What Siff Haider learned from packing orders in Toronto

Every capsule, traced back to the field. Siffat Haider and Nish Samantray started Arrae with wedding savings and two formulas. Six years later they sell in more than 2,000 Target locations. This conversation stays with the paperwork.

In 2020 the office was a tiny apartment in Toronto. Siffat Haider and her husband Nish Samantray packed every order by hand, added a Polaroid selfie to each box, and learned customer names one parcel at a time. That table is where Arrae began, with Bloat and Calm and no outside team.

Haider had spent years missing school with flu, cold and prolonged coughs, then later dealing with immune problems, anxiety, digestion and fatigue. She has said Western medicine practitioners did not give her what she needed, and that herbs, minerals and vitamins first helped as a last resort. The brand grew from that history.

What Arrae is now is larger and more exacting. The company says its formulas are developed with naturopathic doctors, use clinically studied ingredients, and are tested for potency, heavy metals and microbiological contaminants. The range has widened from Bloat to metabolism, magnesium, constipation and an all in one pre, pro and postbiotic. What others miss is the label discipline underneath the design. Arrae talks about chic bottles, but the work is lot numbers, extract ratios and certificates of analysis.

You packed every Bloat order by hand in a tiny Toronto apartment in 2020 and added a Polaroid selfie to each box, what did that closeness teach you about what a label has to prove on its own once you could no longer meet the customer.

Siff: It taught me that trust cannot depend on me being in the room. In that apartment, Nish and I knew every order. I wrote notes. We added a Polaroid because we were broke and grateful, and I wanted people to see the faces behind the bottle. But I also knew that would not scale. The label would have to do that work. So we really wanted to make a really chic, yet, efficacious experience, one where the front tells you exactly what the capsule is for, and the back tells you how we made it. After struggling with my own health issues for years, I turned to natural remedies as a last resort. I discovered the power that herbs, minerals, and vitamins had in not only providing quick relief, but also addressing the root cause of the issue. That set our rule. Targeted solutions that worked and looked as good as they make you feel. No complicated routines. No blind faith. If someone picks up Bloat in Target today, they will not get my handwriting. They should get clarity instead. Dose, extract, other ingredients, lot, and testing language that holds up.

You have said you missed school constantly with flu, cold, cough and prolonged sicknesses, and in your early 20s you fractured a rib from a chronic cough and were given Codeine with no long term plan, how does that history shape the way you read a Supplement Facts panel now.

Siff: I remember high school, I would constantly be missing school, because I would just come down with anything and everything. Whatever was in the air, I would catch it, like flu, cold, cough, just prolonged sicknesses. When you live like that, you learn to read everything. In my early 20s that cough fractured a rib and I was given Codeine with no long term plan. It quieted the cough for a night. It did not explain anything. So when I started reading supplement labels, I read them the way a careful patient reads. I look at the serving size first, then the amount per ingredient, then the other ingredients line. I want to know the form of each herb and whether it is an extract or a powder. I started Arrae, because I had real issues with my immune system, kind of felt like I wasn’t getting what I needed from my Western medicine practitioners, essentially. And I really saw the power in supplements. For me, I’m very purpose-driven. It had to be something that I really cared about, and to know that I touch people’s lives. That is why our panels are short on purpose. If we cannot defend an ingredient by origin and test, it does not go in.

You launched in 2019 on wedding savings after deciding the market offered natural products that were not effective or beautiful, and you reached profitability in six months and 1 million dollars in one year by gifting with personal emails that expected nothing in return, what did that early capital constraint force about sourcing.

Siff: It forced focus. We launched with two products, Bloat and Calm, because that was what we could afford to make well. We used our wedding savings, so every kilogram mattered. I wrote really compelling emails about why I thought the product would make a difference in their life, how I expected nothing in return, and that we were broke. That honesty helped, because creators could tell we were not buying praise. On sourcing, small money means small lots, and small lots mean you can be picky. We chose fewer herbs at defined amounts rather than long blends with fairy dust levels. For Bloat that meant ginger root, lemon balm, dandelion root, organic peppermint, slippery elm and bromelain from pineapple, plus a digestive enzyme, each with paperwork. We asked growers and suppliers for country of origin, harvest date, drying method and extract ratio. We kept retain samples. That is easier when you are packing by hand. The discipline carried over when volumes grew.

Bloat lists five herbs plus bromelain and a digestive enzyme, including ginger root, lemon balm, dandelion root, organic peppermint with L-Menthol, and slippery elm, where exactly do those materials start and what happens between harvest and encapsulation.

Siff: They start as plants, and we have to respect that. Peppermint leaf is harvested, dried quickly to protect volatile oils including L-Menthol, then milled. Ginger root is washed, sliced, dried to a set moisture level, then extracted or powdered to spec. Lemon balm and dandelion root follow the same path. Drying, milling, extraction, then blending. Slippery elm bark is dried and milled, and we watch moisture closely because bark powders can carry higher microbial load. Bromelain is different. It is an enzyme fraction from pineapple stem, produced by controlled extraction and then standardized for activity. Standardised means each lot is adjusted to meet a stated activity level, not just weight. After that, powders go to a blender, then to encapsulation. Fill weight is checked through the run. We wanted to bridge that gap with targeted solutions that worked AND looked as good as they make you feel. For me that means the capsule in your hand traces to a field lot and an extraction lot, with names and dates attached.

You describe Arrae as natural, filler free and science backed with zero woo, yet words like clean and natural can hide a lot, what do those words mean on your specification sheets and what document backs each one.

