Today we’d like to introduce you to Abraham Pena.
Abraham, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Before I start, I would like to give a big shout out to God, it certainly was God’s plan.
Second, my Mom Lourdes.
Red easy mom.
Third, my brothers, Gus and Rudy!
Then, my Girlfriend Veronica and her family Juana, David, Tiff, Melissa, for constantly supporting!
Weirdly, this whole journey started at the time my parents divorced. I got closer to my mom and we would cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it was a whole new learning experience for me. Since I was rarely home and never cooked a day in my life besides hot pockets, lol, I cooked and cooked till one day, I decided to lose weight and I was roughly about 330ish lbs.
So, I started googling recipes and meal plans and workout plans, then a year and a half later, I was down 100lbs.
I just knew I wanted to help people along their fitness journey with food.
I decided one day to start my own meal prep company and with the encouragement of my mom, I quit my day job and pursued this crazy idea of mine.
We’re going on our 5th year of cooking for personal clients and plan to expand here in the next year!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Smooth road? Nah.
Like the old cliche line says: nothing worthwhile comes easy or something like that.
The struggles:
Well, as I previously stated, my parents had divorced and at the time, my mom was diabetic, she was going through dialysis, even though she pushed me to be 110%, she was barely at 50% herself.
So, I told my mom “no worries amaa, we’re gonna make it.”
Then, reality settled in and I could barely sell any meals. November and December rolled around and I wasn’t making meals.
Definitely felt like a failure.
So, I ended in the restaurant business doing jobs from dishwasher, cook, and manager.
I told myself I was gonna do it for a couple of months and it ended up being eight long months.
My mom got very ill and decided to quit and be by her side and try to make Abes fitty foods work again!
It was going well this time around and then, boom, my mom cried out for me one morning and I ran to her to room, she asked me to take her to the hospital.
Shortly after, she had a heart attack and brought me to pieces.
Abes fitty foods was no more.
It took me five months after my mom’s passing to get it right and cook again.
I got it right! We cooked and cooked, 50 meals a Sunday, 25 meals a Monday.
I thought business was booming.
But it only lasted for five months.
After that, I found out our house, the house I grew up in for 20 years was sold at auction and we had one week to vacate the house or be taken to jail.
It seemed like nothing would ever go right in my life, by the grace of God, I had some friends help me out
and get through this time.
First night, I and my two brothers spent it in an 89 honda crx.
Second night, my friend let us sleep on his couch and said we can stay with him for a week.
Life can be very crazy at times, we were looking for a place to stay and one day, a random lady walks up to me and gives me a check for 4,500, she told me “here you go sweetie, we know you need this.”
So, it was a huge blessing at the time and the hunt for a place began.
We didn’t know where to look to, one of my old customers named Lulu helped us out and get a place!
Crazy thing, my mom’s nickname was LuLu.
So, all this was just mind-blowing.
We ended up finding a house in magnolia a.k.a. eado and we’ve been grinding ever since.
Abes Fitty Foods – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Abes Fitty Foods is a meal prep company for your average person to try and get healthy although we specialize in just meal preps, we make healthier alternatives and make healthier protein pastries.
We’re known for making good food, lol.
It’s run by me, Gus and Rudy, all of the brothers and our fitness journeys. We’ve lost about 100lbs each and continue to push and strive to make our company better.
At the end of the day, what sets us apart from all the other ones.
We love this.
We have been through hell and back, mother’s death, lost our house, homeless, and we’re still here, cooking, trying to hopefully one day, open up a store and share our story with the rest of the world.
Not many people will do this when they have nothing left to live for.
Cooking not only saved my life but helped my brothers too!
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
The crazy thing is I have yet to think I’m successful.
But my version of success has changed over the years.
Being successful is creating a culture that helps not only the people become better versions of themselves but helping the community also.
I’m far from that but currently, through this whole journey, all I wanted was inner peace and live my life push my brothers and people around me.
People think it’s easy but I’m still late on rent, lmao, it’s a never-ending story.
Pricing:
- pricing starts at $8.25 and slowly go up
Contact Info:
- Instagram: abes fitty foods
Image Credit:
shout to my boy @istevens0n on Instagram for the brother photos
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