Yumna Jawad Is Going All In On Oats

By: Valeria Ramos

In a recent episode of our podcast, Office Chats, I chatted with Yumna Jawad and Anu Naithani about launching Oath Oats—a breakfast and snack food company that’s getting innovative with oats.

Yumna Jawad is best known for her successful food blog, Feel Good Foodie, where she shares healthy recipes and cooking tips with over three million loyal followers. Anu Nnaithani is the CEO of Oath Oats and originally founded his own health food company before he and Yumna crossed paths.

You can listen to our full conversation on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or below.

Q&A With Yumna Jawad and Anu Naithani of Oath Oats:

How did you come together to launch Oath Oats?

Yumna: When my team was developing Oath Oats, we came across a Canadian brand called Oath that also happened to be making oat products. We connected with the founder (who was Anu) and decided to acquire the assets of the brand and bring Anu on as our CEO to help us manage operations and scale the business. I call him the C-E-Oath! We officially launched the business in November of 2022.

What sets Oath Oats apart from other companies in your space?

Anu: Nutrition is a big differentiation for us. The oat products I was seeing were marketed as healthy but didn’t use whole ingredients. We use dates to sweeten our products and are free of refined sugars. We’re also gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and include only whole ingredients you can actually pronounce.

Yumna: The power of Oath is that our products are convenient without feeling packaged. Our on-to-go breakfast and snack foods are high-quality and have a homemade feel.

Your blog, Feel Good Foodie, has amassed over 3 million followers on Instagram! How has this passion of yours grown over the years?

Yumna: I worked in marketing for ten years, and about ten years after that, I was on maternity leave and needed a creative outlet. I started a Feel Good Foodie Instagram account to share cooking tips and recipes. I slowly built a community and developed a passion for social media.

Within a few years, I made Feel Good Foodie my full-time job, built a team, and created a website. Today, I have a team helping me with operations, copyrighting, photography, and more. It’s been great to see the brand grow from a passion project to a supportive community with millions of page views every month.

The power of Oath is that our products are convenient without feeling packaged. Our on-to-go breakfast and snack foods are high-quality and have a homemade feel.

yumna jawad, founder of oath oats

What went into preparing your business to launch with a brand that looked and felt tenured?

Anu: As an e-commerce company (that will hopefully be in retail stores soon) we knew online presence was crucial. We leveraged Yumna’s following on @feelgoodfoodie for a pre-launch, where consumers could learn about the products and purchase them before we even launched.

Yumna: Through my experience with Feel Good Foodie, I’ve learned that content is king. Aside from the packaging and price point, our content helps us connect with consumers by providing them with examples of how to use Oath products. For example, our overnight oats mixes can be used for smoothies, cakes, and plenty of other recipes one might not immediately imagine.

Yumna, on top of launching Oath Oats, you’re still running Feel Good Foodie, and you’re a wife and mom of two. What tips can you share for juggling a business with multiple responsibilities?

Yumna: It’s good to be grinding at certain times, but not all the time. One month before the launch, for example, we were working harder and it was okay to not have as much balance with home life. But it’s important to recognize that it shouldn’t be like that all the time. What I try to do is just get one percent better every day. That feels more doable than a huge task list or setting out to create a multi-million dollar company.

What’s next for Oath Oats? Any upcoming plans that you can share?

Anu: We’re launching new flavors of product lines in the coming months! I’m also excited about launching the Oath Club, which is a subscription service that allows consumers to create a customized box of their favorite Oath products, pick a regular delivery frequency, and we take care of the rest. We’ll also offer Oath Club members first access to new products and free samples.

Yumna: Right now Oath is only available online, so we want to expand the product in retail stores and launch in Canada as well.

Biggest piece of advice for founders and entrepreneurs?

Yumna: Start before you’re 100 percent ready. When I started Feel Good Foodie, I was fussing around with the logo and wasting time on things that really didn’t matter. What matters the most is just starting, getting feedback, and learning as you build.

Anu: Identify your weaknesses and fill in the gaps with other people or other resources.