Led by its giddy and energetic CEO Miki Talebi alongside her COO husband Sana Talebi, oomé is a BC-based premium smoked tofu company that recently entered store shelves in Ontario. This strategic expansion at Ontario food retailers such as The Sweet Potato, Ambrosia, Goodness Me!, Natural Food Pantry, and more, not only highlights the company’s growth but also underscores the rising demand for tofu.
Recognized for its health benefits and environmentally friendly attributes compared to meat, this move reflects a shifting consumer preference towards healthier and sustainable food choices.
To learn more about oomé, Tim Fujio of Setting Mind interviews CEO Miki Talebi.
Tim: How did your Japanese identity shape your love for tofu?
Miki: My mother is Japanese and our meals were definitely infused with Japanese cuisine and naturally, tofu was a household staple. But, as in many Asian cultures, consuming tofu doesn’t mean that you are exclusively avoiding meat.
As children, it was always a mix of both at the dinner table and I grew up to view tofu as another option to consume a really hearty, clean and wholesome source of protein. I still view it this way. It is a wonderful blank canvas that can take on the flavour of anything you are cooking with, which is the beauty of tofu and why I love it so much. It is incredibly versatile and there are so many ways tofu can be utilized in our meals.
How did you transition this love for tofu into a business?
oomé emerged out of losing my father and paying tribute to my Japanese identity on my mother’s side.
My father had a passion for good food, great company, and life in general. He loved using his smoker to make delicious family meals that would bring the family around the dinner table and that is where so many of our core memories are centered around. But in the summer of 2020, he suffered a significant accident. That moment changed everything for us.
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Over the course of the next few months, my sister and I would prepare dinners for our respective families – we both have young children – and then we would spend the evenings at the hospital with our mother. Throughout this time my sister and I would exchange meal ideas and exchange tips on how to best nourish our young families. Our children are big fans of smoked tofu, and during the height of the pandemic, we could not find it anywhere.
Having been given my father’s old smoker, I light-heartedly told my sister I would smoke tofu for our kids. Then, in November of 2020, after many ups and downs, my father passed away and I found myself unable to let go of the idea of making smoked tofu. I did not know the first thing about smoking tofu, running a business, promoting a brand, or anything in this industry.
However, living through this type of loss gives you a different outlook on life and I decided that if I didn’t take a chance on myself and try to embark on this journey then I would regret it. I also wanted to take this opportunity to turn a very difficult experience into something positive and honour my father and his love for family and really good food.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was also offering a solution to a challenge in the industry. Many know tofu – they view it as this amazing source of protein that is minimally processed, but it is also bland and difficult to prepare and add flavour to.
That is where oomé comes into play. We are here to shake things up in the industry – not only by making an amazing product but also by marketing our product so that it stands out on the shelf. I grew up going on family trips to Japan and I have core memories of seeing everyday products displayed in beautiful packaging on the grocery store shelves there. I truly believe that we have an opportunity to make tofu look beautiful on the shelves here as well, and that is what we set out to do in launching oomé.
Competition in the tofu industry is heating up. What sets oomé apart from the others?
Our product is unique in that it is completely ready to eat right out of the package. It is already flavoured and smoked, so the cooking has already been done for you. This means that our smoked tofu can be tossed into your salad, placed on a charcuterie board, or added to your sandwiches with no additional preparation.
We use clean ingredients, are non-GMO project verified, and source our ingredients locally wherever possible. We also use natural wood smoke to get a lovely smokey flavour in our tofu. And our woodchips are sourced from the family cherry orchard in Oliver, BC.
In addition to this, sustainability is a core part of our brand value. We are plastic-negative and certified by Repurpose. This means that we calculate all of our plastic consumption across the entire production process, double that calculation and then support waste management efforts in other parts of the world to offset our plastic consumption.
And then the last piece about oomé is the intangible component of the brand – we are a heritage brand that embodies our family values in everything that we do. oomé was founded in honour of my late father and our purpose is to create lasting memories around good food. It’s about creating an opportunity to gather around the dinner table with our loved ones and to enjoy our meals in a more sustainable manner.
Acquiring shelf space in grocery stores is no easy task. For those starting out in the packaged food industry, do you have any advice for success?
Shelf space is like real estate in the consumer-packaged goods industry, and it is a very expensive commodity. I believe it is critical to stand out on the shelves and that is one of the reasons we placed a lot of energy and money into designing a strong brand and package for our smoked tofu.
We knew that we had an opportunity to stand out among the crowd in the traditional tofu set because it had not changed in such a long time; this was our opportunity to add some vibrancy to this category. And we feel it’s working! We recently received the BC Food and Beverage award for Best in Brand and that signals to us that we are on the right track and that we are doing something right with our branding!
I believe the other important factor is developing relationships. At the beginning of this journey, typically it is the founder that is pounding the pavement and going door to door to get their product on the grocery store shelves. This is a great opportunity to build rapport with the store manager and team members and helps the retailer put a face behind the brand. In this way, they become invested in the brand and also want to see you succeed. They will keep an eye out for your product, perhaps place it at eye level, and reach out to you if there are opportunities to help promote your brand. These are the perks of building great relationships.
Are you currently in talks with Loblaws and other major food distributors in Ontario? How are the talks going?
This past September we exhibited at the Canadian Health Food Association Tradeshow and over the course of this event we had a lot of great opportunities come our way. Right now, we are focused on independent natural retailers to develop our brand presence. Our ultimate goal is to make our smoked tofu as accessible to as many consumers as possible, but this can only happen if we grow and scale in a manageable way where we are able to give each opportunity the right attention it deserves.
Any plans for expansion in the US soon?
We were recently invited to participate in a trade mission with the Ministry of Agriculture & Food to learn about export to the US and this is an incredibly exciting opportunity that is certainly something we will be tackling in the near future. However, since we just expanded into the Toronto region we are going to spend some time focusing on that and cultivating a strong presence in Eastern Canada before turning our attention to the US.
Do you eat tofu every day? Or is too much of the good thing bad?
I love tofu – all forms of tofu and at any time of day! Tofu is such a great source of protein and there is so much misinformation out there about tofu that I would encourage anyone who is curious about the amazing benefits it has to offer to read up on it.
I believe that we should be exercising balance in everything that we do, but in terms of tofu, it would take a LOT of tofu consumption for ‘too much of a good thing to be bad’. I consume tofu with my toast in the morning, love having it in wraps or thrown in a salad, and regularly add it to our pasta, tacos, ramen, and the list goes on!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
