Inspiring Conversations with Barbara Zuluaga of Honest Eats

Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Zuluaga.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Zuluaga.

Hi Barbara, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Inspired by my niece’s diagnosis of brain cancer at age 3, our family began to explore the thought that nutrition may have links to chronic illness and cancer. During this time, I became obsessed with research and food quality. It was a natural progression to finally stumble upon the Paleo diet through my CrossFit gym. Eager to learn more about how certain foods affect our health, I discovered compelling evidence that suggested that the food we were eating could be making us sick. Frustrated by the lack of transparency in the food system and lack of easily accessible, healthy meal options, I founded my company, Honest Eats, in 2013.

At the time, I was gainfully employed in the oil & gas industry, yet spent more time meal planning and taking pictures of what I prepared for lunch that day. After losing 100lbs, people started requesting meal prep and even offered to pay for a meal service. Initially, I started this side business as an extra source of income. I rented kitchen space by the hour from a small restaurant in the evenings where I cooked all night and delivered meals to a handful of customers each morning. I headed home and slept for 2 hours before getting up for my corporate full-time job the next day. After 6 grueling months of moonlighting, I finally had the courage to quit my day job and chase my dream.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Being able to focus all my time, energy and passion on my business led to tremendous growth. After renting a shared kitchen space during my first two years in business, I was able to raise enough cash capital to move into my own leased production facility, reinvesting generated sales from the business to purchase every piece of equipment and piecemeal the things that needed to be fixed or added, in our 2nd generation kitchen space.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Honest Eats is a prepared meal company specializing in scratch-made meals featuring organic and local ingredients, grass-fed meats, and bone broth. We are located in the Heights and deliver up to 60 miles of the greater Houston area.

We offer Houstonians healthy and delicious Paleo, Ketogenic, and Plant-Based prepared meals. Each meal is thoughtfully prepared, locally sourced, made with organic ingredients, and 100% gluten-free with zero processed sugar and no chemical and artificial preservatives or colors.

We are so excited to finally open our first brick-and-mortar in M-K-T after serving for almost 10 years exclusively as a delivery service. When we started, There was some negative feedback that “healthy” food didn’t taste good, that it was too expensive, or that people, in general, didn’t care about food quality. We beg to differ. We simmer our bone broth slowly, our eggs and proteins come from local farmers, and we strive to ensure every meal will leave you satisfied. People are tired of feeling sick all the time. The entire point of our meal program is to empower our customers to take back their health. There’s no weird ingredients, the recipes are familiar flavors with a healthier spin, responsibly sourced and prepared from scratch like your grandmother would have made.

Pricing:

• Meals are $15 a la Carte
• If you purchase 10 – 15 meals, they are $14,50 each
• If you purchase 16-20 meals, they are $14.00 each
• If you purchase 21+ meals, they are $13.50 each

Contact Info:

• Website: www.honesteatshtx.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honesteatshtx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honesteatshtx 

Image Credits
Andrew Hemingway Everly Brilliant Photography