Dubai-Based Chubby Cheeks Organics Is All About Fresh, Organic Homemade Baby Food Becoming a mother inspired Malak Aoudi French and Hiba Van Dyk to set up Chubby Cheeks Organics, a subscription-based delivery of baby food for busy parents.

Becoming a mother inspired Malak Aoudi French, and her sister, Hiba Van Dyk, to set up Chubby Cheeks Organics, a subscription-based delivery of fresh, top quality, organic homemade baby food for busy parents. As a full time working mother, French found it difficult to prepare nutritious, fresh food for her baby, which led to resorting to store-bought baby jars with a long shelf life. However, that was hardly comparable to freshly prepared food she had wanted for her child. Thus, Chubby Cheeks Organics launched in May 2018.

Chubby Cheeks Organics has been revenue-generating from the start, say the sisters, which is an indication of the good reception its offering has got in Dubai. "Our biggest strength is allowing parents to register, pay, and then choose the menu for their little one for the entire month in one go," Van Dyk explains. "It's a simple three-step process, and once it's done, they don't have to think of meal prepping, preparing, or pureeing for their little ones for the entire month, because we have them covered. So, many parents say there aren't enough hours in the day. We just want to give them more hours to relax and experience the joys parenthood has on offer. Our main challenge is having a short pipeline. We target parents with babies from the age of six to 12 months old, which makes customer loyalty a bit tricky. Furthermore, an obstacle of a subscription model is finding parents to commit to us for a month. We try to balance this out by offering a paid weekly trial first, allowing parents to try us out for a week before deciding to commit to a month."

Starting up their first business in Dubai has brought other lessons to be learnt as well. "Fitting out our kitchen was a big obstacle for us," she adds. "Unfortunately, it was such a long process from beginning to end that we will be renewing our trade license soon, only having been fully operational for just a few months. Being self-funded, this created some unexpected costs for us. However, when you're as passionate about your concept as we are, the obstacles just bring out your resilience and determination."

Check out Chubby Cheeks Organics for yourself.

"Trep Talk: Chubby Cheeks Organics co-founder Hiba Van Dyk's tips for entrepreneurs

1. Be ready for delays "Having spoken to a few other startups, we all agreed that fitting out our facility took much longer than expected. Consider adding around half a year to whatever your initial expected operational date is planned for."

2. Always keep an eye on your financials "Factoring in possible financial setbacks due to various delays will help when calculating your startup budget."

3. Be driven about what you're presenting to the world "Make sure what you want to start is something you are passionate about, because no matter how meticulous your planning, you will be faced with obstacles that can break you, if you don't truly believe in your concept."

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