A nascent Maui-based line of vegan, organic, gluten-free, soy-free and GMO-free food products has proliferated around the state and now is expanding to California.

Life Foods makes "burger" patties, breakfast patties and seasoned crumbles, condiments, dressings and hot sauces, as well as sauerkraut, kim chee, furikake and soy-free tempeh, made from a mung bean base.

"Our food is tasty, kid-friendly, and it has high nutritional value," Life Foods Inc. CEO and founder Azeem Butt said.

"A lot of the convenience foods are shipped (from) thousands of miles away," said Butt. Those foods may not have the nutritional profile that people would prefer to eat or feed to their families, so Life Foods’ creations, made in a 7,000-square-foot facility in Wailuku, are "all raw products with incredible probiotics" to help keep a customer’s "gut healthy," he said.

Life Foods’ ingredient lists, containing pronounce-able words as well as nutrition information, are posted on the company website.

His operational model is to maintain a "green circle," sourcing and distributing within 400 miles, so he can go from farm to shelf within four weeks, he said. It is a model the company will employ across the pond, as the 17,000-square-foot California facility also will draw from farms in its own geographic area.

His primary agricultural suppliers locally are Kozen Farms, Kumu Farms and Hale Akua Farms on Maui.

"We do almost 500 pounds of cabbage now, every week," Butt said.

The company’s Superfood burger patties come in different flavors and formulations that are "soy-free, vegan and gluten-free, and provide 20 percent of (daily) iron and supply 30 percent of minerals and vitamins … that you don’t necessarily get if you’re just eating meat," Butt said.

Because Life Foods makes burgers, it also makes condiments called Red, Yellow and White, as alternatives to ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.

Customers have inquired whether the company would make buns for its specialty burgers.

While there are vegan and gluten-free bun options on the market, Life Foods sought to differentiate itself by creating a gum-free, additive-free bun that uses chia seed as a binder, Butt said. The buns are available to Life Foods’ food service clients including hotels, delis and natural food stores and restaurants, and will be available at retail, likely next month. While he knows it is gluten-free, Butt is waiting for the product to get certified as such so it can be officially marketed and sold with that assurance right on the label.

Life Foods offers two flavors of breakfast patties and sells the spicy Italian flavor as crumbles in 1-pound pouches for use in sauces, as pizza topping, and other uses. Recipes and serving suggestions are available online.

Dressings are sold in 8-ounce bottles, while the two hot sauces are sold in 5-ounce bottles, and the fermented cabbage products come in 1-pound pouches.

Online prices for Life Foods’ products range from $5.99 for a two-pack of the Original burger, Aloha Tempeh, or 75-gram pouch of furikake, to $12.99 for a 1-pound pouch of kim chee, up to $28 for a 10-pack of Original burgers. Prices at dozens of retailers around the state may vary.

The company’s business is roughly 60 percent to 65 percent food service, meaning hotels, restaurants and similar accounts, where the volume is high but margins are lower and there’s little to no brand recognition for the end-customer. The rest of the business is in the retail market, which has lower volume but higher margins and high brand recognition for the consumer. "It’s not just about selling product, it’s about educating the customer," Butt said.

Life Foods’ Wailuku facility employs 23 people, each with an equity interest in the company. "So if you pick up a dressing, immediately you know that certain elements were produced right on (Maui), that Stacy gets to go to school because she’s making those dressings in the neighborhood," he said.

Butt moved to Hawaii from California in 2012 with his wife, Christy Sinclair, and children, 11-year-old Zayd and 9-year-old Ayana, to enjoy partial retirement. He had been a Silicon Valley businessman, launching startups and selling them to public companies. His family had vacationed on Maui several times before moving to the Valley Isle.

Rather than rest on his entrepreneurial laurels on Maui, he started yet another company, and now his new facility in California is being remodeled for an anticipated June launch of Life Foods’ products around his old stamping grounds in the San Francisco Bay area.

"Buy Local" runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.