Frozen sambusa company Hoyo to expand with new commercial kitchen in Minneapolis

NINA MOINI: If you hadn't had lunch yet, this next conversation might make you hungry for sambusas. The savory pastries are an essential in Somali cuisine. Over the last 10 years, a Minneapolis-based business has been selling the frozen treat to grocery stores and school districts across the state.

And now the business Hoyo is moving to a commercial kitchen that owners say will allow them to double their production. Hoyo CEO Ghita Worcester joins me now. Thanks so much for being here, Ghita.

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, thank you so much for being interested in our story.

NINA MOINI: I'm always interested in sambusas. For people who have not had them before, can you describe what it is and why they're significant?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, in Somalia, they are a special food that individuals make for Ramadan, break the fast and weddings, special events. But they are a triangular-shaped pastry. And I say pastry because it's a light, flaky type of folio that they have. And then they are filled with, in our case, beef and vegetables or lentil and vegetables. And in Somalia, there's other fillings that we're interested in thinking about in the future as well.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And the business's website explains that the word "Hoyo" means mother in Somali. Can you talk about the connection to Somali women, mothers, and here in Minnesota?

GHITA WORCESTER: The idea of creating this particular business came from Matt Glover and Mariam Muhammad, who met through a church connection. And Matt Glover was seeing a lot of women in his community that were struggling to find jobs. And he heard the word "Hoyo" being used all the time by the children.

And when they decided to come up with a name for the company, Hoyo just made sense because we wanted initially to hire Somali women that were wearing the traditional hajib, and not able as easily to get jobs out in the regular marketplace because either they didn't have the skills or there was some discrimination occurring in the community for them to get jobs.

NINA MOINI: Have you been able to-- or how have you been able to-- stick with that original mission?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, the original mission has been expanded a bit beyond just Somali individuals that are working for us. We have Somali men and women, but we also have some Afghan and Iraqi women that are working for us today. So the focus on individuals getting oftentimes their first job in this country has remained steadfast in how we're building our company.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And you're continuing to build as a frozen products around the state. How is that going? What's that all about?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, the model has been built on making the sambusas frozen. We did have requests after we did the sambusas to make sauces to go with. And so we have a basbaas and a tamarind date sauce that we're selling, as well as the beef and lentil sambusas. And in the coming year, we plan to have chicken and coconut lime sauce, chicken sambusas and coconut lime sauce to go with.

NINA MOINI: Delicious-sounding. And you're also partnering with school districts. Where are you?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, we did start out in farmers markets and a co-op reached out to us to come in. But the Rochester School District was the first school to reach out to us for their elementary students. And now they are expanding with the middle and high school students there as well. But we're in 29 school districts in the state. 300 individual schools, and about 300,000 students at some time during the year have our sambusas for a lunch treat.

NINA MOINI: Wow. That's incredible over the past decade. Congratulations. Are there more plans to expand now that obviously you're able to produce more? Like, what are you envisioning in your new kind of dream space here?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, it is a dream space. We hope to double our production, simply because of a much more efficient kitchen and equipment that's going to be more tailored. The VEAP, Volunteer Enlisted to Help People kitchen that we were working in for a number of years just wasn't set up for us to do an efficient equipment process for food production.

So we intend to double our production now. And with the addition of some more co-ops in the state, and Lunds & Byerlys as our first traditional retail store, we hope to expand into other retail locations and go beyond the state.

NINA MOINI: Well, and I have to bring up the state fair. I mean, that's a big deal to be there. What do you have planned?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, we are so lucky that Midtown Global Market has a booth out at the state fair. And we're partnering with the Oasis Restaurant for six of the days at the state fair, the first six days for us to be selling our sambusas there. And that's just an incredible opportunity. It gives our employees a chance to really see people enjoying our sambusas firsthand, and giving us the opportunity for additional people from around the state to be able to taste our tasty sambusas.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And remind me when you're hoping to be-- the new kitchen will be up and running.

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, as with all construction, things take a little longer. But we intend to be starting our occupation by our grand opening on the 17th of June. So we'll actually have a ribbon cutting that day.

NINA MOINI: And I can't let you go without asking your opinion about what makes a really good or the best sambusa?

GHITA WORCESTER: Well, I believe it's the seasoning in the ingredients, but the flaky crust that you get from our sambusas is unique compared to many that you'll find out there. So you get this wonderful, savory flavor with a crunch.

NINA MOINI: Wonderful. Ghita, thank you so much for stopping by Minnesota Now. Thank you and good luck.

GHITA WORCESTER: Thank you. Hope you can come to our grand opening.

NINA MOINI: Would love to. Take care. That's Ghita Worcester, CEO of the Minneapolis sambusa business Hoyo.