We recently connected with Crystal Hood and have shared our conversation below.
Crystal , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
Lazy Susan Meal Prep started out as just a fun way to make some side money while I was living in Asheville, NC. I was cooking for only a few friends and it was a great way to make ends meet. When I moved to Woodstock GA, I joined an amazing gym where I saw a serious need for healthy meal prep. I started cooking for a few people, once again on the side for a little extra money. It didn’t take long for the word to get out. Business increased so rapidly and in November of 2017. I decided to quit the two jobs I had and follow my true passion with Lazy Susan.
I started out by renting shared kitchens and did this for 3 years. At that time I had added on more partnerships and had 4 pick up locations. In 2020, I decided to dive all in and secure my very own kitchen. I invested in equipment, marketing and hired more staff. I knew that deciding to grow during a pandemic was going to be risky, but I was ready to fight for my dreams. We currently and in only two years have partnered with/added on 10 more pick up locations bringing us to 14 total with more on the waiting list. We now are located all over the ATL area and people in the fitness world know our name well.
How did I do it…..
Well first I invested in my team! I feel that if you have a team who knows that you will respect, appreciate, and take care of them, they will do the same for you. It seems like these days, you always hear how it is hard to find and keep good employees. That is not the case in our kitchen. We are a giant family who have a mutual respect for each other.
I understood my niche and it’s competitive advantages. I see meal prep businesses popping up all around me now. Many have reached out to me to pick my brain. I take this as a huge compliment and feel that healthy competition is good, It keeps me on my toes to make sure that I am introducing fun and new recipes to keep my clients happy.
We work smarter and not harder. It is easy to get burned out in this line of work. It’s so important to always find a way to be better organized, save time and to be more efficient. If something isn’t working for you and you find yourself working harder, it’s time to get to the drawing board and figure out a better way to do it. Thinking outside of the box and getting creative are a a huge part of running a successful kitchen,
Knowing when to say, “NO!” This one was a tough one for me. I had to learn that not all business is going to be profitable. I had to set boundaries and put specific guidelines into place. For example: You always run into situations where clients ask you modify what we make to fit their dietary needs. While I can understand the confusion with asking these requests at let’s say a restaurant, when cooking for the masses this will always result to confusion and chaos in a busy kitchen. We had to make it very clear that we make everything the same with no modifications. Another example is not budging on order deadlines. Once the ordering window is closed, we do not accept anymore orders. It’s not because we don’t want to, it’s simply to make sure we are best prepared in gathering ingredients, planning the schedule, our “To Do List” time management and so much more. Adding on late orders throws the whole system off. There is so much more involved than just preparing food…that’s the fun part :-)
Which leads us into getting our Strategy Right. We grew so fast and in such a short amount of time. The main culprit of this was Strategy. Being prepared and having a strong system in place. Establishing concrete hours, consistent recipes and sticking to a schedule. We establish goals for each day, week, month, year, etc on what we need to accomplish. Each goal has a plan in order to execute it. This one is huge for me as I tend to be all over the place. Without a specific plan in place, I will set myself up for failure.
Refining the product we already have while understanding the importance of keeping an eye out for opportunity. It is so easy to get distracted with what is trendy. I find that perfecting what I am best at has helped me to be a stronger company and as a result grow.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I grew up in a home where health and wellness were top priority. My parents opened a health food store in the North Georgia mountains in the late 80’s (before it was cool, LOL). I watched them lead so many people on a path of wellness. It was inspiring to say the least. I grew up eating organic, whole, nutrient dense foods. I knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps but my talent was in culinary arts. I have cooked professionally for over 15 years.
I came up with the idea of Lazy Susan while living in Asheville, North Carolina. I had this vision of bringing families back around the table to eat a healthy meal together. I remember growing up how we always sat at the dinner table as a family and how important that was. Finding myself in a financial need, I decided to make a little extra money doing just that. I had about ten clients who I prepared meals for every week with a rotating menu of 3 lunches and 3 dinners. It was great side money, but I was still finding myself drowning in bills. It was all work and no play.
I decided to move with my son to Woodstock, Georgia to be closer to my family with only about $40 in my bank account. In less than two weeks, I was working two jobs and enjoying this new community. Once I got back on my feet, I decided to join a gym. Here is where I noticed the need for a healthy, meal prep service. So I decided to apply my knowledge in nutrition and culinary arts and start cooking for some of my fellow gym friends who had expressed they needed help with their weekly meal prep. It didn’t take long for the word to get out. Business had increased by so much that I decided to follow my true passion, quit my other two jobs and operate Lazy Susan full time.
I am amazed at how fast this business has and continues to grow! There are many meal prep companies popping up around here, but I feel what makes us stand out is the quality of our product We stay away from GMOs and try to cook as organic as possible while supporting our local community. We provide the macros for every meal along with estimated Weight Watchers points.
The kitchen has always felt like home to me. I feel honored that Lazy Susan helps keep our clients on track with their nutrition in an affordable and convenient manner.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I feel that what helped build our reputation within our market is consistency in our product as well as transparency in the ingredients we use. Because of this our clients can trust us. They can trust that we will read the labels for them and keep the garbage out.
We also try our best to stay involved in the communities we serve. Whether that is attending camps at the gyms we service, supporting their members (an our clients) businesses or being there for them when they have big moments happen in their life. Due to social media, we are able to stay connected with our clients. I have so many clients who I feel close with and we have never even met in person. I feel that this is a big community and we need to have each others back.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
The best source of new clients for me is the locations I partner with. Everyone of the gyms we have partnered with has an incredible community. I love getting to know them more and being apart of their fitness journey. As we grow, we plan to get involved in other markets as well. I have found that partnering with businesses who have strong communities are a win win for both us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lazysusanmealprep.com
- Instagram: lazysusanmealprep
- Facebook: @lazysusanmealprep
Image Credits
Angel Eyes Photography; Jessica McAdam