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From Our Founders

Our food system is at a crossroads. As outlined by the groundbreaking EAT-Lancet report, food is the single strongest lever we have to optimize human health and environmental sustainability. Without action, rates of diet-related chronic disease will continue to surge, and we’ll fail to achieve the climate goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. 

But we know that adopting a healthful and sustainable diet rich in veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains while reducing meat and dairy is easier said than done. That's where we come in.

Since selling our first products in 2013, we’ve been challenging the belief that you had to choose between taste and nutrition, convenience and quality, and fresh and prepared. We wanted to disprove these conventional food norms by delighting our customers with mouthwatering plant-forward meals that are as delicious as they are nutritious and sustainable. 

In our tenth year in business, our mission and values are stronger now than they have ever been: the result of a company culture that aims for continuous improvement each and every day to make nutritious meals that improve health and longevity, while supporting the health of our planet and our communities.

While our branding from the past ten years was minimal, it served its purpose as we grew. We’re over the moon to share our new look and feel that represents how far Thistle has come in our decade-long journey. We’re excited to dig deeper into our purpose and values, and to share the journey that brought us here today in service of our mission to improve personal and planetary health by celebrating the power and deliciousness of plants.

In good health, 

Ash Cheriyan
CEO and Co-founder

Shiri Avnery, PhD
President and Co-founder

Catalysts for Change

Our namesake, the thistle, is a resilient pioneer plant that sustains life around it and replenishes the earth beneath it, revitalizing the very land it grows upon. Inspired by its amazing power to nourish, heal, and catalyze change, the thistle is the perfect metaphor for our company.

We wanted to bring the thistle front and center to ground us and our community around our purpose – serving meals that can transform your health while healing our environment and building stronger communities. 

Our Purpose

Thistle was founded with the mission to make it easy for everyone to get and stay healthy while improving the sustainability of our food system. As we strive to support your health, a healthier planet, and stronger communities, we are committed to a larger purpose: making plant-based foods irresistible so that we can all thrive.  

Our Guiding Principles

We are rooted in three simple principles that guide everything we do.

Better For You.

Individual Health: Delivering delicious meals to improve your health, wellness, and longevity. We fill your plate with the highest quality, nutrient-rich, plant-rich ingredients to support healthy weight, improve gut health (ICYMI, check out our study with UC Irvine), and help prevent diet-related chronic diseases. 

Better For Everyone.

Planetary Health: Protecting and promoting the health of our planet.

Empowering For All.

Community Health: Bettering our communities and amplifying our impact. 

The Making of Our Color Story

We believe in eating a rainbow of foods packed with nutrients, phytochemicals, and antioxidants to improve your physical and mental health, wellness, sleep, and longevity. When building our new color palette, we looked both to our namesake, the humble and mighty thistle plant, as well as the delicious plants on our plate, for inspiration. Our new hues both remind us of the vibrant ingredients in our meals and serve as the perfect canvas to let the natural ingredients in our plant-forward meals shine.

“We looked at nature’s elements in their purest form to inspire our new color palette. By eating whole, nutrient dense foods from the earth, you can live your healthiest, happiest life, while at the same time improving the health of our planet.” – Co-founder Shiri Avnery, PhD   

Oat, Peppercorn, and Beet are our primary colors and the heart of our visual brand. Together, Oat and Peppercorn serve as a soft, neutral canvas to let the beautiful colors and textures of our delicious food truly shine. For an accent color, we were determined to find the perfect pop of color that recalls the natural vibrancy of our plant-forward meals. We took to a local market, sliced up different produce and fell in love with our primary accent color, Beet.

Pulled right from nature, our Cantaloupe, Celery, and Kale hues help amplify our core colors as we share our mission to support better health, a healthier planet, and stronger communities. Our Kale green is an ode to our original Thistle green as we blend past, present, and future. 

Rooted in the Moment

Life is hectic, sometimes you need to remember to take a minute and smell the roses. Roll out the tablecloth, make yourself comfortable and enjoy every bite. Make sure to tag us @thistleco so we don’t miss out on all the deliciousness.