Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie King. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Katie, appreciate you joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

When I started my business I used Facebook town and mom groups to advertise in (I previously ran an online website focusing on kid activities, events and businesses – many groups let me post the content that came with newsletters – this was 3/4 years ago- posting in groups has changed since then and most of the groups frown upon promoting your own business)

Someone was looking for help with meal prep in my local hometown group. There were many recommendations for my business. (From locals seeing my posts and knowing me from working within the community).
I reached out letting her know I specialized in whole ingredients, nutrition forward meals- and she let me know she was turning 40 and wanted to change her health and habits for the better.
She actually was the perfect first client, she did so much research into the meal plan she wanted to follow- focusing on eliminating food groups and working on healing the gut. There were a lot of soups.
Like a lot, a lot.

I would come over every Sunday and prepare for hours nutritious gut healing meals for my wonderful client and her adorable mother. Week by week I watched as they both started to FEEL better. (Which is what feeding for fuel should do!)
Once my client got her goals on track, my weekly visits became bi-weekly visits focusing on densely nutritious meals- protein, smart carbs and vegetables.
We celebrated birthdays, holidays, and life milestones together.
I really enjoyed my Sundays at their home, and soon my clients turned into family.
The mother-daughter duo to this day are two of my favorite humans on the planet.

Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always loved cooking. Back in middle school, my best friend and I would come home and make whatever we could find between the fridge and freezer. I’d pull down my mom’s big red, old-school Betty Crocker cookbook and whip up our favorites—usually shrimp scampi or some kind of stir-fry.

Fast forward to meeting my now-husband: we made date nights out of cooking. We’d pick a recipe from a cookbook (I had upgraded to Rachael Ray at that point), head to the grocery store together, and then I’d cook dinner in my tiny apartment. At the time I was in school for Architecture and absolutely hated it. He was the one who finally said, “Why don’t you do something with food?” and honestly, that changed everything.

That nudge led me to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s Community Kitchen program—a 14-week culinary program where we prepared over 400 meals a day for underprivileged children in Providence and the surrounding area. I learned large-scale cooking, safety and sanitation, and earned my ServSafe certification.

From there I went on to manage multiple cafés, mostly front-of-house, soaking up every skill I could. Each job taught me something essential: organization, back-of-house flow, menu development, pricing, payroll, customer service—you name it. Every piece played a role in where I am today.

In 2019, the gluten-free café I adored suddenly closed. I thought maybe I wanted to teach kids how to cook—it sounded so fulfilling. I helped run a kids’ cooking camp that summer… and quickly realized teaching children is not for the faint of heart. And definitely not for me.

Then COVID hit, and I pivoted again—this time into digital media, focusing on kid-friendly businesses and events. It was nothing like anything I’d done before, but it gave me a crash course in marketing and content creation. Another unexpected skill for the toolbox.

During all of this, I started a cooking blog—and that’s where Krunchy Kate was born. The name came from my boss at the gluten-free café, because I’d show up every day with a tote bag full of holistic, homeopathic wellness goodies. They teased me until someone needed help with digestion, a toothache, or… anything, really.

A close friend of mine—who’s a photographer and web developer—saw what I couldn’t yet: that the blog was just the beginning of a personal chef career. She pushed me, encouraged me, and helped me take the leap.

On December 16, 2021, I officially turned Krunchy Kate from a blog into a business. I began offering personal chef services, meal prep, and intimate small-party catering—combining my love of food, wellness, and making people’s lives easier.

I love creating healthy meals that are not only nourishing, but genuinely delicious. Whenever possible, I use local ingredients and always tailor each dish to my clients’ unique dietary needs and preferences.

I’m really proud of the work I do because it helps people feel their best. I truly believe that you are what you eat—and that whole, nutritious foods can change how you move through your day. There’s nothing better than hearing from clients who tell me their meals left them feeling amazing. That’s the part that fuels me the most.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I believe that in life, you have to be able to pivot with ease. Things happen—curveballs get thrown—and what matters most is how you move through them. I’m actually in one of those pivot moments right now.

I spent the last two years working exclusively with the same family, and after some financial changes, they let me go. So now I’m in a season of putting myself back out there. While I was with them, I didn’t keep up with social media or my website the way I wanted to. I was busy cooking, busy with my clients, and busy being a mom and a wife—so digital upkeep naturally fell to the bottom of the list.

Now I’m refreshing everything—both in person and online. And wow, it’s wild how much has changed in such a short time. Reels and videos are not my favorite, but staying visible and relevant is important, so I’m embracing the uncomfortable parts right alongside the fun ones.

I’ve also been attending more networking events, especially women-focused ones, and I’ve met so many wonderful, inspiring people I never would have crossed paths with otherwise. As challenging as it’s been, losing that position opened new doors I didn’t even realize were there.

I’m genuinely excited to see where this next chapter of my career takes me.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

During my time at the media company, I was also in my first year of running Krunchy Kate. I wasn’t pushing hard yet—just taking on a few clients here and there. I was so busy with the day-to-day demands of the media job that my personal chef business quietly slipped to the back burner.

A small business meetup changed everything. A fellow small business owner encouraged me to go, and the founder, Erica—who is truly a business powerhouse—said something that stuck with me: “Don’t let your main business become your side business.”

And that’s exactly what I was doing. I was pouring all my time and energy into helping another company grow while barely nurturing my own.

Then the universe stepped in. A few weeks later, we learned the media company was being sold. We had the option to move over to the new ownership, but the site was run completely differently. I had a choice: stay and learn a whole new system for a company that wasn’t mine… or take that same time and invest it into growing my business.

Honestly, the choice was easy—I chose me. It wasn’t a smooth or instant transition. Clients didn’t magically appear overnight. But I posted consistently, ran promos, and slowly but surely I built a steady stream of repeat customers: weekly clients, biweekly clients, and others who booked monthly freezer-stocking sessions. I was eventually referred to the family I ended up working with full-time for over two years.

Now I’m back in a season of putting myself out there again, finding new clients and reconnecting with my community. But I believe in my business, my methods, and my food. I know Krunchy Kate will thrive again—with the right people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.krunchykate.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/krunchy_kate
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/KrunchyKateLLC/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-king-646018390
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/ZYLr77wQPr
• Other: Pinterest
  https://pin.it/yUAtQu56M

Image Credits

Laura Sarlitto ( Laura.ink ) for all photos (except the one of me in green jumpsuit with blue walls)