An Albany entrepreneur is turning his passion for cooking into a career. Chris Small, owner of The Healing Meals, is offering healthy foods but is far more concerned with wellness than weight-loss.
“It is not an idea of being on a diet. It is not an idea of starving yourself. It is the idea that eating the right foods is important,” Small said.
Small is a self-taught chef. Everything is gluten-free and, for the most part, dairy free. He founded The Healing Meals in 2017. Last October, Small opened a storefront location in Albany.
- The Healing Meals offers healthy, pre-packaged meals to go
- The business opened a storefront location off Everett Road in Albany last October
- Individual meals range in price from about $6 - $12
“I feel like I am actually doing something that matters to a lot of people, as opposed to what I was doing before,” Small said.
Small left a career in IT to start a business two years ago. This work, he says, is more meaningful than monotonous.
“To give people the ability to kind of eat better without a lot of work and without a lot of hassle,” Small said.
From a small building off Everett Road in Albany, Small prepares the meals, of which customers order online and pick up in-store. One of his signature meals is shepherd’s pie, made with mashed-cauliflower, ground beef, peas, and carrots.
Right now, Small serves about 25 clients weekly.
“I don’t want to grow so big so fast that ultimately that end product suffers,” Small said.
Considering customers’ needs and carefully scaling has been a recipe for success, but Small knows in both business and health, results don’t happen overnight.