The first of its kind in the UAE, this home-grown brand prepares fresh, preservative-free food for babies and toddlers. We chatted with founder Rihab Saab to learn more about her company and products which recently launched in stores under the Spinneys Local Business Incubator Programme.
When Rihab Saab’s brother visited Dubai a few years ago along with his wife and eight-month old son they decided to stay at a hotel to experience the city as tourists. They soon realised finding simple, clean-label foods for a baby was next to impossible.
“I was shocked that parents didn’t have better options in today’s world,” says Rihab. “Some of the products on the shelves were older than my nephew.” During that visit and the subsequent one, she prepared home-made meals for her nephew.
That experience in 2016 led Rihab to dig a little deeper and study the reasons behind the scarcity of businesses that catered to the early years of a child’s nutrition.
“I discovered that it was high risk, unprofitable, with very high costs involved.” She began researching ways in which such a business would not only be sustainable but also profitable. Her study was selected by the Business School (formerly Cass Business School) in London and won an award.
The Lil' Tots packaging is instantly recognisable.
Gourmet dishes for your little angels.
Soon after that Rihab began working closely with a nutritionist and chef to create a menu that catered to children aged 8 months to 3 years. Lil’ Tots started in November 2018, selling directly to customers via its e-commerce platform.
Each product is either steamed or baked, is salt-, sugar and preservative free, and has a maximum shelf life of five days.
“We developed three meal plans for parents to choose from – there is the balanced plan that has food from all five food groups, including protein from chicken and salmon; the full-veggie meal plan; and most recently the bites menu, which is basically healthy protein snack options,” explains Rihab.
As one of the winners of the Spinneys Local Business Incubator Programme, Lil’ Tots has also developed 10 products for Spinneys including veggie shepherd’s pie, lentil stew, Moroccan feast and mango panna cotta.
“All our ingredients are sourced from local suppliers. We use fresh herbs and veggies, natural orange blossom water and vanilla extract, etc to add flavour and freshness. The food isn’t bland, it looks appealing and has texture,” says Rihab.
Quality, convenience and variety are the pillars upon which she has built her brand. According to Rihab, working closely with Spinneys will really build consumer confidence in Lil’ Tots as Spinneys is associated with premium quality.