We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tia Robinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tia below.

Tia, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I think to be successful you have to find something that you enjoy and put your all into it and I mean your all! You can’t focus on the money, I think if your sole purpose starting out is to only make money then you have already failed. Any business that I’ve started has been based on my passion or something that I find purpose in, those things help to push me when the business side isn’t favorable and also aides in dealing with difficult customers. When the road to success seems like a wavering path, I always find myself thinking back to why I started my business to begin with and that is what keeps pushing me towards success.

I absolutely love cooking and the creativity that it provides for me, unfortunately my Corporate job isn’t a space that allows for my creative side only my critical thinking side. My business allows me the fulfill that creative desire that always burns inside of me it’s a great outlet and life balance for me…and I get to make residual income as well.

Covid was a challenging time for many business owners but I was able to hone in on my creative juices since everyone was literally confined to their homes and I had much needed free time. I was able to practice creating new menu items, work more so on meal macros, and work on a better business strategy, I hired True Digital media to start my website, and even worked on a new logo. My focus during that time wasn’t making money it was building a culinary creative space that allowed me to showcase my culinary skills, network via social media, build my social media pages by taking some online social media course, and do more branding. You know what happened when I put more time and energy into my passion…it actually became a thriving business! I was recognized more, I got more engagement on my social media platforms, I created more content, and I was able to parlay that into revenue because I pulled in a larger customer base. That to me was success,

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the owner of Kravee Meal Prep & Katering, I started my business in 2018 after I lost my father a few years prior to Cancer. I would have talks with my Dad about his health and food habits prior to his passing and I realized he would try to change his eating habits, but he often didn’t know what that looked like (i.e carbs/sodium intake/general macros). He wasn’t an overweight person, but he did have HBP and Diabetes, which if not careful can be life threatening. I started asking people what eating healthy looked like to them and I saw that most people didn’t have an understanding of healthier options and they weren’t willing to compromise on taste either. My wheels started spinning and I thought what if my Dad had healthier foods options that didn’t force him to lose the taste he was familiar with? I wondered if that would’ve given me a little more time with him and so I wanted to start a business that allowed others to have “a little more time”. I sought out to find creative ways to put a healthier spin on familiar foods that were lower in sodium and carbs but still appeased the palate. One of my favorite food spins has been my Smoked Gouda Cauliflower Shrimp ‘N Grits w/Chicken Andouille Sausage and a Dairy Free Cajun cream sauce…a total flavor party in your mouth! People are often surprised it’s grits or may be leery to give it a try, but it’s been a fan favorite for years now.

So, when I started my business in 2018, I initially started out under the name Keto Kravee, the Keto diet was very popular at that time and I was able to tap into the meal prep industry by starting out doing Keto meals! As time went on and I researched and experimented more, I was able to not only do Keto, but Traditional Weight loss meals, Competition Training meals, Keto/Sugar Free desserts, and even some Vegan meals. I am big on quality and presentation of my meals, I want you to open your meal and be excited to try it…even knowing that it’s Sugar Free because it looks and smells divine!

I think my business solves the “What’s for dinner” question! Most people that use meal prep services don’t use them because they can’t cook they do it because they don’t have the time. So why not save some time and let us meal prep for you!

I am very proud of being able to help customers reach their weightloss/health goals, I am very grateful for the loyal customer base that I’ve had over the last few years with my first big fan base being the F45 gym in Pearland, TX. I currently service about 5 gyms in the Houston and surrounding areas like my home gym F45 Aliana in Richmond, as well as a few hospitals, corporate businesses, and we can’t forget my amazing customers who order each week because they love the food like Dr J, Ms Joanne, Ashlee, Lexi…the list can go on and on!

My biggest achievement though has been my partnership with the Urban Enrichment Institute in 5th ward Houston, I have been the Culinary Arts teacher for their summer program for the last 3 years. I am able to teach the boys knife skills, kitchen safety, food handling safety, and the best part is they can cook a whole meal from scratch. It warms my heart to see their finished products each class, this summer they did a taste of Jamaica for their final presentation with Jerk Chicken, Curry Cabbage, and Rice n Peas! It’s a beautiful thing to be able to open their palates to different foods and culinary experiences.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My most effective source for growing my clientele has honestly been social media. I am very strategic with my posting so that I can keep up with the every changing social media algorithms. It’s also wise to pay for social media ads to target specifically people who would be interested in your products. I have taken social media branding classes as well and that additionally gave me the tools I needed to push my brand. I have a good mix of reels and videos and I often ad a personal element to make myself relatable to my current and potential clients! So do your research and get your social media pages on point…and hashtags are your friends

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

To fund my business I used leverage from my 9-5 job. I set a target goal that I needed to start my business based on the supplies I would need and gave myself a 3 month goal. I didn’t want to financially over extend myself all at once with trying to buy everything, so I did research on the industries basic must haves. If I needed to adjust my business funding goal based on the need of supplies, I did so.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kraveemealprep.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/kraveemealprep
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/kraveemealprep