When Ayesha Abuelhiga launched Mason Dixie Foods in 2012, her objective was distinct: to revitalize the quick service restaurant sector. Embracing the tagline “clean, convenient, comfort food,” her brand emerged from a food desert in the Washington D.C. area, where customers formed two-hour lines during the opening days. “People were encouraged by the fact that we knew what was in our food,” Abuelhiga shared in an interview with Food Dive. As a first-generation American of Korean and Palestinian Israeli descent, Abuelhiga grew up in a family that valued quality comfort food, served at her parents’ small convenience store. After moving out, she yearned for that same comforting food, but only found fast food options available. This led her to create it herself.
“I wanted to clean up what was happening in quick service restaurants. Good old American comfort food was still the most industrialized type of food available,” she explained during a panel at Expo West. Abuelhiga left her corporate job to establish Mason Dixie, and soon the restaurant was bustling with long lines and daily sellouts. Despite facing some criticism for serving deep-fried chicken and flaky biscuits while advocating for a cleaner food space, she remained committed to her vision of offering authentic food with real ingredients, such as antibiotic-free chicken, whole eggs, and real butter.
Mason Dixie Foods gained significant traction when it entered the frozen breakfast market in 2021, quickly becoming a leader in breakfast sandwiches. The brand recently introduced five new products in Whole Foods across the nation, with plans for a broader retail rollout this spring. Throughout her retail journey, Abuelhiga gained insights into some troubling aspects of the natural and organic food industry that she aims to address. “The ingredients in food items that should be handmade are quite alarming,” she remarked. She believes that many products in the natural and organic category disguise themselves under the pretense of optionality and social equality, often at the expense of human nutrition.
“Natural and organic have come to mean ‘free-from’ foods—free from gluten, dairy, paleo, keto, vegan-friendly, and so on,” Abuelhiga stated. Rather than honoring the original principles of these diets, the industry often replaces or conceals certain ingredients to achieve product certifications. Data from Mintel indicates that 84% of Americans purchase “free-from” foods seeking less processed options; however, many of these items may actually contain more processed ingredients, such as modified cellulose and various stabilizers and emulsifiers. “In the pursuit of providing free-from options, we forget the importance of minimally processed foods,” Abuelhiga asserted. “Consumers are savvy, and it’s our duty as food producers to deliver products that advance the industry in a positive direction.”
Mason Dixie Foods emphasizes “scratch made with real butter” on its packaging, offering frozen breakfast sandwiches, including a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit, a croissant sandwich with savory sausage, a pancake sandwich with sweet maple sausage, and an English muffin sausage with Canadian bacon. The brand also features a line of baked goods, including frozen waffles and biscuits.
Having been in the frozen food sector for eight years, Abuelhiga describes the freezer as “nature’s preservative,” but acknowledges that it is an expensive method for delivering natural food to consumers. “Retailers must keep freezers occupied and operational continuously, and on the supply chain side, they deal with spoilage when trucks break down, plus the increased fuel costs to keep frozen foods in transit,” she explained. “It’s a significant operational burden.” Consequently, consumer packaged goods companies have cut corners, introducing more preservatives and fillers to reduce costs and enhance profitability.
“One of the key motivators for me to revive natural food was my realization, through working with frozen food manufacturers, that they prioritize the health and safety of their machines over the well-being of the people they serve.” Whether opting for palm oil instead of animal product processing agents, using binders to facilitate dough manufacturing, or adding silicon dioxide to improve texture, Abuelhiga pointed out that “all these additives are unnecessary for human digestion.”
In her mission to promote real food, she also recognizes the importance of nutrients like solaray calcium citrate supreme, understanding that consumers deserve transparency about what goes into their food. As her journey continues, she remains dedicated to transforming the food industry, ensuring that comfort food can be both nourishing and wholesome.