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Bekkah: I am super excited! I kind of gave a little bit away about what he does but he’s going to tell us more about it. He started telling us a bit already and we thought, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! We have to slow down and get this recorded!” He’s got a lot of great stories! Thank you so much for being with us, Emmanuel!

Emmanuel: Thank you guys for the invite. I appreciate it

Bekkah: No problem! Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?

Emmanuel: I am a self-proclaimed chef. I did go to school. I didn’t finish school but oftentimes I found myself teaching the teacher, so I felt that I didn’t need the schooling. Of course, it’s good to have a paper to say what you do, but I, personally, think it’s all in your skills. I just go with what I’ve learned, what I’ve experienced, and what tastes good. I can take leftovers and just make them come to life again. I think that’s the gift that God has given

Ruthie: You have this gift and all these different talents that have been molded over the years and you’re incorporating your creativity, how did you hone that all into making it into a business?

Emmanuel: I’m from Memphis, Tennessee. Home of the barbecue and everything else and I used to watch my mom cook. I used to see her put it in a measuring cup and teaspoons and that just grabbed my attention. You start from this and then you come out with this pie, this meatloaf, this cake! I was always intrigued by that. At this time, I was four, five, and six so I’m just wanting to go in the kitchen to eat. “Is the food ready?” But when I was about seven that’s when I was like, “How does this go together? How do you put this with this and mix this together?”

My mother stopped kicking me out of the kitchen because I was trying to take and eat food. She saw that, “Oh! He wants to learn how to cook!”I would go in there and she would say, “Okay, you put this with this and you measured this and you add some milk and eggs and butter.” That was when I believe I was first taught. I was thirty-six or seven when I actually got a job working in the kitchen. It was my first time besides high school, working in a kitchen. It was big equipment and I learned so much added on to what I already knew.

That experience taught me so much. How to cook for 500 people. There was a point in time where I was the only cook in the kitchen. No prep cooks or anything! I would never advise that because that almost burned me out. People had called in and quit and stuff so I had to do it. HHK (Heaven’s Healthy Kitcken) got started in 2013. My son poked my belly and I’m like, “Man!” He poked my belly and was saying off and was laughing. I was like, “Man! That’s messed up!” I said, “Something needs to change quickly.” I was in the army! I was in shape! I had a six-pack!

So I prayed and I asked God. “God, I need your help. I’ve tried everything.” So God told me what to do. He said that I have to change what I eat, how much I mean when I eat. I need to take better care of myself. I said I knew that’s what I was going to say… And I said, “Well, God, I need your help. I can’t do this on my own.” So God did just that.

I went on two fasts. I did a fruit fast, then I had a juice fast. The fruit fast was the hardest. The third day I was like “Man! My stomach is growling. Everybody in the house is eating fries and burgers!” I was like, “Lord! Help me!” God gave me strength! I said, “I have to do this to overcome this weight gain.” So I got through that. Then I did the juice fast which was much better. Two weeks I did it and I lost 15 pounds. From there my confidence just kept building. Over the course of six months, I lost 60+ pounds.

Ruthie: Wow

Emmanuel: I went from 230 to 180. Anyone who is trying to lose weight or change their diet, whatever, you have to change your palate. I would stop eating. let’s say, ice cream, but then I would go back to it. My palate didn’t have enough time to change. The cravings didn’t change. I changed my diet. I’m now on a plant-based diet. I don’t do dairy, meat, or fish. I figured out by researching and figuring out how you make this, this right here looks like chicken and it tastes like chicken! I can make my own cheese!

My first meal was macaroni and cheese, fake chicken, and a salad. I was so excited about this! Cooking plant-based is an art. You have to be very creative. I made this plate, put it up on Facebook, and people started commenting saying, “Wow! That looks good!” They were just raving! I thought this is on a plastic plate! I mean, it’s okay! The food tasted okay. I’m just happy that I was taught this way.

I just wanted to share what I did and how I was helped. So I posted another plate and I got the same response. At this point, the people were like, “Hey! You should start your own business!” I was like, “Start my own business?! From this?” So I went back to facebook and said, “Well, since y’all think I should start this business, give me a name.” Of course, people came up with crazy names. I’m like, “Nope, nope, not bad. Oh, healthy kitchen! I kind of like that!” So I went back to God. I said, “God, I like ‘healthy kitchen’, but what do you want me to call it. He said, “Call it Heavens Healthy Kitchen.” And I was like, “I like that!” So I said, “Here is the name!” Before I announced it, I went online to see if anybody else had this name.

