Not-for-profit start-up Soult is making its mark for all the right reasons, with a range of ethically sourced salt from the Murray River Basin achieving national distribution through Australia Post. Food & Drink Business spoke to founder Adam Mumford.
Flavoured with certified organic herbs and sustainable cacao, Soult donates 100 per cent of its profits to suicide prevention charities. Mumford started Soult last year in memory of his brother, Jason, who died by suicide five years ago. Born out of an idea that Jason had the year he died, it is now being realised in an effort to make change.
Q. How did Soult come about?
My brother Jason had a dream to create a shop that sold only hot chips with different flavoured salts. I actually laughed at first, and then thought yeah, that’s pretty cool. About six months later, he took his own life. I wanted to create a legacy for our families, so I created Soult – salt with soul – in his memory. The flavours I launched had meaning to him and I.
Q. Where and how is Soult distributed?
From February 2023, Soult has been available online on its website, with Australia Post is the postage partner. We have approximately 30 grocers, restaurants, delis, and butchers stocking the product in the northern rivers, which I personally deliver to. In August, Australia Post partnered with us, and we are in over 200 Australia Retail Stores across the country.
Q. What is the production process?
The salt is sustainably sourced from the Murray River Basin, and we purchase it in bulk through The Murray River Salt Company. Our herbs are all organic and purchased through Austral Herbs in Kentucky South (near Armidale NSW), and our sustainable, organic and above-award trade cocoa is from Vanuatu and purchased from Spencer Cocoa in Mudgee.
Q. Where does Soult operate from?
We are currently using HACCP Approved Integrity Foods in Tingalpa as our contract manufacturer, and Soult is operating from Workit Spaces, Bourke Road, Alexandria, NSW.
Q. 100 per cent of profits are going to charity, tell us about the charities and why they were chosen?
This is crucial because this is our purpose. Every person in Soult has their very own mental health journey. I will give you mine. I was the last to see my brother alive, 30 minutes before he left this world. I hugged him, told him I loved him, and drove away waving. I had no idea what was to come. I was there to identify the body 80 minutes after he had gone. Standby, Support After Suicide were there for my family, and I have been personally donating money to Standby, so they were always going to be one of our partners.
My business partner chose Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds as he is involved in the logistics industry and watched suicide rates soar. Australia Post's CEO is the chairman of Healthy Heads. We gladly give all our profits from every Australia Post order to this charity.
Our third partner is Mental Wheels Foundation. Soult has a cycling enthusiast in the team who has a strong belief in what they are doing for Mental Health and has raised money for this foundation for the past 4 years.
Q. How are you maintaining the business as a not-for-profit?
Profits are just that. Like any business, we have the cost of goods, sales, marketing and admin. Anything outside of that is profit. Simple. We take no cuts or shares. Soult is a business built to make change.
Q. What is your goal for the business?
After the loss of Jason and the impact it had on many families around us, I knew I had to do something. It is because of this event my ultimate purpose is to actually help make a difference in someone's life or journey. If it is one person, it's one more than before.
Soult is about sharing food and sharing stories. Opening up, or 'table it', if you will. I aim to see households, workplaces and secondary schools doing just that.
