Name: Michelle Hoffmann
Occupation: Founder, Junior’s Fresh
One word to describe you: Upbeat
One thing you have learned in life: Live your life positively, and others will follow.
Website: www.juniorsfresh.com
1. Why did you start your business and what’s the mission behind it?
My Junior’s Fresh entrepreneurial journey was inspired by my baby – of course! – and the guilt that so often accompanies being a mother. When it came time to transition my son to baby food, I quickly realized the decision would not be an easy one.
All of the baby foods at the supermarket are processed and most provide little to no nutritional value, but what was most troubling at the time was that when I looked at the expiration dates of the “best” shelf stable options, I was shocked to find that the food was older than my baby.
As a mother working 50+ hours, it was tough to find the time to spend with my new son and make his baby food – but believe me, there were lots of late nights steaming and pureeing. At a certain point something’s got to give. And that’s when I realized that other mothers must be feeling the same way and I wanted to help. That’s when the idea of Junior’s Fresh was born.
Since its inception, we’ve grown to include new eaters, toddlers and even their parents at our cafe. The Junior’s Fresh mission is to give parents a fresh option when it comes to food for your child. We hand-craft locally sourced, farm fresh food at a price point all families can appreciate.
2. Can you give us an example of how the food goes from the farmer to the baby?
Of course. We source local and seasonal from the New York City greenmarkets, where all the produce comes from farms within 100 miles of the city. Summer time is one of the best seasons and now we’re getting delicious fruits and veggies like Jersey peaches, empire apples and candy cane beets that we puree for the newest eaters. We then combine these purees with healthy grains like quinoa and barley for older babies and use as sides alongside our fresh baked, panko crusted chicken tenders, turkey burgers and other meals for toddlers up to 6 years old
3. I notice you are only in New York, do you have plans on expanding to the entire US?
Yes, it’s always been our vision to bring fresh, healthy food to families across the US and beyond and we get calls from interested partners almost every week. We want to work with like minded people who appreciate and understand our philosophy. We recently expanded from Manhattan to Brooklyn, which will bring us in touch with thousands more families and we’re looking forward to opening in our next city. It would be great to hear from anybody who feels like this would work for their community.
4. What types of fruits and veggies do you sell? Any other types of products or ventures that include Juniors Fresh?
In addition to some of the summer fruits and veggies I mentioned before, we make sure to incorporate fresh, local produce all year long. Our whole wheat mac and cheese infused with butternut squash puree is a top seller all year long. We also have a retail store in Soho downtown in New York City that we opened this winter. The store is part of the Citibabes family lifestyle club where we serve babies, toddlers and their families the same healthy, fresh food. At the Junior’s Fresh Kitchen Soho the whole family can take-away freshly prepared meals. We also serve as the in-house caterer for these incredible birthday parties hosted at Citibabes – we’ve had quite a few happy celebs and their kiddos celebrate with us.
5. What is the one thing you have learned about your business the hard way?
Like with any business, the customer is always right. When we first started, we had a menu based off of what we served our own son, but soon realized that not all of the dishes were right for all of our customers. We adapted our menu to suit our customers tastes and continue to do that while maintaining our focus on fresh, healthy and local food.
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