Meet The Immigrant Changing America's Dairy Aisle

http://ift.tt/2zUdymM

Meet The Immigrant Changing America's Dairy Aisle

http://ift.tt/2lsqwnp

tba

Kamilya Abilova, founder of Misha.

When Kamilya Abilova was a graduate student at Columbia University in New York City she used to use walks to and from campus to ponder life and solve the problems flying through her mind.

One such walk led her to what would become Misha, a company selling a cultured dairy product that’s a staple in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, but that was missing from the U.S. market.

The product is called quark in Germany, topfen in Austria and variations of tvarog in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. “It’s something between yogurt and cottage cheese,” Abilova said. “It doesn't have the sourness of yogurt, but it doesn't have the saltiness of cottage cheese.”

Abilova grew up in Kazakhstan, and she grew up eating quark.

“I come from a big family. My father has like 8 siblings, so aunts, cousins were always around. It's a very tight family and in the house to accommodate everyone we had two fridges,” she said. “I just vividly remember one of the fridges was just kind of cultured dairy stuff.”

When she moved to New York for school, Abilova missed eating quark. On her walks to and from Columbia, she started thinking about how she could get it in New York. “What hypothetically would it take to bring quark to the U.S.,” she asked herself.

She obsessed over the idea and when she talked it through with a friend from school, they wanted in too. Together, determined to bring quark to American grocery store shelves, they founded Misha.

Abilova knew she wanted to create her own quark recipe so she got in touch with cheese associations and worked with producers until she found a fourth generation farmer in Upstate New York who could help.

“They are very much passionate about farmers, about being sustainable so we lucked out with them,” Abilova said. “They allowed us to use their production facility for runs, pilot runs and we finally got to what we actually are selling right now.”

For Abilova, entrepreneurship just kind of “goes by inertia.” She never intended to found a business. She was studying history at school when the idea for Misha hit her. But she thinks that background has helped. “You think about the origins of things a lot,” she said. “You’re taught to ask the right questions.”

One of the most important questions in her business venture has been: Can you help?

“You work in this bubble for some time,” she said. “It’s easy to lose touch.”

Along the way, Abilova has learned how to delegate tasks, expand her network, and interact with consumers. Branding has been a focus of Misha since they bring a relatively unknown product to consumers.

“Don’t underestimate the educational process. Help consumers understand you,” she advises.

For an American audience, the Misha team turned quark into a something people could grab-and-go almost like a yogurt. But, Abilova said, it’s a multipurpose food and can be used as an ingredient in recipes. She also likes eating quark mixed with fruit preserves.

“When people try our product, creamy is the most frequently used descriptor,” she said.

Misha is now two years old and comes in five flavors. You can find them in over 160 shops in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Business

via Forbes - Entrepreneurs http://ift.tt/dTEDZf

December 31, 2017 at 03:41PM