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Voices of Tomorrow is a recurring feature highlighting PoC who are reshaping the retail industry.
Growing up, Ayeshah Abuelhiga—a child of Asian and Middle Eastern immigrant parents—said her family “didn’t have a lot of money.” But if there was one comfort in her life, it was her parents’ carry-out restaurant in Baltimore that served a variety of soul foods.
Abuelhiga dreamed of bringing the same Southern flavors to the world through a fast-casual concept. After a successful pop-up restaurant in Washington, DC, she decided she wanted to expand her crowd-favorite biscuits and waffles to stores across the country. But one look at the modern American frozen food aisle is enough to know most items are full of preservatives and artificial flavors. It’s why in 2014, Abuelhiga decided to revamp the frozen aisle, introducing her Southern frozen treats made with clean ingredients.
“I saw a huge opportunity in the lack of comfort food options available in the growing, better-for-you food space,” Abuelhiga told Retail Brew via email. “I also saw an opportunity to make scratch-made comfort food affordable and accessible to the masses versus just doing better-for-you food in the fine dining realm by looking at the fast-casual scale and ultimately, grocery, as an even better avenue to do just that.”
Today, Mason Dixie products are available across 6,000 stores in the US, including Target, Publix, Kroger, Costco, and Whole Foods, alongside 3,000 Marriott Select Brand Hotels.
According to the company, the multimillion-dollar business has generated 87% dollar growth since 2021.
In a conversation with Retail Brew, Abuelhiga reflected on her success, and her advice to young PoC in retail.
What are some biggest lessons you have learned as a business founder?
The work never gets easier. I used to think it was so hard running the restaurant, doing demos every weekend, getting on emails to cold-call potential grocery stores, and then packaging biscuits until it was time for bed. In fact, my biggest North Star was growing big enough to where I didn’t have to do all those things anymore and somehow it would all happen easier. It’s been 10 years; while I do not do a lot of those things anymore, my days are not any easier. There are new challenges every day—both things that break and need to be fixed and opportunities that present themselves because we have built a reputation that we can solve hard problems, with no playbook. I learned that business is ever-evolving and that nothing actually gets easier; it just gets different.
What are some unique challenges in your job and also as a WoC in the industry?
Every day is new uncharted territory for an emerging brand founder, especially one in a segment like ours where there are not a lot of competitors or gold-standard playbooks for how to make the food we do.
As a WoC in the industry, the challenges are a hundredfold. There are fewer and fewer dollars being allocated to female founders—not just investor dollars, but banking dollars as well. As fewer of us exist, we continue to have the challenge of only a few of us left standing, continuing to give naysayers more data points to say WoC leads less successful businesses because there are mathematically less of us given that chance to succeed.
What advice would you have for young PoC in retail?
I would give them the same advice I give to many of the PoC I mentor whether directly, through the Baltimore CPG Collective, or through our partner nonprofit Project Potluck helping BIPOC, who are vastly underrepresented in the CPG industry, get access to entrepreneurial and career support through network, mentorship and financial programming: Start small. Start where you can impact your destiny and where you can control the most. Don’t envy the brands getting huge volumes of VC money or rolling out to 5,000 doors a year. The most important thing us PoC can do for ourselves is control our destinies, continue to grow sustainably and show off success year after year. I would also say it’s important to stay true to who you are, especially now, as there will be many who want to drag you down. Don’t sacrifice yourself, your values, your North Star, or your vision because someone doesn’t believe it, get it, wants to fund it. There are more ways to win than just the typical route. It takes time, discipline, diligence, and being receptive to the feedback that matters most—your consumer.