Our Story

Bare foods, unlike other food tech companies, was born not in a laboratory but in a kitchen. Through the process of feeding people in the founder’s restaurants, he challenged himself to develop healthy, unprocessed plant based, seafood and plant based cheeses to continuously push the boundaries of Plant Based cuisine. What he ended up with is an entity by itself, completely separate from the day to day operations of the restaurant. 

Developing these foods, manufacturing them, making them available to hotels, restaurants and retailers with its products, our products are now used as key ingredients by chefs all over the UAE as they expand their plant-based menus for the ever growing demand by customers.

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Many of the products available through Bare Foods were created to satisfy cravings and some were created just to see if we could. 

Our team

tolga soytekin

founder

              Tolga’s journey began in his grandmother’s  kitchen over 30 years ago where he spent many an afternoon helping her make yoghurt, cheese, sauces, breads, jams to feed her very large family.   

Little did he know then that what she was teaching him at that age would  lead him to opening his first restaurant in 1998.    

 Today Tolga is a well-known authority on plant-based cuisine and has won accolades for best tasting  and  most creative industry first  plant-based alternative  dishes.

BARE FOODS is a logical next step in Tolga’s food journey.   Most of the R&D that companies spend years on,  he has the knowledge of the science that has been used for generations.

He has also had the best market research. He has been develop products for years   and his customers  have been his greatest critics.  Based on their feedback he has been able to  make the changes in real time, perfect the process and the flavor.

Tolga has always had a strong sense of protectiveness towards the environment and as food security, animal exploitation and depletion of resources has come to the forefront of concern for the world, moving to a plant-based diet has made more and more sense. 

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max marsh

director of global sales

Max Marsh is a passionate vegan foodie. He is the co-founder of the Middle East’s first 100% plant based pizzeria “Bomba” and founder and host of The Plant Code Podcast, a podcast connecting and sharing the stories of vegan entrepreneurs from around the world.

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Before joining Barefoods as Director of Global Sales Development he worked with the Emirates Group for 6 years and the speciality coffee company Loose Unicorns as Head of Sales & Marketing.

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Max has travelled the world to find and experience the best plant-based products and restaurants in today's market and has developed an extensive knowledge of the direction and expectations of the future of food.

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