Today we'd like to introduce you to Courtney and Kekela Aspelund.

Courtney and Kekela, let's start with your story. We'd love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.

I grew up in South Texas with a single mom who worked 60 hours a week in restaurant management. As a result, I grew up on foods that came out of a box. When I turned 18 and moved out on my own, I started to explore food. I worked for 10 years in the restaurant industry and moved from Texas to San Francisco, California where I entered the wine business and continued learning about food, wine, & cooking.

I then moved on to live in Hawaii where I was exposed to other kinds of cuisine and had my first daughter. When she was born 7.5 years ago, I cleaned up our eating and become passionate about organic food, natural living, and holistic health. Enter: Minced Meal Prep, a combination of what I know and what I love: being in the kitchen, natural whole foods, and the restaurant industry. -Courtney

Growing up in Hawai'i, we are introduced to so many different genres of food and local Hawaiian cuisine is an infusion of so many different cultures including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, and Portuguese. I grew up with a mom who started us in the kitchen at 8 years old with no recipes or measurements to follow and we learned how to cook by taste, trial, and error. Food and cooking is a big passion for the people of Hawai'i and if you ever listen to our music, we sing a ton about fish and poi! As I got older and moved on to other parts of the country, cooking became more of a chore and cooking for one is not fun.

When I would meal prep for myself, I would end up eating the same meal for the week and by the end of the week, I was making horrible food choices because I was so sick of eating the same meal over and over. Courtney started to meal prep for me and my brother, which gave me 5 different options to eat throughout the week and kept me on track with eating properly. Each week, I watched as Courtney was gaining new clients and retaining those clients and she was to the point that she either needed to get help or scale back her weekly intake of customers.

I had been in the insurance field for over 15 years and was ready for something that would re-ignite the love of food that I had growing up and that is when I left insurance and Courtney and I started on this endeavor to make Minced Meal Prep a business that we could be completely immersed and engaged in. A year and some months later and we have a growing business in Rowlett and I couldn't be happier or feel more blessed at we have created. -Kekela

Great, so let's dig a little deeper into the story, has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you've had to overcome?

We have certainly had our share of growing pains while building the business. We have underestimated the amount of food or product we would need to carry us through our weekly orders and have spent some days running back and forth to different suppliers in order to fulfill orders.

A common struggle with any business is staffing. Trying to find the right balance of staffing to business needs which will allow us to complete our day to day work along with all of the behind the scenes work has been challenging.

Some days we are better and more efficient at the balancing act and other days, it feels like we are running in 12 different directions.

Alright so let's talk business. Tell us about Minced Meal Prep, what should we know?

At Minced Meal Prep, we make healthy eating exciting and flavorful. We are a boutique meal prep service and all of our food, sauces, and dressings are scratch-made. Approximately 50%-60% of the ingredients in our meals are certified organic and we source local-grown ingredients when available.

Minced Meal Prep is dedicated to help you take care of yourself and your families. Staying healthy is a priority in this fast-paced world. The right nutrition can provide you with energy to get through your workday, exercise and spend more quality time with your family.

One of the things we are most proud of is changing the perception of healthy eating. We have introduced foods to the community that they may not have otherwise been exposed to and we have shown them that we can make healthy choices and still have delicious, fun food that's full of flavor.

What sets us apart is that our menu changes weekly which helps to keep our customers engaged and we offer a variety of different cuisine including but not limited to American, Mexican, Hawaiian, Italian and Indian.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?

Passion for what we do, what we stand for and for delivering fresh, healthy options to our community. Passion is what allows for the creativity you see in our food. It is what keeps us moving forward and working to stay ahead of the trends.

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