Happy Family (food company)

History

Happy Family™, also known as Happy Baby™, is a leading organic baby food company located in New York City. It was founded in 2003 by Shazi Visram, the company's current CEO, as a mission based business to change the way children are fed in the US with healthy organic options for parents. In 2005, Jessica Rolph joined as COO and Founding Partner. The Company launched its first products on Mother’s Day in 2006 - a line of organic, fresh-frozen baby meals sold through a New York grocery store chain.

By 2010, Happy Family grew to more than $13 million in sales and was ranked 68th in Inc. Magazine's list of fastest-growing companies, with three-year growth of over 3,000%. By the end of 2012, the company employed more than 70 people and its products were available in over 14,000 stores and 30 countries.

The company secured $30 million in debt and equity financing from individual private investors through a number of financing rounds rather than selling equity to private equity or venture capital groups. The company was independently owned and operated by moms until May, 2013 when Groupe Danone acquired a 92% stake in the company with both Visram and Rolph as current owner partners. The day-to-day operations continue to be run by Shazi Visram and Jessica Rolph, both working moms. Danone is the second largest baby food company in the world and is known for its extensive research in Early Life Nutrition and its mission to improve health through food to as many people as possible.

Products

Happy Family was the first organic brand to offer a complete line of nutritious organic foods for babies’, toddlers’ and kids’ growing bodies. Constantly innovating, Happy Family has been a pioneer in the industry, adding probiotics and age-appropriate extra nutrition to its products — like chia, probiotics, and plant-based DHA and choline for brain growth and eye health — whenever possible. The company’s mission is to provide safe, organic, and nutritious food so that every child has access to the best possible start in life.

Happy Family has been consistently recognized for its dynamic team and its extraordinary innovation, including winning Food Processing Magazine’s R&D Team of the Year, being named by Forbes as one of America’s most promising companies.

Leadership

Happy Family is still led by founder & CEO Shazi Visram and COO & founding partner Jessica Rolph. Visram developed the idea as a graduate student at Columbia Business School, where she studied the baby-food market and child nutrition, and began building the company while in Business school. Rolph, a Cornell Business School graduate, had a prior career at Whole Foods in research joined Shazi in 2005. Amy Marlow, MPH, RD, CDN, and a contributor to HappyBaby: The Organic Guide to Baby’s First 24 Months, serves as the company’s nutrition advisor.

Both Visram and Rolph had worked with charitable and sustainable organizations and wanted to develop environmentally responsible products with a positive social impact. Since its launch, Happy Family has partnered with organizations like Project Peanut Butter to help feed starving children all over the world.

Visram has earned a number of entrepreneurial and business-innovation awards in recognition of her achievements. In 2011, she was honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award for the New York region and was ranked in Inc. Magazine's list of the Top Ten Female Entrepreneurs. In 2012, she earned the American Dream Award and was recognized in Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 list and Working Mother's Most Powerful Mom list. Most recently, she was named a member of the Young Global Leader Class of 2013 by the World Economic Forum.