Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Balto.
Annie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Before Nour was salad dressing, it was actually a skincare brand in 2020. I was making body butter during the pandemic and would send it to my friends and family. The body butter was an opportunity I was able to give people to create a nourishing ritual for themself; an allotted time in their week they could pause time and massage their own skin. I think in the back of my mind, I knew Nour would never just be a skin product, and eventually it would evolve into other rituals in my life. In June 2022, I decided to share my salad dressing with the world. It was a natural transition as I had been making this specific lemon caper salad dressing for years and would serve it at all of my dinner parties. All of my friends and family at the time were asking me to take pints of it home at a time. I realized I, like many people, make their own salad dressing because the ones on the shelf weren’t flavors we were craving or ingredients we actually wanted to put in our bodies. One day, it just felt obvious that I was making the salad dressings everyone had been craving, or at least they would be craving once they tasted it, saw Nour on the shelf, or glanced at one of our salads on their Instagram feed. Today, Nour is the only Mediterranean inspired Extra Virgin Olive Oil, vegan, and sugar-free salad dressing in the market. More than anything, Nour came from a place of solving my own problem and wanting to surround myself with friends at the dinner table. I grew up with parents who owned a restaurant and were constantly working, so family dinner was a rare occasion saved for birthdays and holidays. When I was 18, I moved to the Middle East for a year, and every week we would celebrate Shabbat. This meant that almost every Friday, I was invited into strangers’ homes, sitting at a new table, gathering around new faces, oftentimes hearing and speaking multiple languages, tasting dishes from cultures all over the world: Jewish, Arab, Moroccan, Yemenite, Ethiopian, Iranian, Muslim, Christian, etc. This really changed everything for me and completely opened up my soul to the power of community, food, and ritual, everything Nour is built on.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t know if any business has had a “smooth road” per se…I would say it’s pretty inevitable to have challenges and bumps in the road. There have definitely been many challenging periods and countless lessons learned. I moved to California in 2020 because I thought I would begin my career in Landscape Architecture, interviewing with Lily Kwong’s studio before I even graduated college, dreaming of designing floral arrangements in Glossier windows with her. So, you can imagine the surprise one could feel when you realize you happened to stumble upon a business with no previous food or startup experience. I didn’t have a single connection to the food industry when I created Nour, so building a strong community of food & bev founders and strong women around me has been a long journey of trusting the process. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. On the other hand, being a solo founder at the beginning stage of a business with no investors, no board, and no team beyond myself is what I could also imagine feeling like a single parent might emulate. It can feel incredibly isolating and paralyzing at times. Not to be dramatic, but Nour has broken me down many times, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything because the highs are incredibly high, and the lows are these very layered opportunities that have created space for me to grow and learn not only as a business owner, but just as a human being.
When the going gets tough, I would suggest leaning on your community. I quickly had to persevere through my fear of rejection as I began reaching out to founders all over Los Angeles who would spare me the time of day when I didn’t know what my next step was. This is probably a good opportunity to publicly thank Bryan Meehan from Blue Bottle, who saw something in me before I did (circa 2021). Before Nour was in the world, I was waitressing, and he noticed something in me and took a risk before even knowing what I was building or had plans to build (when Nour was just a mere idea). Bryan and his wife invited me to grab coffee with them, and I asked them as many questions that time would allow. They were a catalyst in my early days in Los Angeles, that moment really boosted my confidence and belief in myself. Allen Dushi from Graza and Christy Goldsby from Honey Mama’s have so graciously offered me their time and insight as well. Andrea from Snaxshot has been a mentor, guide, backboard, and fairy godmother in the food world, expanding and opening many doors for me both mentally and physically. Good things take time, and in an instant gratification world, patience and hard work will lead you to your destiny.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I created the first vegan, extra virgin olive oil-only salad dressing brand free of sugar. Nour is known for its innovative flavor profiles, oftentimes cross-pollinating cultural palettes and pushing culinary boundaries. You will see one of a kind flavors of salad dressing never brought to market before. Everything I bring into this world is very intentional, and I don’t follow trends; I only release what I crave. As we’ve grown and continue to scale, it’s been extremely important to me to continue to use the same quality ingredients as I was when I was making it for just myself and my friends. This means only using high-quality extra virgin olive oil, never adding unnecessary sugar, and making sure that each ingredient is specifically used towards a flavor component, never adding unnecessary fillers or gums.
We had a limited run of our “yuzu zaatar” salad dressing in collaboration with YuzuCo, and to this day, I will still get emails from customers and store owners asking if it will come back. Nour created something that people are craving on more than just a flavor and nourishment level, people want a reason to get together with their friends and go to dinner parties. People want a reason to come together with their community and eat really good food because they can feel how powerful that is to share. People want to feed people, you want to feel that visceral unbeatable connection that you can only get through food and quite literally breaking bread with someone. I believe so much more than just laughter and passing of plates is shared at a dinner table, it is core memories, deep connection and lifelong nourishment that will sustain our livelihood. I’m really proud of how much community we have built over these last few years. It’s also been extremely meaningful to personally touch every single bottle of salad dressing I’ve ever sold (over 3,000), and I know that one day, I will miss those intimate parts of the business.
Alright, so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Nour is a brand of community, and I believe nothing is built alone. I am always looking for fun + aligned people to create with, whether that be actual flavors of dressing or a reason to bring our communities together IRL.
I am also in the process of expanding. By the end of the year, I would love to find an aligned investor who resonates and believes in what I’m building with Nour. That would allow me to make my first hire, so if you know of a kickass operator who deeply understands and is passionate about Nour’s mission and values, please email me at [email protected]. Nour is going to be a household name and will eventually feed millions of people nourishment, and I’d love to find the right people to join me on this journey.
If you’re reading this and are just curious to try Nour, definitely check out our stores on our website so you can pick up your own bottle and follow our weekly-ish substack “Noursletter” where we explore nourishment. Everything from blue zone living, dopamine dressing, recipes, rituals all the way to connection, solar health, podcasts, books, and everything that makes life worth living 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eatnour.com
- Instagram: @eatnour
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-balto-b31417151/
Image Credits
Maddy Pease
Simi Malik
