Written by Marie rousset
A french superfood company : Seeds of the sun
Sol semilla is a french company importing and selling the best quality superfoods. Sol semilla is looking for the best nature & human have to offer while trying to protect natice lands of the seeds. A superfood is not only full of specific nutrients, it has to be grown in a nature full preserved by a kind and fairly paid human hands as we are protective sons of the Earth. Sol semilla is also a vegan & gluten free restaurant settled in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
A new kind of bridge between South America & France
This idea originally started with Jean François Hammerle who lived as a kid in Nothern Peru with his mom. They got back to Europe for a decade and around 19 y old JF decided to explore the land of his youth. He lived and got married in Peru where he developed a passion for exploring Peru &what the huge variety Peruvian plants had to offer.
10 years and 5 kids later, the family moved to France with some unknown plants and food from Peru in their luggage.
This is when Jean François started Sol Semilla (which can be traduced by ” sun’s seed” ). At first, he only sold the products and artcraft on the organic markets and rapidly found a place to sell in Paris which became few years later the restaurant/shop that we still have now.
He surrounded himself with passionate people who helped him to grow the company. The team started to find some partners all around the world and started to import more quantities while creating some “ready to use” superfoods mix.
2017 : Market with more competitors
As one of the first french superfoods brand we had no many competitors on the market until 2016. A roughest competition in France came in 2017 from new companies especially big ones taking more market shares because they are able to set lower prices. We try to lower our prices but it is impossible now that the raw materials prices are increasing and that we are a team doing all from importing to packing in France ourselves. Unfortunately, margins are narrowing everyday and sales are not as good as before.
Now that we have a huge range of products can be complicated to source and to handle, sales being unstable in this periode. We can rapidly find ourselves with too many stocks or not enough…! It is not an easy game as food as an expiring date.
Be creative is a strengh
The situation forces us to stop selling some products and to come up with new strategies such as exploring international markets, double our sale forces with is a cost…
The opportunity would be new interesting products (maybe focus more on French superfoods to go towards a local vision) and our power to be creative, we can offer new products to be more innovative than other brands.
The fact that people tend to eat healthier and be more eco-friendly specially after 2 years of Pandemics. As much as we aim to do our best, as costs are growing (fuel, raw materials…), people tend to make some savings and buy essentials, superfoods are not among the basic goods we buy to live.
Less is more : Think sustainably
quality I would advice to find the right balance, to innovate always thinking with a circular and sustainable vision. Find the best way to keep an eye on quality by choosing cautiously and not selling too many products but only products that are best sellers to be able to give the best quality food to people. Working with as much as you can with “just-in-time” stock can also be good strategy.
Marie Rousset
Sourcing & community manager
& shareholder
– video : https://www.sol-semilla.fr/fr/content/4-qui-sommes-nous–
– restaurant website :https://restaurant.sol-semilla.fr/
– e shop : https://www.sol-semilla.fr/fr/185-produits
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