Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Seena Chriti. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Seena, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Hello my name is Seena and I’m the owner of Paktli foods. PAKTLI means JOY in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.

I grew up in Mexico eating ALEGRIAS (which also means JOY!), a snack dating to the 16th century made from puffed amaranth and honey or chocolate. I have always wanted to recreate my childhood snack in the US, with the same handcrafted methods used to make alegrias with the highest quality all natural organic ingredients including ancient grains, chocolates, and whole dried fruits and nuts.

Seena, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Seena Chriti, I’m the owner of PAKTLI Foods. I studied culinary arts in a very special university called Universidad Del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico city, that offered a one of a kind program that was focused on the relationship of food and culture. we had classes on food and art, food and psychology, food and anthropology, and so on. To me, Food become the most significant aspect of culture, the only one that becomes part of us.
This incredible and enriching experience led me to always seek the meaning of food everywhere I went. I found that Food and media had the perfect solution for my urgent need to preserve and talk about food, so I worked for many years in different types of media always with food projects, I worked in TV producing food and culture TV segments. I was also the editor and food writer of a bilingual newspaper.
All throughout my life I have been wanting to have my own food manufacturing project and after 20 years of trying to be specific and searching for the right thing i finally was able to start.
I grew up in Mexico City and I had a favorite childhood snack, it was called alegrias and they are made with puffed amaranth and honey or chocolate.
I wanted to recreate my childhood snack in the US and after literally 20 years of searching what and how to do it. It all finally dawned on me when I arrived to Cincinnati and the Pandemic hit.
My project started during the pandemic with my kids at home and for 6 months I worked late nights trying to figure out how to launch my business. Did all the research and development of the products. figured out the design for the packaging, found the Findlay incubator kitchen that allowed me to get all my licensing and start producing and selling wholesale.
PAKTLI means JOY in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and like I said they are inspired in my beloved childhood snack called alegrias, that also mean JOY in Spanish.
We handmake them with all natural organic ingredients such as puffed amaranth, quinoa and millet, highly nutritious ancient grains that are often called superfoods. We mix them with organic chocolates and whole dried fruits and nuts. They are all organic, gluten free, with some vegan and soy free options. Never any additives or preservatives.

It is a unique and different snack, like nothing that you have tried before. I get constant feedback from my clients, and they tell me that my snack brings them Joy and that they can feel the love we put in to it.
When we started producing it was only me and a compassionate friend that showed up at the kitchen knowing that i wasn’t going to be able to do it on my own. After that it was only me and her producing 300 pieces at once. We have grown and understood our processes better and now we are 7 women mostly Latinas in the kitchen producing 3000 pieces at a time.
We sell at farmers markets, in local and some not local independent coffee shops and groceries and online.
I am very proud of the fact that I was able to find the specificity that allowed this product to be born with such an unstoppable force. With very little resources I was able to bring it to the market and I have been growing steadily with the help of lots of coaches and mentors.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I started this business, I needed to figure out how to develop the product from scratch, looking at videos, seeking help from expert makers in Mexico, so I reached to a foundation in Mexico that promotes the use of Amaranth and the tradition of making alegrias. A precious indigenous Mexican woman from Oaxaca would guide me and give me tips on methods and recipes. But I have been basically figuring things out myself. I didn’t have any budget to start, and I would also add very little business knowledge. So, I tried to figure things our very instinctively, like starting to sell in farmers markets as a way to prove my concept, get feedback and brand recognition. I have been working almost every weekend in very labor-intensive markets trying to figure things out. Now in my next phase I am trying to shift from a farmers market business to a more robust online presence and larger wholesale accounts. We produce all by hand and although very efficient with close to 3000 pieces in a day with 7 women the labor is very intense. Every day I encounter challenges there I realize that I don’t know the answer to them. But I am determined to seek the help I need and the resources to help me figure things out. I need to learn how to let go and not be such a solo entrepreneur, I need to brush my business skills and accept and seek how to grow. But I am always open to the right encounters, and I have found incredible people along my journey that have given me precious help and advice.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

We started this company with very little funding. I wanted to do it with my resources only, so I started this with about 7000 dollars. Every revenue has gone back to the business in order to grow it. Like I mentioned before my entry point to the market has been through farmers markets and most of my clients become repeat customers and most of my online sales are customers that bought before that became online customers. I recently started a subscription option and hopefully I will grow more with time.
I really want to shift my business from being so farmers market oriented to a much more robust online presence, so I am starting to sell in more channels such as amazon, and other marketplaces such as walmart.com, kroger.com, etc. I started working with a company called Vallet seller that is helping me get into those other marketplaces. I am also taking a leap and a risk, and I am betting on podcast advertising, I choose a company that enables and promote female podcasters and founders that in tourn want to promote female owned businesses to their mostly female audiences, that will start in the very near future.
I need to expand my sales and reach online to be able to capitalize and grow my sales and resources to be more attractive to bank loans and investors so that I can scale my production and be able to expand my wholesale reach.
I recently became women owned certified and I am working on my minority owned certification and hopefully that will also open doors to more contracts and options.
I am not yet proven in any of the things that I mentioned but I am trying to navigate the ropes of change and progress as well as the very unknown and daunting idea of growing this business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://paktlifoods.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paktlifoods
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paktlifoods