From Our Kitchen to Yours: A Day in the Life at Sooby

People sometimes ask me what a typical day at Sooby looks like. The honest answer? There's no such thing as a typical day when you're a mom of four running a baby food company out of Virginia Beach. But I'll do my best to walk you through one.

Fair warning: it involves a lot of hand-peeling, a lot of love, and an alarming amount of beet stains.

Early Morning: The Sourcing Run

Most production days start early — really early. Before the boys wake up, I'm already thinking about ingredients. We source locally and seasonally whenever possible, which means our shopping list changes with the time of year.

In summer, it's Virginia-grown strawberries and blueberries at their peak sweetness. Fall brings beautiful butternut squash and sweet potatoes from local farms. We prioritize organic suppliers who share our values — people who care about the soil as much as we care about the food that grows in it.

There's something special about knowing exactly where your ingredients come from. When a parent asks me "where do your strawberries come from?" I don't have to check a supply chain database. I can tell them the farm.

Mid-Morning: The Prep

Once the ingredients arrive at our workshop, the hands-on work begins. And I do mean hands-on.

Every single fruit and vegetable is washed, peeled, and prepared by hand. There's no machine sorting, no automated processing line. It's me, my team, and a mountain of produce.

Peeling beets is... an experience. If you've ever done it, you know — your hands turn purple, your cutting board turns purple, somehow your elbows turn purple. It's messy, it's time-consuming, and it's absolutely worth it. Because the alternative is cutting corners, and that's not something we're willing to do.

The carrots get peeled and trimmed. The sweet potatoes are scrubbed and cubed. The oats are measured. Every ingredient is treated with care, because this food is going to end up in a baby's mouth, and that's not something we take lightly.

Afternoon: The Sous-Vide Magic

This is my favorite part of the process. Once everything is prepped, we vacuum-seal the ingredients in pouches and lower them into the water bath.

Then... we wait. Sous-vide is a slow process. The water bath holds a precise temperature — low enough to preserve nutrients, high enough to cook the food thoroughly and safely. There's no rushing it. You can't crank up the heat and cut the time in half (well, you could, but then it wouldn't be sous-vide, and you'd lose all the benefits).

I use this time to catch up on orders, respond to messages from parents, or — let's be honest — sit down for five minutes with a cup of coffee. Running a small business and raising four boys doesn't leave a lot of time for sitting.

When the timer goes off and we open those pouches, the smell fills the room. Sweet potatoes that smell like actual sweet potatoes. Strawberries that burst with fragrance. It never gets old.

Late Afternoon: Blending & Packaging

After cooking, everything gets puréed to a smooth, baby-friendly consistency. We blend in small batches to maintain quality — because a giant batch never comes out as smooth as a small one. Trust me, I've tried.

The purée goes straight into jars, which are sealed and immediately chilled or frozen to lock in freshness. No preservatives needed when you handle food with care and keep the cold chain tight.

Every jar gets a label with the recipe, ingredients, and use-by date. What you see is what you get. That's the Sooby promise.

Farmers Market Days: The Best Part

If you live in Virginia Beach, you might have seen us at the Old Beach Farmers Market. Market days are my absolute favorite.

There's something incredibly fulfilling about handing a jar directly to a parent, looking them in the eye, and saying "I made this." Not "our factory produced this." Not "our supply chain generated this." I made this.

The conversations at the market are what keep me going. Parents sharing their frustrations with commercial baby food. First-time moms who are nervous about starting solids. Dads who taste-test every sample (yes, it's good enough for grown-ups too). And the babies — oh, the babies. Watching a baby try Sooby for the first time, seeing their eyes light up, watching them reach for more... that's why I do this.

One of my favorite market moments: a mom came back the second week and told me her baby had been refusing all baby food for months. She tried our Butternut Squash, Carrots & Sweet Potatoes and he ate the entire jar in one sitting. She was almost in tears. So was I.

Evening: Mom Mode

After the workshop or the market, I go home and become just a mom again. Three boys, dinner, bath time, bedtime stories, the beautiful chaos of family life.

Sometimes I feed my youngest Sooby for dinner and smile to myself, knowing that the food he's eating was made with the same care I'd put into cooking for him at home — because that's exactly what it is. Home cooking. Just scaled up a little.

Why Small Batch Matters

I know what you might be thinking: wouldn't it be easier to scale up? Get bigger equipment, larger batches, wider distribution?

Maybe. But "easier" isn't the point. The point is better.

Small batches mean I can personally oversee every step. They mean better quality control, fresher food, and the ability to adjust recipes based on what's in season. They mean that every jar of Sooby is made with the same attention and love that I'd put into cooking for my own children.

Because that's exactly what it is.

If you're ever at the Old Beach Farmers Market on a Saturday morning, come say hi. I'll be the one with purple-stained hands and a smile.

Charlotte