How Kenya’s Sujay Shah built Scale Foods into a $100M business

A Kenyan flag flies at the entrance of Scale Foods’ Toronto facility. It’s not there for optics. For Sujay Shah, it’s a marker—of where his family’s story started, and what he refuses to leave behind as the company grows.

Long before Scale Foods became a modern manufacturing operation, Shah’s education happened in a garage. In the 1970s, his father, Shashi Shah, arrived in Canada from Mombasa and built an importing business from scratch, with limited capital and no margin for error. Sujay grew up watching it unfold in real time. He learned early that relationships mattered, reputations traveled fast, and progress was rarely dramatic—it came from small, disciplined decisions that added up over years.

That mindset carried forward in 2006, when Sujay and his brother Ajay launched Shashi Foods, later rebranded as Scale Foods. Their youngest brother, Rajay, joined soon after. Together, they set out to build more than a single product line: a natural foods manufacturing platform rooted in global sourcing, applied technology, and a refusal to cut corners, even when the investment was heavy and the payoff uncertain.

Today, Scale Foods operates mainly in two lanes: grains and spices. On one side are cereals, muesli, and superfoods; on the other, large-scale spice processing. The company supplies major food and CPG brands across North America, and what sets it apart is how much of the work it keeps in-house. Rather than outsourcing critical steps, Scale controls the chain end to end—from sourcing and sterilization to milling, blending, and packaging.

On the grains side, that means high-volume production powered by a 150-foot, multi-zone hemothermic oven system built for consistency and freshness. In spices, it means in-house steam sterilization and advanced manufacturing designed to protect flavor while meeting strict safety standards. Still privately owned, Scale Foods has grown into a roughly $95 million operation, built with a long view—and a clear sense of where it came from.

In this conversation with Billionaires.Africa’s Mfonobong Nsehe, Shah talks about the trade-offs, the growing pains, and the principles he won’t negotiate – integrity, family unity, and the patience to build for decades.

You grew up watching your father, Shashi Shah, build an importing business out of a garage after arriving from Mombasa in the 1970s. As you lead Scale Foods today, what lessons or memories from his early journey continue to shape your approach?

Growing up around the family garage operation taught me that business is built one relationship, one decision, and one risk at a time. I watched him focus obsessively on trust, consistency, and long-term thinking, even when resources were limited. That mindset still shapes how I lead today, especially the belief that discipline and integrity matter more than speed, and that if you take care of your partners and customers, growth follows.

The Kenyan flag flying at the entrance of your Toronto facility is a powerful symbol. What does that flag represent to you personally, and how does it influence the culture inside Scale Foods? 

The Kenyan flag represents origin, resilience, and gratitude. It’s a reminder of where this journey began and the values that came with it: hard work, humility, and perseverance. Internally, it reinforces that we’re building something global without forgetting our roots. It sets the tone that success doesn’t require erasing your past; it requires honoring it.

You often speak about learning from your father’s entrepreneurial story. What aspects of that original garage operation, and the risks he took, most shaped your understanding of business before founding Scale Foods in 2006?

What stayed with me was how calculated those early risks were. The garage wasn’t just a starting point; it was a testing ground. Every decision had consequences, and mistakes were expensive. That taught me early on to respect fundamentals: cash flow, product quality, and customer trust. It also taught me that growth isn’t linear, and patience is a competitive advantage.

Scale Foods began as a much smaller operation almost twenty years ago and is now a vertically integrated, $95M food manufacturing facility. What was the single most pivotal decision you made that accelerated Scale Foods’ growth?

Committing fully to vertical integration. Owning the process end-to-end, from sourcing to sterilization, milling, blending, and packaging, changed everything. It allowed us to control purity, quality, reduce risk, and build long-term credibility in the market. It was capital-intensive and uncomfortable at times, but it positioned us for sustainable scale rather than short-term wins.

We started as a six-person team; today, we’re over 200 strong. That scale isn’t just about headcount; it reflects the systems, discipline, and structure we’ve built around our values. Vertical integration is what enabled us to earn the trust of some of the most powerful food companies in the world. Our client base now includes leading Fortune 500 and global CPG brands across Canada and the U.S.

This model gives us something few others can claim: guaranteed traceability, consistency, and purity, with the infrastructure to scale it globally

Kasuku, your flagship brand, is named after the Swahili word for parrot, symbolizing vibrancy, intelligence, and variety. How did you land on that name, and in what ways has Kasuku come to embody the Shah family’s business philosophy? 

The name Kasuku was very intentional. Kasuku means parrot in Swahili, and for us the parrot represents intelligence, awareness, and diversity, qualities that align naturally with the world of spices and with how our family has built this business.

Spices are global by nature. They come from different regions, cultures, and traditions, and working with them requires knowledge, respect, and precision. The parrot symbolizes intelligence and understanding. It’s not just about bright colors or variety, but about knowing what you’re working with and doing it properly.

