Some people who work in an office for eight hours a day can develop negative eating behaviours because of the amount of fast food they consumed through delivery.
Fast food availability and stress may cause an increase in eating in the workplace, which did not sit well with Yasmeen al Alawi, a young entrepreneur who founded the already much talked about Sprout.
Yasmeen was inspired to create this business because of her relatable experience of not having good, healthy choices during lunchtime.
She shared she's one of the people who usually orders during lunch and as per her experience, she couldn’t find many healthy options that satisfied her cravings and struggled to find a restaurant with fresh, healthy ingredients.
She wanted something that not only tasted delicious but also made her feel great. And that is what inspired her to start a food blog where she posted healthy food that she cooked every day.
Yasmeen had a passion for baking ever since she was young. Coming from a multicultural background influenced her to experience and to express herself with a wide variety of cuisines.
She lived in three differently cultured countries: The United States, Australia and Japan, which definitely had an impact on her eating habits.
“In my two years living in Tokyo, those two years were really eye-opening for me in terms of how fresh, healthy and nutritious the food is that Japanese eat,” she said.
Living in Japan is what inspired her to start her eating journey the most. Eating a variety of small dishes, their famous school lunch programs, eating many types of vegetables and a great deal of physical activity, is what she found the most interesting.
“Japanese have a saying “Hara Hachi Bu” which means to eat until you are 80% full and this is something taught from a very young age,” she shared.
Later on, after starting a food blog in Oman, she evolved into a licensed home business starting with healthy desserts and salad subscriptions and that led to opening the restaurant Sprout. (Sprout meaning: a young shoot from seed or root.)
Yasmeen’s goal is to change the face of healthy eating and to promote sustainability in Oman.
“Currently, 95% of our packaging is environmentally friendly and this is a big milestone as no current restaurants can say that they achieve these numbers. We are making strides on all fronts in health and with the environment,” she said.
Sprout has a lot of original recipes that Yasmeen tweaked and perfected after a long journey of gathering recipes she found online, in books or from her family.
“We then refine the recipes to put the “Sprout spin” and to make it as nutritious and wholesome as possible,” she said.
Yasmeen’s future plans are to open a parallel business, expanding to catering services and opening up new branches.
Asked what she can share with those who also want to become entrepreneurs, she said, "I have three pieces of advice for young entrepreneurs. Pursue something that you are passionate about so you wake up refreshed every morning and willing to put in hard work (because much of the work IS hard work and persistence)."
"My second piece of advice is to familiarize yourself with all roles at your company. At times as an entrepreneur, you need to assume various roles at your company. I’ve been a marketer, statistician, driver, secretary, accountant, social media manager, head chef, cashier etc. You need to be familiar with everything so that one day if you are needed (and you will be!), you can assume these roles temporarily so your business will run smoothly," she said.
And lastly, "My last piece of advice is to keep your personal and business finances separate from Day 1. Another entrepreneur told me this at the start of my journey and this has saved me a lot of time and effort because it is so easy to lose track of your finances if you are not dedicated to keeping track of them. Know your numbers!"
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