You have a delicious meal in front of you. You chew, you taste, you swallow and enjoy. You think nothing of it. But a huge group of over 25 million adults and children cannot perform this pleasant daily ritual without great pain because of a swallowing difficulty called dysphagia. This condition forces them to a diet of very soft or pureed foods that are bland or filled with sugar and with very limited choices, so add boring to the long list. Although not afflicted with the condition, Dr. Reva Barewal relates to the pain and suffering of all those who are. Born in India when babies were delivered via forceps, her jaw was crushed. Consequently, she did not eat well as a baby and her parents and doctors could not diagnose the cause. The family moved to Canada, where more advanced medical analysis revealed the reconstruction that needed to be done to her jaw. Dr. Barewal then spent her life from childhood up to the age of 17 either in a dental chair or the surgical suite, science teaching her jaw to grow to the correct shape. During that period her only choice of diet was soft food because of the pain she experienced with food of any real texture. That is when her experimentation began, trying to find soft foods that were enjoyable and delicious to eat. It’s also when she decided to help others with jaw configuration and chewing issues as she had experienced. But first, culinary school at age 16 to learn more about cooking those soft foods people with those issues could enjoy. Dr. Barewal went to Cordon Bleu from afternoon until evenings while attending dental school from morning until noon beforehand. Ambitious. She then decided to help people diagnosed with head and neck cancer, because when going through those treatments, the patients had severe chewing and swallowing issues and she was determined to help them. So she moved to the US and her company, Savorease, was born. Since her work with cancer patients, Dr. Barewal has discovered that people who have suffered a stroke and people diagnosed with dementia and many others also have trouble with chewing and swallowing, and her soft foods can help. There is another discovery: When people eat with their fingers and not utensils, they tend to eat more food. For those having trouble gaining weight or coming off trauma and needing to gain weight, her finger-food snacks are the perfect answer. The company’s product offering is extensive, which certainly helps prevent boredom for its audience. Recently launched is the vegan cheese snack and both the harvest chicken and popcorn are longtime favorites. Her pediatric line is extensive too and is famous for its soft, quick-dissolve characteristics. Sales have been through the website and institutional sales through entities such as hospitals, where her snacks are used to help stroke patients not only get nutrition in their bodies, but also using the finger-food aspect to teach them to chew and swallow again. Senior centers and memory care centers also are huge prospects for Savorease as she continues to expand her marketing plans. One challenge has been to overcome the misunderstanding of texture. Even though Dr. Barewal explains that her snacks do not need chewing, that they simply melt in people’s mouths, there is a suspicion built into every sales prospect. You can view the product line at her website, www.savorease.com and follow her on: Instagram, Facebook and Linked In. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall. Instagram - @masoniandmarshall

#130 You Don't Have to Chew to Swallow - Reva Barewal, Savorease

Meaningful Marketplace Podcast