Simpls is a food delivery company based in St. Paul, MN. Their team is full of “avid foodies passionately driven to create a regenerative & equitable food system for human and planet health.” They’ll deliver exceptional farm-to-freezer foods, made with the finest beyond organic ingredients, right to your door. Their deliciously chef-curated dishes are fully prepared, you just pull them out of the freezer, heat, and enjoy. They’ve also added a regenerative pasture-raised frozen meat offering so now customers can order frozen, uncooked meats to their home as well, including Tree-Range Chicken!
Simpls values food with impact, “We source 100% organic produce and spices as our baseline for human and planet health. And we are on a mission to go beyond organic wherever possible. As a starting point for this journey, all of the meats in our dishes are regenerative… Ultimately, we want to integrate as many regenerative ingredients into our delicious foods as possible. Maximizing the many associated positive outcomes for our customers, our communities, and our planet.” They plan to continue adding meal options and continue to grow in the next couple of years, including expanding their delivery radius beyond the Twin Cities and into the surrounding Midwest and beyond.
Support Simpls! Place and order Simpls.com and share their work and service with your friends, informed consumers have tremendous power to drive change.
Use code: RAA20 for 20% off your first order!
Follow their story!
Subscribe to their email list at simpls.com and follow them on Instagram!
A conversation with Simpls
Conversation between Diane Christofore and Ryan Rosenthal
Diane: What is Simpls? Where are you headquartered?
Ryan: Simpls delivers exceptional farm-to-freezer foods scratch-made with the finest beyond organic ingredients, right to your door. Our deliciously chef-curated dishes are fully prepared, you just pull them out of the freezer, heat, and enjoy. No prep, no mess, no stress. Options range from entrees like Lemon Herb Chicken, to pizzas like Bacon Carbonara, to soups like Thai Lemongrass Chicken, and more. And most recently, we added a regenerative pasture-raised frozen meat offering, including Tree-Range Chicken! Orders are placed online at Simpls.com, we deliver, and you stock up your freezer with easy meals that are incredibly delicious, good for you, and good for the planet. Gone are the days of compromise when you need easy.
Our HQ and kitchen are in St. Paul, MN where we make all our delicious foods.
Diane: What is your business structure/how is it operated/managed?
Ryan: Simpls is a for-profit LLC owned and operated by Ryan and Mike. We have a small but very mighty team of 7 with backgrounds in supply chain management, restaurants, marketing, and most naturally – electrical engineering! The through line for our team is that we’re avid foodies passionately driven to create a regenerative & equitable food system for human and planet health. We also have local mission-aligned investors that have helped us grow the business to where it is today.
Diane: How does Simpls intersect with regenerative agriculture? Can you talk a little bit about regenerative protein program?
Ryan: We source 100% organic produce and spices as our baseline for human and planet health. And we are on a mission to go beyond organic wherever possible. As a starting point for this journey, all of the meats in our dishes are regenerative. Our first certified regenerative grains have come from A-Frame farm in Madison, MN; all of our pizza crusts are made with wheat from their farm that gets milled in Minneapolis by Baker’s Field. We are actively working on sourcing additional regenerative grains and legumes. And as mentioned, we just launched a regenerative pasture-raised frozen meat offering. So now customers can order frozen, uncooked meats from us as well. Many of our customers actually love to cook, so this is a convenient option for them to buy the best regenerative Midwest meats for the moments when they have time to be in the kitchen. And for the times they don’t, their freezer is well-stocked with our prepared dishes!
Ultimately, we want to integrate as many regenerative ingredients into our delicious foods as possible. Maximizing the many associated positive outcomes for our customers, our communities, and our planet.
Diane: What is the vision for the business?
Ryan: We plan to continue adding selection and options for more eating occasions, so you will see this continue to grow in the next couple of years. And geographically, we plan to expand beyond the Twin Cities into the surrounding Midwest and beyond. Our long-term vision is to drive demand for regenerative organic agriculture to help scale it up and make it the standard in how we grow food. And importantly, accessible to all people.
Diane: What inspired you to do this?
Ryan: Our journey started in 2014 on the premise that convenient food should be delicious, good for you, and good for our planet! Mike and Ryan both read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan in 2013 and that flipped the switch for us. Completely changing our perspective about what our food system could and should look like. We refuse to believe that convenience necessitates compromise to low quality, junk-filled, unhealthy foods that destroy our planet. But the reality is that we are all busy, so we’re here to bring options to people that don’t require a tradeoff! And that’s what we were personally looking for as conscious consumers ourselves. Our passion for this has continued to radically increase the more we work in the space, learn from others about what’s possible, and work together to bring it into reality. Dirt to Soil and Growing a Revolution were two additional pivotal books in our journey. We just keep learning, keep improving, and keep moving toward an inspirational future!
Diane: What has been the biggest challenge?
Ryan: We make all our food from scratch in our kitchen and we set up a completely new, regional, organic/regenerative supply chain. This was a tremendous amount of effort and totally outside the norm of how most food companies operate and source their food. But that’s the whole point. Yes, it’s been hard and a ton of work, but we believe the offering we are now able to bring to our customers is very special.
Diane: Who are some of your partners/allies/mentors in this work?
Ryan: First and foremost, the growers and organizations supporting them to get their incredible products to market. Like RAA and Tree-Range Farms. We couldn’t do what we do without them, so it absolutely starts there. Some other regenerative growers we work with include Thousand Hills for regenerative beef, and Wild Idea Buffalo Co for regenerative Bison, and A-Frame Farm for wheat and Kernza. Another partner of ours, Merge Impact, is actually measuring biodiversity and nutrient impacts at A-Frame farm this growing season. We are super excited for those results to come in. We think that’s a super important part of this journey. Maximizing the transparency of sourcing to customers and showing receipts for the real work being done on the ground. Goodbye greenwashing. We work with Coop-Partners warehouse for much of our produce supply. Food Building for breads and flours. And many more. We have an advisory board for our company that includes pioneers in the space Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Kieran Folliard, Corinne Shindelar, and Beth Robertson-Martin.
Diane: How can the community support you and/or get connected?
Ryan: Place an order and share Simpls with your friends! We believe that all of us, as informed consumers, have tremendous power to drive change. Every time we spend money, we vote. Every time we vote for organic and regenerative foods with our dollars, we send vital market signals that consumers expect better. All the while, you’re getting the most delicious, nutrient-dense food possible while supporting local, American family farms. On top of that, protecting water, building biodiversity, and storing carbon in our soils. Follow our story through by signing up for our emails and/or follow us on Instagram @eatsimpls.
Diane: What’s your favorite part of the harvest season/What are you most looking forward to doing/eating during this year’s harvest season?
Ryan: We love squash, apples, and the return of soup season! One of our most beloved soups is Curried Apple Butternut which will make its triumphant return in October. Happy harvesting!
