2.13 Cultural Cuisine Goes Vegan: Building a Successful Plant-Based Meal Prep and Catering Business with Chef Ashley Johnson

Send in a question or feedback! Ashley is a Plant based chef who helps transitioning Vegans and anyone looking to live a conscious lifestyle reach their desired goals with comfort. After reading and researching about the benefits of a plant based lifestyle, Ashley decided to commit to going plant based in 2016. Coming from a Jamaican Chinese background, Ashley found it difficult to find meals that represented the flavors on which she grew up having. So she started to do more research and saw a void in the plant based industry. Ashley slowly started cooking some of her favorite cultural dishes for family and friends which lead to her building a client following of thousands of new and inspiring vegans. Ashley has developed countless dishes using ingredients and herbs commonly found in West Indians cuisines. One of her most popular dishes is her “Jerk Jackfruit Nachos”. Ashley is the owner of Violet By Vegan Chef Ash and they offer an array of services including catering, meal prep, events as well as personal chef services. Ashley’s main goal is to help children and adults live a long health life by teaching them alternative ways to eat comforting foods. We get into: How Ashley began her career as a successful retail manager and real estate agent. Her introduction to vegetarianism/veganism and how eating this way made her feel better, healthier and more focused. As she continued pursuing a plant-based lifestyle, she began integrating her culture into cooking her food. How Chef Ashley started with cooking for her friends and family which eventually led to her growing into a business. Her advice to those wanting to transition to a plant-based diet. Her journey with Raw diets and the benefits of eating a raw, plant-based diet. How she started a business by catering events (Vegan Grill and Chill) and vegan meal prep. Within her first 3 months of starting her meal prep services, she was selling 300 meals a week. Her future goals with her business Violet By Vegan Chef Ash.Follow Ashley on instagram @VeganChefAshCheck out her website for more info www.veganchefash.com--------------------------------------------------------------------Follow us on Instagram @LifeCuriousWomenFollow our host @AshleyNadineLopezParticipate in Tink Media's Adopt-a-Podcast-ListenerSupport the show