Interview with Noah Robbins

Let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. How did your company get started and why?

I grew up with parents in the citrus industry, and always knew I would come back to the agriculture and farming world in some way. Fast forward to 2013, I was seeing Shishito peppers at almost every restaurant in NYC, but couldn’t find them in grocery stores to cook them at home. That lightbulb moment led me to start Ark Foods with a single pepper on a small plot of land. Since then, we’ve expanded into farming numerous specialty peppers, squash, and tomatoes, and developed a line of plant-based lunches made with unique vegetables and clean ingredients, which are sold at grocery stores around the country.

What is your product and how would you describe it?

Ark Foods’ From our Farms line gives a spotlight to the unsung heroes of the veggie world, like Shishito peppers, Purple Bell peppers, Honeynut squash, etc… We want to bring more veggie variety to people’s plates and show that an uncommon vegetable can be just as easy to enjoy at home as the ones they know and love. Our Clean Label Eats line features our Veggie Bowls, which are plant-based takes on comfort food flavors, like Cauliflower Mac and Cheese, and popular salad combinations, like Ranch and Caesar, with veggies rarely found in store-bought salads, like watermelon radishes and golden beets.

How have you pivoted your business this year?

Our mix of restaurant distribution to retail distribution changed rapidly at the on-set of the pandemic. As people turned to home cooking, it became even more important for us to meet them with our fresh vegetables and veggie-based convenience meals in as many grocery doors as possible.

What is your next challenge to overcome?

We’re excited to meet the challenge of bringing new vegetables and plant-based products to more customers in 2021. This means increased product innovation and seeing our product on shelves in as many stores as possible. We’re interested in teaming up with other plant-based brands to deepen the impact we can have on shelf via launches, shopper marketing displays, and marketing collaborations.

What do you predict for the food industry over the rest of the year?

As more people get vaccinated and restaurant capacity open up, I’m eager to see a return to dining as we once knew it. That said, I think we will see a sustained desire for exciting home cooking, and for those dishes made at home to feel like a restaurant-quality experience. That starts with having access to incredible ingredients, like Shishito peppers, in the produce aisle.

Learn more at: Ark Foods – Vegetables From our Farms and Plant-Based Clean Label Foods