Happy Family (food company)

Happy Family is an organic baby and toddler food company in the US. It was ranked No. 2 in Inc. Magazine's 2011 list of the 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in the food industry category.

History
Happy Family created by Shazi Visram, a Pakistani immigrant who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. It was created as a response to the lack of healthy baby food in the U.S. Happy Family launched as Happy Baby on Mother's Day of 2006. The first products that it offered were 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. Its three-year growth in 2010 was over 3,000%. By 2011, the company employed more than 70 people and its products were available in over 14,000 stores and 30 countries; In 2012, in over 17,000 stores.

The company secured $30 million in debt and equity financing, yet remains independently owned and operated by moms.

Leadership
HappyFamily is 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 shortly after graduation. Rolph, a Cornell Business School graduate, had a prior career at Whole Foods in research. Amy Marlow, co-author of 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 an environmentally responsible product with a positive social impact. The two met through a mutual contact at Odwalla and in 2005 Visram offered her the position of COO and Founding Partner.

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.