OHLA! Foods Expands to Whole Foods
Two years after introducing almond tortillas, PH mom offering more products
Lauren Schwalb’s OHLA! Foods keeps expanding, getting its products into Whole Foods stores after two-plus years of business.
The simple and clean ingredient brand started in 2020 as the Preston Hollow mom became more tuned in to processed food labels while searching for a diagnosis for her daughter Hadley’s food allergy.
“We couldn’t figure out what it (was), which is why we started to kind of cut back on the processed foods we were eating as a family and really tried to figure out what it was that she was allergic to,” Lauren said.
Lauren found out her daughter was allergic to gluten, so she created the almond flour tortilla.
“I would share the products that I was making in my kitchen with friends and family, and people loved it, and so it just slowly grew,” Lauren said.
She started selling at the Dallas Farmers Market before pivoting into retail, first at Central Market and then, as of April, at Whole Foods.
The brand is now up to four products: almond flour tortillas and three flavors of almond flour crackers.
“All of our products are gluten-free and grain-free and made with limited ingredients,” Lauren said. “We like to say five ingredients or less.”
The name OHLA! comes from a representation of each of her family members. The “O” is for her first daughter Olivia; the “H” is for her youngest, Hadley; Lauren’s friends call her “La,” and the exclamation point is for her husband, who “happens to just be tall and skinny.”
Lauren looks forward to continuing to scale the brand by expanding to new retailers and offering new products.
“I love having the creativity and the ownership of what we’re doing, and it’s so near and dear to my family,” Lauren said. “We want to continue to scale, but we (are) going to scale thoughtfully and think about the retailers that we’re partnering with and make sure that our brand stays profitable.”
