About Roots
Roots was launched in May 2021. Roots make vegetarian takeaway meals. Starting with virtual kitchens, then expanding to restaurants, and the delivery of food products. The targeted customers are looking for healthy, convenient, sustainable, affordable, vegetarian food with a specific focus on millennials and generation Z, living in the urban areas of the Netherlands.
Roots is a newcomer-led initiative that connects people and cultures through the power of delicious, healthy, authentic vegetarian food. Roots ambition is about communities, social integration, and shift narratives around migration and cultural diversity. We are building a network of strategic partnerships to enable newcomers to access training and job opportunities. Roots want an equal, inclusive society where anyone and everyone is able to contribute using their talents and the art of making new, sustainable products.
Our mission
Build a sustainable business
The Netherlands is a food and agricultural hub, with many leading companies and initiatives in the market, such as de vegetarische slager, thuisbezorgd, Foodvally, and a week without meat. Moreover, there is increased interest locally and internationally in fair-trade, locally grown, and organic food products. The vegan or have a free-from claim market is growing. Consumers, often Millennials or Generation Z, are also willing to pay for authenticity. They want to hear or read about who made the food and what’s the story behind the product. This desire for authenticity also applies to food service outlets. Restaurant owners with a tale to tell appeal to today’s consumers “real products, real ingredients, and real stories.” We believe that Roots have a role in providing healthy, tasty, sustainable meals and products at affordable price We believe that Roots have a role in affording healthy, tasty, sustainable meals and providing various products with physical and online stores. Spreading awareness of how our meals affect us, our community, and the environment, promoting and encouraging a healthier lifestyle.Furthermore, Roots works with several local businesses and startups to be more eco-friendly, such as Swapbox, a startup that deals with reusable, sustainable packaging. With Swabox, we want to build a zero-waste packaging system and keeping hundreds of disposable packaging out of landfills.
Contribute to society
We believe that Roots can act as a cross-culture bridge introducing newcomers culture to the Dutch community by trying its food. Furthermore, the shops will have a Syrian atmosphere, giving Syrian customers the feeling of returning home. Non-Syrian customers can experience a new, exotic environment. Roots is not alone in this routs, with many partners who believe in better tomorrow for our society and environment. These partners come in two forms, commercial and social. These partners will help Roots achieve its goals to be sustainable, reachable, and engaged with communities. Roots empower newcomers by giving them access to courses, training, and job opportunities. The company will provide jobs for more than three hundred employees with various backgrounds and skill levels, working together as a unity.
We want to take an active role in creating a positive image of how to integrate minorities and give back to the society that gave them a chance to build a new life. Roots will engage in social activities to inspire others.
Why the VU StartHub?
We are proud to be part of the VU StartHub, to work with dozens of mentors, experts, and startups, and while we all take different routes, these routes can take us to the same destiny, and that is to make a difference to our communities and planet. We believe that the VU StartHub has all the tools, research & funding possibilities we need to get there.
2020 was a heavy year, and it showed the issues regarding discrimination, environment, and business. That’s how we come up with Roots; we wanted to create something that reflects our background, and inheritance from the past combine with our vision for a sustainable and better future. Would you like to help the plant and have healthy, autunitic, affordable food, then root for us, and Join us to plant the seeds of our Roots
Are you curious to see our Food
Visit our website