Meet NOOISH: Sarah Nathan’s new-ish take on modern Jewish comfort food

With close to ten years of experience in the industry, Sarah Nathan is something of a CPG industry veteran. She ran programming at the Chobani Incubator, was the category manager at National Co+op Grocers, and acted as a consultant to countless early-stage brands.

Beyond her work in the CPG industry, Sarah explains, she had also been very active in the Jewish culinary world. “At the beginning of the pandemic, I was one of the producers of the Great Big Jewish Food Fest. It was a ten-day virtual festival, and the programming was so diverse. There are 15 million Jews and 15 million ways to be Jewish. We had programming for Black Jews, Latinx, LGBTQ, and different generations. So many people wrote to us and said, ‘I’ve never felt so connected to my culture.’ It showed me how important that feeling is, and I thought, ‘How can I continue to do this? We have all of these brands, whether it’s Siete, Fly by Jing, or Dozen Cousins, that are elevating their culture’s food. Why is there not a brand like that for Jewish food?”

From this question, Sarah set out on a journey to create NOOISH, a new-ish take on modern Jewish food. She explains, “We are doing new spins on old classics. Our first product is instant matzo ball soup. You add water, put it in the microwave for two minutes, and you will have a delicious, piping hot, high-end bowl of matzo ball soup.” NOOISH will officially launch this fall, just in time for cooler weather and Rosh Hashanah.

Creating a mass-market product

Once Sarah decided she wanted to create a modern Jewish food brand, it still took her two more years to think of the right product to launch. “Being a buyer and seeing what works and what doesn’t, I wanted to release a product with the best chance of being a mass-market product. It can’t be a holiday item…It has to be something that most people, whether they’re Jewish or not, have heard of. It has to be shelf-stable, lightweight, and primed for omnichannel. That’s where it clicked. I said, ‘What if I could make matzo ball soup into a cup of noodles?’ I realized I had to do it. I will go to my deathbed with regret if I don’t create [this product] that doesn’t exist in the market. How often do you get to invent something? I felt like if I don’t do it, who will? And if someone else does, I’d be pretty bummed it wasn’t me.”

Sarah set to work and relied on her network to help bring her vision to life. “I didn’t have the money to develop [NOOISH] through someone else….I would ask different friends in the industry who are recipe developers, and I was lucky to barter my way through. I bartered for advice and the use of freeze dryers. That enabled me to develop [the matzo balls] myself , without spending money beyond ingredients…For the broth, I worked with my friend Jonathan Deutsch out of Drexel, who helped me develop a clean vegan broth that I’m excited about. The product itself is vegetarian — it’s very hard to make matzo balls without eggs.”

Speaking of eggs, Sarah was also recently introduced to the American Egg Board. She says, “They have something called the Eggcelerator. If you’re doing something innovative with eggs, they want to help you get it to market, because it’s helping their constituents, egg farmers. They have allowed me to spend time with an R&D firm out in Seattle that’s helping me figure out efficiencies.”

To start, Sarah will be self-manufacturing NOOISH’s instant matzo ball soup. “Finding a co-man to do this process is a bit difficult because this [product] does not exist. Once I get to scale, there’s that possibility. I’m also kosher, which means I have to have my own facility. I can’t go into a shared kitchen for 20 dollars an hour. I have to sign in a year lease. I have to build out my whole facility. I’m moving into my production facility next month. And then, I’m going to start making lots and lots of matzo balls.”

Funding NOOISH

As Sarah prepares to launch NOOISH, she is taking an omnichannel approach to funding sources. She explains, “When you haven’t launched, it is much more difficult to get money than when you’re out there and people can see the proof of your sales. I have been raising a family and friends round, which feels very Jewish to raise in the community. I’m also talking to some potential angel investors.”

“I’m doing a Kickstarter without the Kickstarter platform on my website. That’s a way to support but also get fun goodies throughout the year. You get four gift boxes with NOOISH and other Jewish-owned products. One for Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, Purim, and then Passover…There are also some low-interest loan programs, especially for women and diverse businesses. So I’m piecing it all together. I do have a tiny bit of savings, but I’d rather not go through all of it. So I’m being very scrappy.”

Advice to fellow founders

With a decade of experience in CPG, Sarah’s biggest advice for fellow founders is, “Do your market research ahead of time.” She explains, “I have a lot of people come to me for advice and they’ll say, ‘I’m the only one doing this’…But then I’ll name five to ten different brands doing the same thing. Understanding your market and knowing what problem you’re solving is so important. If it’s a problem you’re solving for yourself or your kid, is it something that a mass amount of people have? And what are your goals? You don’t have to be that big national brand right away. Does a farmer’s market make sense? Does a family business make sense? You never know how something is going to blow up, but start small and do your research.”

For NOOISH, Sarah explains, “I’ve tested out the market for a year and a half. I’ve been R and D-ing in my house, handing out samples, and talking to people not only about the taste of the product but also about the use case. Think about what problem you’re solving, and what it looks like to be a founder. Once you start, you can’t stop until you stop. Are you ready for the roller coaster?”