Jennifer Gieseke, owner/executive chef at Healthy Chef Meals, is one local woman who knows how to taste the better parts of life. A vegan and personal chef since 1997, Gieseke juggles being a wife, mother and career woman.
Q: When did you start Healthy Chef Meals?
Gieseke: We opened on July 23, 2012.
Q: What inspired you, or motivated you, to start the business?
Gieseke: Our daughter decided to try a vegetarian diet when she was 16. I immediately began to research the particulars to make sure she was getting what she needed nutritionally. Every book on vegetarianism also includes information on vegan diet. After reading various books and Internet articles and watching several movies – including my favorite ‘Forks Over Knives’ – I decided to become a vegan. Everything I learned made total sense to me.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job? Gieseke: Monday! That’s the day I get to visit with our customers and hear their stories. It makes the long weekends worth the while. For example, last week we heard about one of our diabetic customers that started eating our food exclusively, and his numbers are dropping already. I also use Mondays to experiment with recipes and test them on our customers. I call it my play-day. I’ll test recipes that I’m thinking about adding to our menu.
Q: What makes your business unique? Gieseke: We’re the only 100 percent plant-based business in town, and the only business that delivers a week’s worth of food at one time.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you at work? Gieseke: My days vary so much. Monday is pick-up and delivery day, so we spend the whole day focused on getting the food out the door. I also place my grocery and produce order for the following week on Monday, and every other Monday I have a short healthy eating segment on KTAL TV at 6:10 a.m.
On Tuesday I’ll post the new menu for the next Monday’s service day. I also work on our e-blast, which includes the basic menu as well as a topic for the week. Past topics have included vegan sources for omega 3’s; seasonal allergies, Passover, etc. I also do my best to settle the books on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, my grocery arrives. Once that is checked in, I review the grocery list for items I’ll need to pick-up locally. I also review all the recipes we’ll be working on over the weekend and prepare what we call the “chopping” list for my kitchen crew.
Thursday is the day that I’ll review all the past weekend’s recipes, check for kitchen notes and update the recipes. I will also begin to work on the next weekend’s menu and compile a grocery list so I can do inventory on Sunday for Monday’s ordering.
Friday is a busy day for us. I begin my day at the grocery to purchase the items I didn’t need in bulk quantities. My office manager is busy processing orders, talking with customers and creating sales receipts. I usually spend most of the day in the kitchen to start prepping for the weekend. I will have one to two others with me. We chop our heartier veggies on Friday so when we come in on Saturday, we’re ready to start cooking. At about 9 p.m., my husband and I head up to the store to soak beans.
Saturday, we cook all day. I try to get in by 8-ish, while the crew (my head cook, chopper and dishwasher) start the day at 9 a.m. We prepare six out of the 10 recipes on Saturday. Sunday, we’ll cook the remaining four while a packing team assembles the dishes into containers.
Q: Tell me about your children and how you managed being a mother, a wife and a career woman all at once? Gieseke: I have two kids – a 21-year-old daughter, who is a junior in college, and a son, who is a graduating high school senior. Juggling is often pretty hard. There’s a lot of guilt for the missed things. I use to be a mostly stay-at-home mom, so I was able to make every school function and volunteer at every function the kids had.
Q: What is your advice to other career women in the working industry today? Gieseke: Do what you enjoy doing!
Q: Where do you hope to be in the next five years? Gieseke: Honestly, I hope to have the business running smoothly enough that maybe I can take a vacation!