I looked under the registry. I typed on Google and nobody had it. I did see “healthy kitchen” and I said, “Okay, well, I wasn’t going to name it that anyway. That’s the only name that I’ve heard sound close to what I have. From 2013’s February, Heaven’s Healthy Kitchen was born. I was like, “God, how do I get this started? I just have house pots and pans. I don’t have any money.” I was going to croak! God had me, step by step.

I look back seven years ago and I think, “Man! I’ve come a long way from one mixer. It has truly grown!”You know how when you start you’re trying to let people know what you do.You’re going through the process of passing out cards and passing out this, “Hey! Tell this person about this!” The fact that people call me now and say, “Hey! What are you cooking for this week?” If I forget to put up a menu or I’m just slow in putting it up, people reach out and say, “Uh! What’s on the menu!”

Ruthie: Tell us about that piece! You’ve got this business now, how do you run your business? You put out the menu and then people come pick it up from you or do you have a location? How does that work?

Emmanuel: In the beginning, it was catering. That was the whole thing. I catered. I even put catering on the name. It was Heaven’s Healthy Kitchen Catering because that’s all I did. People started saying, “No, you should cook every weekend and have a special meal.” And I said, “Okay,Let me try that out first to see.” I tried it out there were a few people. I thought, “That’s not a big profit in that,” so I went back to catering.

The demand was getting very great for going pre-made meals, so I put out the menu in four spots. I put it on Instagram, Facebook, my website, and I also have a site that they can order straight off of. I put it up there and understand. People are busy, they’ll see and forget about it. I do reminders and I also have a MailChimp email. Whenever I have an event I get people’s email. If they’re not on social media or if we’re not friends on social media I can still reach them.

Ruthie: Tell us about your process that you go through every week. I’m just picturing you in your kitchen whipping out food! Is it a new menu every week or how do you do that? Do you just make it all people and order from you?

Emmanuel: Yeah, every other Tuesday is Taco-Tuesday. I know, typically, people do it every week, but I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t want the tacos to get old. Every other week gives people a chance to miss it and say, “Oh,  yeah! I’m going to get tacos!” Every week is a different meal. It depends on the demand. I deal with fresh vegetables and fruits and homemade. I like to do it either the day before or on the day of so everything is it’s fresh. I don’t like to do three-four days out because I’m not dealing with box stuff or stuff that is pre-made.

With the Asian Bowl, I make my own rice and sauce. I did an almond butter sriracha. It was very good. When people order they can pick whether they want to have onions on, etc. They can pretty much make their own. It’s either pick up or delivery. I offer both.

Ruthie: Wow! That’s so cool! So now you have this whole thing going! You’ve got all of your social media accounts running every week. You figured out what you like to make. You’ve got your following. You’ve got all these events that you’re doing. How do you get events? How does that work?

Emmanuel: About two years ago a friend of mine said, “Hey! Why don’t you do Instagram?” I said, “Instagram? How does that work?” So they showed me they have stories and you can post things there and advertise your business. That sounded good, but I don’t know how to start it. So, of course, I looked up all kinds of YouTube Academy and I got a diploma with them learning how to do social media.

Once I did that, that’s when everything began to grow. I went from a couple of hundred of followers to now around twenty-four hundred and this organically. That’s not paying for followers and doings but special things. That’s literally people adding me people finding out about me. Huntsville is pretty small. We have a net network here were of all the vegan businesses. We all come together. We share about events and where they are happening. In the beginning, I had to reach out and find out what’s going on. I wanted to get HHK out there so people know. Now people come to me and reach out to me say, “Hey! We would like you to be a part of this event.”

Ruthie: You’ve started all this stuff and you’ve learned a ton! If there’s somebody who is wanting to start something like this, what resources would you recommend to them?

Emmanuel: I would say to figure out the networking in your city. Small businesses tend to connect. Because my family and I moved to Huntsville, I don’t know anybody here. As I started to put a HHK out there that’s when I found out there are about three or four other plant-based businesses. I can get to know them. Friendly people, helpful people! I would say that would be the first thing. Find out who’s doing the same thing that you do. Not as a

competition thing but as trying to get to know them and to see where you can fit.