Nish: For us those words are shorthand, and shorthand needs a file. One hundred percent natural, on our sheet, means no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives, and no undisclosed fillers. Filler free means the capsule contains the stated actives plus only the encapsulation aids listed in other ingredients. Clinically studied ingredients means the ingredient form and amount relate to published study levels, not just the plant name. Each incoming lot arrives with a supplier certificate of analysis showing identity, potency and moisture. Then a third party lab tests for heavy metals and microbiological contaminants. Lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury have set limits. Total plate count, yeast and mold, E. coli and Salmonella are checked on botanical lots. If a lot fails, it does not blend. I created Arrae because I was tired of wellness products that promised everything and delivered nothing. That sentence, from Siff, is our filter. We would rather make targeted fast acting formulas than cure all blends, and keep routines clean, simple and chic rather than complicated.

We would rather address the root cause than mask symptoms, and show our paperwork while we do it.

Siffat Haider

Tribiotic arrived in the 2024 expansion as an all in one pre, pro and postbiotic at 49 dollars, how is a living formula traced differently from a dried herb, from fermentation tank to finished capsule.

Siff: Herbs are traced to a harvest. Microbes are traced to a strain and a fermentation run. A probiotic starts in a master cell bank where each strain is identified and stored. From there it goes to seed fermentation, then larger tanks where temperature, pH and feed are controlled. After harvest, cells are concentrated, cryoprotectants are added, then the material is freeze dried to a stable powder measured in colony forming units through shelf life, not just at manufacture. Prebiotics are fibers that travel with them, and postbiotics are inactivated ferments or metabolites that are tested by weight and marker. Each step has a lot number. Blending checks moisture and potency. Encapsulation uses low heat and controlled humidity. Then finished lot testing confirms identity, count and contaminants. The label shows strain names, counts and other ingredients. That is what lets a customer hold the bottle and see what is inside without taking our word for it.

In 2025 Arrae entered more than 2,000 Target locations plus Ulta and Sprouts, with MB-1 at 3,584 reviews and Bloat at 3,383 reviews on your own store, what changes in testing and batch control when you move from hand packed parcels to national retail.

Nish: The paperwork multiplies, and that is good. In Toronto we controlled quality by touching everything. At national scale we control it by system. Every finished batch has a batch record. Who supplied each ingredient lot, how much was weighed, what the in process checks showed, what the lab found, and where the finished units went. Fill weight variation is tracked. Seals and desiccants are specified for moisture. Retains from every lot are stored so we can retest if a question arises. Retailers add their own audits and documentation checks. Ulta, Sprouts and Target each have compliance steps. The claim language also tightens. Supplements in the United States carry the statement that claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. We state what the product is for in structure or function terms, show the Supplement Facts panel, and leave efficacy to the formula and the testing behind it. No complicated routines or blind faith. That promise has to survive a pallet, not just a parcel.

Your about page says formulas are developed with top naturopathic doctors using clinically studied ingredients, who decides the final form and dose, and where does that decision get recorded so an outsider could follow it.

Siff: Doctors shape it, operations locks it. We bring a target profile first. For Bloat it was digestive support after meals in a capsule that could be carried. The naturopathic doctors review the literature, suggest forms and ranges, and flag interactions. Then we source to that spec. If organic peppermint extract at a given L-Menthol level is not available with clean heavy metal results, we do not substitute quietly. We revise the spec or wait. Once the formula is set, it lives in a master manufacturing record. Ingredient, supplier, identity test, amount per capsule, other ingredients, blending time, encapsulation size, fill weight range, and finished tests. Every production run follows that record and creates a batch record. That is the trail. So we really wanted to make a really chic, yet, efficacious experience. Chic is the bottle you keep out. Efficacious is the record you never see unless you ask. We keep it so we can answer when someone asks where exactly this comes from, and how do you know.

You have refused one off paid collaborations without genuine fandom and say you refuse to stuff supplements to the back of the pantry, how does that stance show up in what you will and will not put on a label.

Siff: It shows up as restraint. We make targeted supplements for unsexy problems, bloating, constipation, sleep, calm, metabolism. The label says the problem plainly and the use plainly. We do not promise everything. Results you can see and feel, for us, means the customer can judge the product in daily life, not that we guarantee an outcome. Where science meets chic means the science is the spec and the test, and chic means you will actually keep it on the counter. We refuse to stuff supplements to the back of the pantry, so we keep counts and sizes realistic and directions short. We would rather treat customers like influencers than save perks for press, which is why early gifting mattered. I expected nothing in return. That taught us to write labels that do not need hype. Name the ingredient. Name the amount. Name the other ingredients. Name the lot. If a step is still opaque, say so and say what it would take to show it. That is how a small shelf of products earns years of trust.

Closing note from the desk

What stays after this conversation is the distance traveled from apartment table to retail pallet without losing the thread. Haider and Samantray can still describe the early Polaroids, the wedding savings, the two first formulas, and then move directly to strain banks, extract ratios and batch records.

Arrae set out to make natural, targeted supplements that work and look as good as they make people feel, with zero woo. Said plainly, the brand wants everyday problems named clearly on the front and proven by documents on the back. The chain is not fully open, growers are not named on pack, but the method for checking is present in every lot.

Product spotlight

Bloat, 55 dollars for one time purchase. The label describes fast acting digestive support capsules with five herbs plus bromelain and a digestive enzyme. The brand positions it for use around meals that tend to cause fullness. Take as directed on the label and read the Supplement Facts panel and other ingredients line first.

Tribiotic, 49 dollars for one time purchase. The label describes all in one pre, pro and postbiotic support in capsule form. The brand positions it as daily gut support alongside steady meals, water and sleep. Take as directed on the label and store as directed to protect potency through expiry.