We recently connected with Hope Westall and have shared our conversation below.

Hope, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

149 days. 2189-ish miles. 115lbs. These were the numbers that fueled it all. Back in 2016, I completed a southbound (SOBO) thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. It was a huge accomplishment, but there was one problem. My body hated me. Over those grueling and hard-fought miles, my body had burned through all my fat reserves and was turning for my muscles to power through to the finish line. My mind was strong, but my body was malnourished.

Fast forward to 2018 when I was gearing up for my PCT thru-hike and a summit bid of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I knew if I was going to do this again something had to change. I had fully adopted a plant-based diet at this time and knew the difficulties of resupplying on trail or in other countries. So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I created my own meals with clean, healthy ingredients that I knew the origin of.

Truthfully, I never intended for this to be a business, for me, it was a means to an end. A solution to my own problem. However, after nearly 9 months of adventuring in 4 countries and thousands of miles hiked, I realized that I had created something special. Something that I had to share with the world.

Creating and growing this business is one of the most difficult challenges I have ever taken on, but truthfully I could not be more excited to be sharing these meals with you! Food is life and it fuels us every day. What we put in our bodies matters and I am proud to offer an elevated standard in dehydrated meals.

Although we do produce amazing meals, we pride ourselves on being more than just another dehydrated meals company. When you think of Alt Route Meals, we want you to think of the difference we fuel, both with our food and in our outdoor spaces.

We are a proud partner of Responsible Stewardship, an “Action Based” all-volunteer 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization based in East Tennessee. We believe, as they do, that our public lands are our responsibility. We strive to be mindful of our digital and physical impact as a company, and we are committed to being active in the communities that we serve.

Each time you see Alt Route Meals in a store, you can rest assured that these retailers have met our requirements to partner with us on a public lands clean-up event within 12 months of our meals making their debut. We pride ourselves on doing business with companies that share our values!

In 2022 we hosted 8 organized events. Over 115 volunteers gave freely of their time. Together we removed over 6, 134 lbs of waste from our public lands in Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky.

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?

This is kind of summarized in the previous answer, but I can elaborate a little bit!

I first began getting into hiking in 2010. I was completing my undergrad at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains were right in my backyard. I decided to give something besides organized team sports a try after growing up playing various sports for years. One of the things I loved, and still do about a new trail is that there are always surprises. You never know what view or water crossing is around the next bend (if you haven’t studied a map) But, What sparked my fascination with backpacking, in particular, is this older lady I met on my first trip up Mt. Leconte, one of the tallest peaks in the Smokies. She must have been in her 70s, was carrying this giant backpack, and was standing atop this summit with me, which I felt like I was going to die from climbing with just my body weight. I made some kind of joke about how big her pack was. She kinda chuckled, knowing this hidden secret that I had no idea about. She was hiking the AT for the 3rd time. I was like you are hiking what? Over the course of the next several minutes, She proceeded to tell me that in her lifetime she had hiked over 20,000 miles of trails and my jaw nearly bounced off a rock. From that moment it was endless fascination. I wanted to be her. I wanted to have 20,000 miles of stories to tell at 70. I wish I knew her name or anything about her, I would love to write her a letter and thank her for that conversation. It changed the trajectory of my entire life.
Although backpacking was my first love I have since gotten into mountaineering, mountain biking, and trail running, and have done a couple of multiday paddle trips.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Our capital story is still being written, but the initial push came back in 2020. While much of the world came to a screeching halt regarding the in-person workforce as we learned of and began dealing with the pandemic, my journey revved up. I had just finished up an incredible year of travel and adventuring in 2019 and was flat broke. I was just starting to get my feet under myself in Knoxville, TN. I worked (3) jobs that year, nearly around the clock. Initially, I was doing contract work/ home renovations. When that wasn’t generating enough cash flow I took on a job overnight at a grocery store stocking shelves. Once I realized that the contract work was not steady enough I took a job managing a dock for a local boat club. I managed to find jobs that were essential or socially distanced enough that it worked out in my favor in a challenging year. I spent the majority of that year overworked, sleeping never a full night, but in incremental naps and dreaming of the day that I could craft more of a favorable lifestyle for myself once Alt Route got up and running. It was a rough year, and one I hope that I never have to repeat, but it was worth it in the end when I was able to launch Alt Route to the public on Sep. 25, 2020.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

One of my strategies goes against many of the marketing tactics that are traditionally recommended. I know that casting too wide of a net can be more of a detriment than an advantage in marketing and reaching your target audience. Still, one of the fun things with this company for me has been exploring the various people who can find this product useful. I have gained many unexpected repeat customers from various live events that I have participated in this past year and a half. I have said yes to many events that I wouldn’t typically see as presenting a stage for my target audience, and I have been shocked at the enthusiasm I have received. Though we do have a lane that most of our online and social media stay in, saying yes to unsuspecting events has been a great way to keep things fresh. Plus, networking is networking. You never know who you may meet or connect with or what you may learn. One of the coolest things about having this company for me is the ability to travel and connect with like-minded people I would have otherwise not been able to connect with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://altroutemeals.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altroutemeals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltRouteMeals

Image Credits
Braden Tuck