Today we’d like to introduce you to Annette Baker and Marianne Lacko.
Annette and Marianne, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Nature’s Plate launched in 2011 in response to our friends’ requests – “If I had someone to cook for me, I would eat healthy lunches like you every day.” So we started cooking adding extra portions to our own meal prep and selling them each week. Nature’s Plate became an official business in 2012, and we started growing the business beyond friends, family, and co-workers at the beginning of 2014. We opened our own kitchen and storefront in August 2015.
Although our food is 100% vegan (no animal products), most of our customers are not vegan. Our target market includes anyone who wants to eat healthier meals, avoid processed food, add more plants/vegetables to their diet, and/or save time that could be spent grocery shopping and cooking… as well as those who already enjoy a vegan diet and are looking for convenience and nutritious meals. We just want to help everyone EAT MORE PLANTS.
At this point, we offer grab and go as well as online ordering and meal plan pick up out of our Lake Highlands store. We also have weekly pick up locations in Plano and Oak Cliff.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As with any small business (or business in general), we have certainly had struggles. Generally speaking, we’ve learned A LOT and running a small business is more work than anyone ever expects it to be. We also had a lot to learn — coming from fields total unrelated to the culinary / food-service world. A couple of the biggest ones…
With fresh food, the shelf life of the product is obviously very short. We’ve had to learn a lot about our customers and demand – daily, weekly, seasonal cycles — to avoid waste and to make sure we the right product mix available at all times. We work very hard to make sure we have a good selection of product available every day while also not making more than we can sell (or eat).
Sustainability is a big focus for us. Our delivery model — selling meals to be eaten at a later time – – has some inherent challenges. Plant-based food is naturally more sustainable than animal foods which require more land, water, and other resources to produce. But we want to go further than that. We sell our products in plastic containers because we haven’t found an alternative that holds up to transport, reheating, etc., but we’ve tried and we’re not giving up (on an alternative). In the interim, we use containers that are BPA free, recyclable and in some cases compostable and/or made from post-consumer recycled material. Additionally, we pay to have recycling pick up at our store/kitchen, use sustainable cleaning products whenever health code permits, and compost about 90% of our vegetable waste.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Nature’s Plate story. Tell us more about the business.
We prep and cook completely plant-based meals, snacks, and bakery items from scratch on site. We’re known for using healthy, whole ingredients and producing vegan / plant-based food that appeals to vegans and non-vegans alike. Seriously, most of our customers are not vegan.
We’re most proud of being a local, woman-owned, small business that is truly a part of our community – working to educate and share healthy and delicious food.
We’re also proud of our 5-star rating on Yelp and Facebook as well as our consistently high health inspection scores (95-100 on 4 inspections).
We’re unique in Dallas and beyond — we’re actually not aware of anyone else selling fresh (not frozen) prepared meals that are completely plant-based.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
A small role — certainly there’s some luck involved, but we primarily credit the hard work — ours and that of our entire team — and the support we’ve received from the community. We love the Lake Highlands / East Dallas community. They have welcomed us and supported us from the beginning.
Pricing:
- Meals (wraps, salads, take & heat) start at $7
- Weekly meal plans starting at $35 for 5 entrees
- Smoothies (made fresh) are $6
Contact Info:
- Address: 10233 E NORTHWEST HWY
Suite 432 - Website: naturesplate.biz
- Phone: 469-307-4217
- Email: info@naturesplate.biz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naturesplate/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naturesplate/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaturesPlate1
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/natures-plate-dallas
Image Credit:
Nature’s Plate
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
