the grocery store. When it came time to ring up my items, the guy bagging groceries started bending the greens on the carrots. He nearly gave me a heart attack! I said “whoa, can you please not bend the greens on the carrots, they will photographed this afternoon.”

Yesterday, I took a trip to a local art supply store to pick up a roll of white paper for the background. I ended up buying a yard of canvas as well because I thought the white paper was too transparent. In the end we didn’t need the canvas since the lighting was so bright. The pretty linen paper on the walls caught my eye and I took at some options, but decided I wanted to keep the look simple, clean, and about the ingredients.

I have been debating on whether to use photography and or illustrations for packaging. Seeing the ingredients and dumplings captured exactly how I envisioned the photos to look made me smile ear to ear. No illustrations at this point. I’m trilled about the photos today! Even if the direction of how I styled my food photography was off. I loved every minute of the process! What I thought would only take a 2-3 hours took about 7 hours of work which didn’t include the trip to art store, going to two different grocery stores to scout veggie and commuting to my photographer.

I’m a lucky gal to have talented friends. Many thanks and shout out to my friend and photographer, at Graham Winslow Photography.