After losing 2 of her children and virtually everything her family had in Syria before and during the war, Farrah Moussallati Sibai was starting over. Her faith and determination led her to rebuild herself and her family and to desire to be a strong female role model for her remaining daughters and women who have endured trauma. Her desire to help people with similar and more tragic situations than herself was one of the guiding reasons for her starting Afia Foods.
When Farrah’s mother-in-law fled Syria during the war she left with little beside the clothes on her back and her handwritten family cookbook. The recipes in this cookbook would become the basis for Afia Foods. Farrah saw that interest in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food was rapidly growing in restaurants throughout the United States. Farrah’s guiding business goal was to spread the availability of the food and flavors that she grew up eating. Consumer options for Mediterranean food in the supermarket frozen sections were very limited, if even available.
Farrah Moussallati Sibai receiving Minority Supplier of the Year Award from HEB’s Director of Supplier Diversity James Harris and Supplier Diversity Specialist Tessa Bernavides September 6, 2019.
Exceeding Expectations
After winning HEB’s Quest for Texas, Afia Foods launched their Frozen Mediterranean line in HEB stores in March 2019 with their Original Falafel, Spicy Falafel with Turmeric, Original Kibbeh, and Texas Style Kibbeh with Jalapeno. The consumer response to their products has been even greater than they anticipated.
Farrah recounted her thought process when starting Afia, “I grew up eating this style of food. For me it is comfort food. I saw more and more Mediterranean restaurants popping up and becoming popular in the community and not just with people of Mediterranean backgrounds. It made sense to me that people would also want to eat Mediterranean food at home, but until our products hit the shelf, I wasn’t sure. We are very grateful that HEB gave us a chance to show that these are products and flavors everyone enjoys when they are made accessible.”
Farrah continued, “I suspected that one reason that people didn’t make Mediterranean Food at home is that it is unfamiliar and often time consuming. By making falafel and kibbeh and freezing them, all the consumer would need to do is heat and serve. I think that making it easy to prepare at home has been a key to our success.”
In addition to a surging interest in Mediterranean Food, Afia’s growth has also been led by several other factors such as consumers’ interest in vegan, gluten-free, or meat options that Afia’s products provide.
Supporting Local Refugee Community
As a Syrian woman who has seen her own family torn apart by war, Farrah empathized with other women who whose lives had been shattered. It was these combined experiences that led to Farrah's decision to create an employment program for Syrian refugees, who would go on to become the backbone of Afia's factory workforce. Afia employs both full and part time refugees, who came to the States with their families with tragic stories along the way.
Afia’s employing of refugee women from war torn Syria provided then a source of income but equally important it provides them an infrastructure of social comfort where they feel safe as they learn about and adapt to living in their new country.
For more information contact:
Jonathan Mills, 919 593 6365
jon.mills@afiafoods.com
