Spark of the Heart is a small, family-run, socially-responsible Chicago company that produces mostly organic, all-natural soups and more. Their motto is “Tastes good, good for you, and helps the greater good.” SOH does this by offering delicious food mixes that are complete - they even include the spices and veggies. Products are nutritionally dense, and naturally vegan and gluten-free. The soups are packaged by the developmentally-challenged at "Gateway to Learning" in Lincoln Square and at "Little City Foundation" in Palatine.
What do you hope to accomplish through providing quality products?
We believe that there are many people who want to eat healthy but don’t necessarily have the time or the expertise to prepare high quality, tasty food. We provide options because our products, in addition to being naturally vegan, gluten-free and nutritious, are extremely easy to prepare and are complete. We get “thank-you’s” from busy parents and vegans who don’t know how to cook all the time!
What did you do before this?
Cynthia has been a professor, author, a massage therapist, and a Reiki Master Teacher. Thomas has had a long career in corporate sales, and is also a Reiki Master Teacher.
What was the "spark" that led you to working with food? Of all the millions of food products you could have specialized in, why these?
Both Cynthia and Thomas enjoy cooking. Because beans are nutritionally dense, economical, and versatile, Cynthia has always enjoyed creating bean dishes, and her friends and family have loved them. Providing healthy and delicious meals to her family has always been a priority.
Where do you find the inspiration for the products/flavors you select for your portfolio?All of our products are Cynthia’s recipes. The Three Bean Veggie Chili is our oldest daughter, Jasmine’s favorite, Thomas loves the Potato Spinach Lentil, and our youngest, Nadia, favors the Two Pea Soup with Carrots.
What do you see as the biggest benefit (s) you offer to your retailers and consumers?
When you buy a Spark of the Heart product, not only are you buying a healthy and delicious food, but you are also contributing to the greater good. We pay the developmentally challenged at Gateway to Learning and Little City Foundation to package our foods. They do such a great job that our products look like gifts! For every case of product we sell, we donate product to a shelter that helps feed those in need.
What is your favorite part of this job?
Thomas loves it when he goes to visit our packagers and they tell him that they love packaging our products because it’s fun and they like to earn money. He also likes the relationships he has built with our retailers. Cynthia is thrilled to see her recipes in production and on store shelves – she still pinches herself to believe it is true!
Describe your a-ha moment that made you say, "I'm going to do this!"
A friend of Cynthia’s has a store where she imported clay bean pots from Chile. Once when Cynthia was in her store, the friend asked Cynthia if she made beans. Cynthia said “of course!” Cynthia worked to put her recipes in dried form to sell with the pots. However, her friend ultimately decided not to go forward with her pots and food line.
Thomas suggested we sell the soups ourselves. We served them to our church for their café, and we sold out of all our stock. We realized then that we had a good idea and a good product and decided to move forward.
What is the inspiration for Spark of the Heart?
Cynthia’s massage and Reiki practice is called Spark of the Heart. When we decided to branch out with our food products, Thomas suggested that we keep the name Spark of the Heart for our foods as well, because every part of our life and our business is done with love and care and the desire to help others. Our name reflects the love and care we put into our high quality products, as well as the love and care we have for our customers, our packagers, and the not-for-profits we donate to.
Tell us about your recent Kickstarter Campaign
We found out about Kickstarter when we were looking for ways to fund our new products. Our soups were selling really well, and we wanted to introduce some new products so we could make our business successful year round. Cynthia had recipes – we were just short on capital –like many small business, we operate on a shoestring budget.
We decided to launch five new products -- 2 bean salads, 2 beans and rice, and a white bean soup. Each new product costs around $1,000 to launch, which included the raw ingredients, packaging, labels, other materials, and paying our wonderful packagers. We decided to raise five thousand dollars, and thankfully, with support of clients, customers, family and friends, we made our goal!
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