Nancy Chang of Oakland, CA sells healthy soups with her micro-restaurant, Purpose & Hope.

When Alameda County started allowing micro-restaurants (MEHKOs) in 2021, Nancy was among the first to get licensed.

However, her business idea had been brewing long before that. It started with her mom’s battle with cancer in 2006, where Nancy saw the benefits of food and community for those dealing with a health issue.

After many years of food-related volunteer work, she decided to start her own soup business and raised over $7k from a crowdfunding campaign!

She eventually started connecting with health professionals who referred some of their patients to her, and her soup business started to grow.

Nancy has now been featured many times in the media and she is an excellent example of how a mission-driven entrepreneur can make a big impact.

What You’ll Learn

• Nancy’s journey from her mom’s cancer diagnosis to launching her own soup business
• Food’s role in healing and the inspiration behind Purpose & Hope
• How Nancy raised over $7,000 from a crowd-funding campaign before she had a single customer
• The limitations of selling food without a license
• The pros and cons of operating under the MEHKO law
• Why Nancy doesn’t need to pay for marketing
• Why she uniquely refers to her business as a “service”, not a product
• What makes her soups special and in-demand
• How a focus on integrating food with community has propelled Nancy’s business in unexpected ways

Resources

Purpose & Hope website (Facebook | Instagram)

News story | Localish feature

Soup Sponsor Program

Nonprofits:

• The COOK Alliance
• Mandela Partners
• Meals on Wheels
• Project Open Hand

Sourcing:

• Strong Arm Farm (seaweeds)
• Far West Fungi (mushrooms)

Foodnome (marketplace for sellers)

California Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation Law

Free Tutorial: Intro To Email Marketing

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Are you building an email list for your business yet? If not, you really should be collecting customers’ email addresses and emailing them on a regular basis. Even these days, email continues to be better than social media for generating consistent sales, and the best part is that you own it. Once you build an email list, nobody can take it away from you.

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Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/99