Petite Gourmet, an innovative concept, provides children with healthy, tasty and nutritious meals in the UAE, partnering with an award winning kitchen to prepare meals every morning. The boxes they prepare are packed fresh and sent directly to schools and nurseries. We had a chat with Celine Lamperin and Virginie Seurat, founders of Petite Gourmet to gain insights on what they do and their opinion on the organic industry.
Please tell us a bit about yourself, your co-founder and your company.
I am Celine Lamperin, Founder and Managing Partner of Petit Gourmet, the first meal plan service that caters organic and eco-friendly lunch boxes to kids in Dubai.
Spearheading this project with my business partner, Virginie Seurat, our duo are on a mission to bring sustainable and nutritious food options to parents in the UAE.
Both of us were managers in the luxury industry, but motherhood inspired us to make career changes and launch our own eco-minded business.
How did your company start and what made you start this unique concept?
As a mother, the standard of nursery and school meals concerned me. We hope to fill this gap with Petit Gourmet. The company is designed to lead by example, educating future generations about food sustainability and outlining the fragile state of our planet. Tracking the origin of the ingredients used and crafting balanced meals are also some of its winning traits.
Why do you think organic, natural and preservative-free food is so important in childhood?
We now know about the consequences of preservatives, junk and processed foods on our bodies, and especially how they can affect our hormonal balance and global health. Child obesity and plastic pollution are of grave concern in the UAE. A recent study discovered an alarming number of children in the UAE are overweight (14,7%) and obese (18,9%). Not only will they carry their problem weight to adulthood, but they are likely to suffer from high blood sugar, hypertension and cholesterol : risk factors contribute to up to 70% of all deaths worldwide.
What is the answer? Educate our children now !
Are more parents looking towards organic and natural products for their children?
There is definitively a growing awareness about the link between food quality and health. We have more and more parents contacting us directly through the website or WhatsApp requiring our organic & eco-friendly lunch boxes.They are tired of preparing every day lunch boxes and in the meantime they don’t trust the canteen to provide healthy food with qualitative ingredients, especially for children eating organic at home. Parents are much more advanced than schools on these questions in a way, they know the money they spend on quality food, they will save on doctor’s bills!
Where do you source your ingredients from and how do you decide what ingredients to use?
When I started Petit Gourmet I was buying the ingredients myself directly at Greenhearts, Prime Gourmet etc.. Now we work side by side with our chef who buys the ingredients himself. He knows where to find the best quality and we also give him recommendations when we discover a new supplier (like Agricool for the strawberries in Sustainable City in Dubai)!
Interviewed by Menaka Ramakrishnan, Buyer Manager