Building a Food Brand from a Home Kitchen

Nour Khalil had a secret weapon: her grandmother's za'atar blend, a recipe passed down three generations and never shared outside the family. When friends kept asking where to buy it, Nour saw an opportunity.

She spent three months getting her home kitchen certified for food production, designed a simple label on her laptop, and listed her first product — a 200g jar of hand-mixed za'atar — on the platform in early 2025.

The first order came within hours. "I cried," she says. "Someone I didn't know was willing to pay for something I made."

Word spread quickly. Customers started tagging her on social media. She added two more SKUs: a chilli-laced version and a za'atar-olive oil dipping blend. By the end of 2025, she was selling 1,200 jars a month and had moved to a small licensed production space.

Her biggest lesson: "Packaging matters as much as the product. I invested in proper jars and a professionally printed label early on, and I think that's what made people trust a brand they'd never heard of."