“The economy now reflects more of an entrepreneurial spirit,” says the younger Dompreh. With an MBA from Robert Morris University and her standing as a millennial, she has gone to work to connect with her health-conscious counterparts.Īlthough Michigan is not among the largest Kale growing states in the nation, MSU Extension deems its growth rate “impressive” and expects kale farmers to continue to proliferate as market demand grows. That’s where Dompreh, 31, comes in handy. While the Domprehs seek funding to purchase the equipment needed to grow, they are finding other ways make their presence known. Since the product is organic, the shelf life is relatively short, so they’re packaged in one-ounce portions. And each batch must be dried for 17 hours. They source the organic greens from local farmers. The trouble is, without the proper equipment or manufacturing facility, fulfilling consistent larger-scale orders would be difficult.Īs it is now, the mother and daughter spend several hours a week in a commercial kitchen at Flint Farmers’ Market. The duo has been in talks with Kroger about carrying Charma’s with the supermarket. In fact, keeping up with demand is a dilemma that she and her partner Nana Dompreh, who happens to be her daughter, are trying to overcome. “We can’t keep the chips in the Midtown market for more than 14 days,” says Dompreh. Now, Charma’s is a state supplier for Whole Foods and part of a growing community of local food makers that are navigating the ins and outs of working with a major national retailer – stocking raw food shelves at locations in East Lansing, West Bloomfield, Midtown Detroit and Birmingham, as well as several grocers in Flint and a coveted spot at the Saturday market at Eastern Market in Detroit. “They liked them all,” says Dompreh, but they ultimately settled on three varieties of both the kale and collard greens: knutty (made with macadamia nuts), spicy and the “cheesy” type. She presented a panel with eight of her best flavors. That distinction set her apart from her competitors when, two years ago, she met with reps from Whole Foods Market to get Charma’s stocked in Michigan locations.
In fact, one of her signature flavors tastes like it has been coated in cheddar cheese, even though it contains no dairy. “Everybody knows kale is a bitter leaf, but I make mine different,” says Dompreh, 68.ĭompreh isn’t bitter at all. She had to nudge people to try them at first – after all, the idea of munching on dehydrated kale, much less collard greens, was a bit of a foreign idea to her friends and family. To take it to scale and get her recipe on the shelves of supermarkets though, she needed the help of family.ĭompreh began by testing recipes on her sisters and soon was bringing in her savory snacks to parties. “And then I thought, well what about collard greens?” says Dompreh.Īnd that’s how Charma’s Green Chips was born. It was during her classes, that Dompreh came upon a recipe for kale chips. So she began researching healthier cooking techniques and launched classes in the Flint community to introduce students to raw and organic recipes. Somehow hearing this report struck a chord with Dompreh, a veteran school teacher with Flint Public Schools. The anchor warned viewers that the segment that was about to air contained graphic material: there was an obesity epidemic among the nation’s children. It all started with a morning news report about three years ago on a topic that, up until then, Charma Dompreh had not considered much
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