We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Siddik Lartey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Siddik thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
My aim is to look at my world and find new ways to observe and experience life in the mostly healthy environments. Having come from a artists lineage my creative skills have been fostered since a young age. I’m constantly learning and seeking out new way to enhance & expand my perspective mentally and physically. What I have all too often observed in my community is poor food options and quality, resulting declining health and chronic illness for a vast majority of people both young and elder.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Way 2 FRESH Eats is a plant-based pop-up Eatery with the tagline of everywhere you want to eat primarily highlighting raw recipes better simple easy of affordable at quick yeah take every opportunity to please and excite your pallet. Our specialty is creatively cut and paired fruits and vegetables incorporating the freshest of locally sourced ingredients using seasonal and regional, crops to create one of a kind culinary experience, things like fresh herbs, traditional spices or ethnic presurving or preparation techniques. Some of our most popular menu items are the “Watermelon Pizzas” , “No Fry Apple Fritters” , Jerk Blackbean Burrito, Buffalo Chkin Ceasar Wraps, plus many other fun,, flavorful and fulfilling kitchen creations. We offer, small and medium catering services, pre packaged group meals, and we are working to bring more of our unique ingredients to a retailer in your neck of the woods!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Once I know exactly what I wanted to create with Way 2 FRESH Eats it was a matter of getting into and familiar in the desired markets that I saw as the base for our fresh, healthy options and alternatives. Having been a resident of the greater Dallas Fort Worth area for many years are pinpoint is smaller midwestern markets that were also familiar to me and the perfect place to begin it’s a launch our Grass Roots approach to feeding our community and family real quality food. I formed a strategic partnership with a amazing nonprofit in St Louis Missouri which provided a mobile grocery market school bus particularly servicing stops in food urban desert areas. Working with the Saint Louis metro market a number of their regular weekly stops I brokered a relationship where I was able to use some of the exact ingredients and some of my fresh raw recipes that didn’t require cooking simply taking produce and products available for sale on the bus and creating so delightful treats and fulfilling dishes right on the spot.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Versatility is a major skill that I have had to incorporate into how I structured my business and built the brand. One of the biggest challenges to the mission was the COVID-19 pandemic. Being that one of the primary products and services is creatively cut and paired fresh fruits and vegetables, so once the pandemic had taken a hold on the world I truly had to pivot and put on my “creative cap” that meant thinking of new ways to reach our customer base. So I this crisis turned it into curriculum of sorts, by developing new interactive virtual workshops for families and children to learn how to cook and also create fun, flavorful and fulfilling meals and snacks.
Workshops included “Kids in the Kitchen” “What’s for Dinner” & “Fun with Food”
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Way 2 FRESH Eats
- Facebook: Way 2 FRESH Eats
