Exploring Life & Business with Sonya Patel of PUR Spices Limited

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonya Patel.

Hi Sonya, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As a food lover and mom of food allergy children, I was sick and tired of spending hours scrutinizing food labels wondering what was in my spices and sauces. All I wanted was to find fresh, healthy and tasty cooking ingredients that didn’t have a running list of additives, preservatives, fillers, and top allergens. And that’s why I created PUR Spices Limited.

PUR Spices is a company that operates with the philosophy of using only wholesome ingredients to create exceptional experiences enhancing everyday foods. We make high-quality sauces and spices of international flavor.

Currently, the PUR Spices core business is a Harissa (chili pepper sauce) product line, to be used as a condiment or cooking paste in addition to a Masala Paste to be used for Indian-inspired dishes. The company also launched an Indian dry spice line in 2021 as well as a Chipotle Fire hot sauce. As the company grows, it will expand the product offering to other sauces and spice blends based on market opportunities.

You can find us on our website as well as local retailers in Northeast Ohio and nationally on Amazon!

Aside from our products being free of all the garbage, our sauces are just the right heat, packed with intense flavor. Foodies, clean eaters, and anyone looking to add a little spice in their life will enjoy our collection! Dip it in, spoon it on or add it to your favorite recipe, you’ll find 100 reasons to have Pur Spices in your kitchen.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Regardless of the industry, starting a business is always a challenge that you can really never prepare for!

For this specific venture, I was entering a space I had no knowledge of and really no idea where to start, Luckily, Cleveland has an amazing food entrepreneur environment and I was able to enroll in the Central Kitchen food incubator program to learn all of the basics of starting a food business. They were amazing in sharing information and connecting to the right resources to help get started.

In terms of challenges, I don’t think there is ever an easy day! Little struggles pop up all the time like delays in materials, deciding where to focus your time and energy especially when you don’t have a large team, and production issues.

And of course, there are much larger challenges that also arise. During the pandemic, we had major issues sourcing bottles due to a national shortage. It was very stressful because we were extremely low on inventory and had no way to package our product. And more recently, we’re working to expand our operations and there are a lot of key decisions to make which impact the direction of the company. And each of these choices come with their own pros/cons which is definitely a struggle!

As you know, we’re big fans of PUR Spices Limited. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m very proud of what we’re building at PUR Spices, as a food company that is bringing bold, clean flavors to our customers.

We pride ourselves on using whole ingredients and eliminating unnecessary fillers and additives found in other brands. Our sauces and spices are all made with things that you can find in a home kitchen and we take care in prepping every ingredient. We even blend whole spices the morning of production for each small batch we make and that’s what makes everything so fresh and tasty!

Right now, we’re mostly known for our top sellers: Original Harissa (a spicy hot sauce and cooking paste) and Masala Paste (a paste used to build North Indian inspired dishes). However, our dry spices are super versatile to add bold flavors to sweet and savory dishes and our Chipotle Fire is amazing with everything! We hope more people give those a try as I’m sure they will enjoy them.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
From a business perspective, creating something that brings joy to other people makes me happy. I also love seeing all of the interesting dishes that people make with our products and their reactions when they try a new flavor profile.

Food is such a source of connection and knowing that we are a part of that is really special.

From a personal perspective, a lot of things make me happy…good food, good music/dancing, spending time with my family and friends…

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@purspices.com
• Website: www.purspices.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/purspices
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purspices

Image Credits
PUR Spices Limited