Marie-Josée Richer was travelling in India when she met her future husband Alon Farber.
Richer and Farber went on to found an organic snack company — Prana — in 2005.
The pair first started working out of Richer’s mother’s kitchen, before moving on to other facilities.
There was a lot of work involved in getting the company off the ground.
“Me and my husband, going door to door, to retailers trying to sell the dream, sell the products, sell the vision mostly,” Richer said.
Now they have set up shop in a 30,000 square foot location in Ville-St-Laurent where all of their products are manufactured.
All of the company’s snacks are organic and include both sweet and salty products as well as ingredients such as raw nuts, fruits and chia seeds.
When organic products started to enjoy a stronger foothold in the industry, Prana was ready.
“When the market was ready, we were really ready for it,” Richer said.
The company has grown and now sells across Canada with products in stores such as Loblaws, Metro, Costco and independent retailers.
Prana recently made its move into the United States, where it hopes to expand and really make its mark.
And even though profit is important, the company focuses on its corporate footprint.
“We think in terms of: How does it impact my consumers? How does it impact my community? How does it impact the people that grow the food?” Richer said. “How does it impact resources? How does it impact the water? The planet in general?”
Yvan Poulin, Prana’s vice-president of operations, agreed.
“It’s not just purely let’s do a lot of product and very quick,” he said. “How can we do the product and at the same time look at the environmental impact, the social impact?”
Another important aspect is keeping the food as close as possible to its natural state.
“The notion that food is not just a combination of ingredients,” Farber said. “It has something more than that and it can nourish your soul.”
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