Kasuku also reflects our philosophy around quality and discipline. We believe in education, hard work, and controlling the process end-to-end. That’s why we invest so heavily in sourcing, blending, and milling ourselves, to ensure freshness, consistency, and trust. Kasuku is a brand that values depth over shortcuts and long-term thinking over trends, which is exactly how our family has approached business for generations.

Vertical integration, controlling sourcing, milling, blending, and packaging, is a bold and capital-intensive strategy. What convinced you that this was the right path, and how did you manage the growing pains along the way? 

The volatility of global supply chains made the decision clear. Relying on third parties introduces risk you can’t always control. By investing in vertical integration, we gained traceability, consistency, and agility. The growing pains were real: capital strain, operational complexity, but we managed them by reinvesting steadily, building strong internal teams, and thinking in decades rather than quarters.

You often cite East African business principles, resilience, relationship-building, and community-driven growth as the foundation of your success. Can you share a concrete example of a moment when those values guided a tough business decision? 

When my father and his brothers came to Canada from East Africa, one of the first barriers they faced was racism. They didn’t have connections or a big network, so they built the business by serving people they understood, other East Africans and Indians who were looking for products that reminded them of home.

That foundation, community-driven growth, got us through the early days. But eventually, we had to face a tough question: how do we break into the mainstream market without losing who we are? That’s where East African values really kicked in. We relied on adaptability, learned the system from the ground up, and used the trading instincts we were taught, better quality, better pricing, and relationships that actually meant something.

It wasn’t fast, and it wasn’t easy. But we didn’t cut corners. We showed up consistently, kept our word, and let the quality speak for itself. That mindset, resilience, long-term thinking, and never forgetting where we came from, that’s what helped us push through and grow into what Scale is today.

As you, Sujay, and Rajay now lead Scale Foods as CEO and President, how has your role evolved, and what are the non-negotiable principles you’ve insisted must carry into the next generation? 

My role has changed completely over time. In the early days, we did everything ourselves: sales, logistics, operations, and problem‑solving on the fly. I was very hands‑on, very in the weeds. As the company grew, I had to make a difficult shift from being the entrepreneur who does everything to the CEO who leads through people. Those are two very different roles. Today, my focus is on setting direction, building the right leadership team, and empowering them with clear structure and philosophy so they can make strong decisions independently. That transition wasn’t easy, and it’s still something I work on every day.

As for what must carry into the next generation, there are a few non‑negotiables. First is integrity; how we do business matters just as much as the results. Second is family unity and respect. If the family can’t work together in harmony, no amount of success is worth it. Third is a relentless commitment to growth and innovation. We think in decades, not years. The moment you get complacent, whether with the business or with inherited success, that’s when decline starts. Scale Foods exists to keep moving forward, and that mindset has to live on long after us.

Scale Foods has remained privately owned and proudly independent. In an era of aggressive consolidation and private equity, have you ever been tempted to sell or take on outside control, and why did you ultimately choose not to? 

Remaining privately owned allows us to stay aligned with our long-term vision. We’re not driven by short-term exit timelines or external pressure. We think in decades, not years, and that perspective shapes every decision we make. Independence gives us the freedom to reinvest in people, technology, and infrastructure the right way. For us, control equals consistency, and that’s something we’re not willing to compromise.

Your facility leverages advanced automation, data-driven quality control, and next-generation food manufacturing. How do you balance high-tech systems with the relationship-centred approach you grew up around?

Technology enhances relationships; it doesn’t replace them. Automation and data give us precision and reliability, but trust is still built person to person. We use technology to deliver on promises, not to distance ourselves from partners. The human element remains central; the systems simply support it.

Community-driven growth has been central to your story. How does Scale Foods give back, whether to the East African diaspora, local communities in Toronto, or farmers and partners across your supply chain? 

Community isn’t just a value for us; it’s how we were built. My parents came here with nothing, and it was the East African and Indian community that helped us get our footing. So giving back has never been a question; it’s just what we do.

I spend a lot of time mentoring young entrepreneurs, especially students and early-stage founders from East African backgrounds, because I know how hard that first step can be. Sometimes, all someone needs is one conversation with someone who’s done it.

Locally, we work with Toronto food banks and regularly support major charitable organizations focused on health, education, and community support. And globally, we’ve supported initiatives like building a karate school in Guyana to help get kids off the street and into something positive.

It’s not about writing big checks for headlines; we show up where it matters and invest in people and places that reflect our values.

When you think about the next 50 years of Scale Foods, what legacy do you hope your grandchildren will inherit, not just in terms of business size, but in terms of values, identity, and impact on the future of food in North America? 

I hope they inherit a company that stands for integrity, excellence, and responsibility. Size matters less than reputation. I want Scale Foods to be known for doing things the right way, investing locally, treating partners fairly, and raising the standard for food manufacturing in North America.

But just as important, I want them to carry forward the values that built this from the ground up: education, hard work, and a strong sense of identity. Nothing replaces a solid work ethic, and education is what allows you to keep evolving, especially in this industry. If those principles stay intact, the rest will take care of itself.