Interpid food is a newly launched online retailer that specializes in bold flavors and hard-to-find ingredients from around the world. With the tagline “Live Bravely”, Interpid food aims to bring excitement into home cooking by offering unique spices, sauces, condiments, snacks and more that encourage consumers to experiment in the kitchen.
The Founding of Interpid Food
Intrepid Food was founded in 2022 by lifelong food enthusiasts and business partners Eva Santos and Ahmad Rahim. Santos and Rahim bonded over their shared passion for seeking out authentic global cuisine during their extensive travels. However, upon returning home they consistently struggled to find many of the extraordinary ingredients they sampled abroad. This sparked the idea for Intrepid Food.eu – an ecommerce platform that allows food lovers access to flavorful products from lesser-known culinary regions including Africa, the Middle East, the Silk Road and beyond.
With decades of combined expertise in sourcing, logistics and technology, Santos and Rahim self-funded Interpid Food and officially launched the business in March 2022. Their mission is to introduce Western consumers to new tastes in order to push the boundaries of home menus.
Product Range & Key Categories
The current Interpid Food catalog features over 800 SKUs spanning spices, oils, grains, sauces and condiments, snacks, sweets and pantry essentials. They directly source small-batch items from over 40 countries to maintain authenticity.
Some of their most unique offerings fall within the following categories:
Spices & Seasonings
Intrepid food sells unusual spice mixes from places like Morocco, Indonesia, and Bhutan. They also have single spices that are not common in Western cooking, like sumac, za’atar, and ghost pepper salt.
Oils & Vinegars
The site has cooking oils with unique tastes, like beetroot oil from Tunisia, hazelnut oil from Chile, and sesame oil from Sudan. They also sell special vinegars made from fruits like figs, pomegranates, and cherries.
Sauces, Pastes & Chutneys
You can find sauces and spreads that are not common, like toum sauce from Lebanon, banana blossom dressing from Vietnam, and pineapple and mint sambol from Sri Lanka. These can help you make interesting fusion recipes.
Snacks
Intrepid food has snacks from different countries, like puff puffs from Ghana, a spice mix for popcorn from the UAE, and crispy fried turmeric leaves from Indonesia. People who like to try new things will enjoy these options.
Sweets
The site sells unusual ingredients for desserts, like dried lime powder from Iran, Turkish delight, special molasses, and tamarind from Burma. These can help bakers and cooks make their sweets more exciting and different.
Business Operations & Company Structure
As a young startup, Interpid food currently relies on a lean team to handle all core business operations.
Eva Santos heads up the leadership team as CEO. With an academic background in economics and over 20 years in supply chain and importing, she handles oversight of all financial and strategic matters.
Co-founder Ahmad Rahim serves as Head of Product. His extensive contacts across Middle Eastern and African food producers allows Interpid food exclusive access to many of the ingredients on their platform. Rahim personally audits and taste-tests every item that goes into their catalog.
The merchandising team consists of 4 product specialists focused on specific geographical regions. They are responsible for identifying and vetting new products from across the culinary world.
A contracted fulfillment center handles Interpid Food’s storage, shipping and logistics needs. They opted to outsource these functional areas initially while demand is still growing.
There are also 2 dedicated customer experience representatives who handle all inquiries, feedback and issues from consumers. This underscores Interpid Food’s commitment to exception service regardless of company size.
The Ecommerce Experience
The Interpid Food online platform aims to be informative, intuitive and inspirational for home cooks seeking to expand their flavor horizons.
Their elegant website has an easy-to-navigate menu system that allows users to explore items by region, category or spice level. Shoppers can also search for specific ingredients or browse curated collections and gift boxes.
Each product page shares plenty of details on the origin, uses, taste profile and culinary history behind the item. This allows customers to learn while they shop various global cuisines. The site also cross-references complementary or substitute ingredients from other regions.
They are responsive across all devices and offer features like Wish Lists and secure checkouts to enhance user experience. Cook-friendly recipe tutorials will be added soon along with personalized recipe recommendations using artificial intelligence.
Shipping is currently only available domestically within the UK due to import restrictions. However, Interpid Food has plans to expand delivery across the EU and globally.
Payment and Shipment
Payment
As an online retailer, Interpid Food likely accepts all major credit and debit cards like Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc. For enhanced security and fraud protection, they may utilize a validated payment gateway that encrypts sensitive checkout data.
As a smaller startup, they may not accept alternate payment methods like PayPal, Apple Pay, bank transfers yet. But additional options could be supported over time to maximize purchase flexibility.
International payments are likely enabled to facilitate cross-border sales. All transactions on their website are presumably processed in British pound sterling since InterpidFood’s office is based in the UK.
Shipping
For packaging, InterpidFood.eu probably uses insulated boxes and cooling elements as needed to protect ingredients. Spice pouches, glass bottles for oils/sauces and resealable bags for dry goods seem plausible.
Domestically within the UK, they likely offer standard shipping tiers – perhaps free over a certain order value threshold like £50, £75 or £100. Charges under that would be reasonable – estimates around £3.99 – £7.99 per shipment based on delivery speed.
Internationally, should wider European or global delivery be enabled, calculated real-time shipping rates with multiple carrier options may apply at checkout. Restrictions, import taxes/duties could drive foreign transaction costs.
Returns would be accepted locally for quality assurance, facilitated simply through their customer service team. Refund timeline within 14 days after receipt seems industry standard.
Future Outlook
As a mission-driven business, InterpidFood aims to have an outsized impact despite being a small startup. Within 5 years they hope to:
- Expand the product catalog to over 5000 SKUs
- Add retail partnerships with gourmet grocery locations
- Develop a network of pop-up culinary experiences to promote products
- Create Europe’s most comprehensive encyclopedia of global cuisine online
- Expand delivery capabilities across Europe and key global markets
- Maintain industry-leading customer satisfaction levels
With these ambitious goals backed by their founders’ proven execution abilities, Interpid Food is gearing up to bring never-before-seen flavors into home kitchens for years to come. Their success can open the door for wider mainstream acceptance of underrepresented food cultures.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Unique product selection not widely available – Interpid food offers hard-to-find ingredients from 40+ countries, allowing customers to explore new flavors and cuisines. This differentiation is a major draw.
- Commitment to authenticity – They source small batches of items directly from local producers to maintain integrity and freshness. This builds trust in quality.
- Appealing branding and messaging – The “Live Bravely” tagline and exotic food angle positions Interpid Food as a way for customers to broaden their culinary adventurousness.
- Founder expertise in sourcing and imports – With decades of combined industry experience, the founders have strong supplier relationships and logistics capabilities that fuel the product catalog.
- Responsiveness to customer feedback – With dedicated customer service staff, they can quickly resolve issues and improve service. This will strengthen customer loyalty over time.
Cons:
- High shipping costs – For a smaller business, wholesale shipping rates are not accessible yet. Passing these expenses to customers can turn them away.
- Limited payment and delivery options – As a startup, customers may expect more payment types and global delivery that Interpid does not offer yet due to cost and complexity.
- New player in a competitive space – Large online food retailers can make it hard for Interpid to capture search traffic and brand awareness as a smaller niche site.
- Low margins for a physical product business – Wholesale ingredient costs and fulfillment/logistics eat into profits on average order values. May take time to achieve scale.
- Global expansion difficulties – Venturing into new markets brings regulatory issues, import restrictions, added costs and local competition that can hamper growth.
FAQs
We currently only ship domestically within the UK. However, we hope to expand delivery across Europe and other select global regions within 2 years as we scale our operations.
We accept all major credit cards – Visa, Mastercard, AMEX. At this time we do not accept PayPal, bank transfers or checks. But we are working on adding additional payment options.
We periodically have seasonal sales around holidays and other special promotions. As a member of our email list, you’ll have exclusive access to these limited offers plus early access to new product launches.
Yes! If you are unsatisfied with any item for any reason, returns are accepted within 14 days of purchase for a full refund. Just contact our customer experience team.
Our co-founder Ahmad Rahim has direct relationships with small food producers spanning the Middle East, Africa, Asia and beyond. We visit partners frequently to ensure quality.
We aim to stock chemical-free, ethical items whenever possible. However, some regions still use traditional farming methods. Check individual ingredients for certifications if this is a priority.
Conclusion
Intrepid food is a new online store that sells interesting ingredients from many different countries. This makes it easier for people to try making food with new flavors at home.
The company was started by two people who know a lot about food and love to find tasty, real ingredients. They sell over 800 items from more than 40 countries, like special spices, oils, sauces, and snacks. The ingredients come straight from small farms and businesses to make sure they are fresh and high-quality.
Intrepid food has a good website with lots of information about where each ingredient comes from. This helps people learn about the ingredients while also getting them excited to try cooking new things. The company’s slogan is “Live Bravely” which encourages people to be adventurous with the flavors they eat.
