To say that Leah Itsines has been a busy little bee this year is an understatement.
In January, the food blogger, recipe developer and author, released an e-book called BARE (Balanced And Realistic Eating) which is a nutritional guide aimed to help women take the initial steps toward making a healthy lifestyle change. Then, in June, she launched her first hardcopy book, The Nourishing Cook, which is filled with over 100 of her favourite recipes. Just last month, she released her second e-book, Feel Good Food, which features another 40 of her go-to dishes. The next exciting venture she’s adding to her CV is an Adelaide-based meal kit delivery service called Tastebudd, with partner, Mitch Caon.
Below, we chat to Leah about the inspiration behind her brand new business launch and what we can expect from the pair (including them at your front door on a Sunday morning!).
What inspired you to start a meal delivery service? Was this just a natural progression for your brand?
Mitch and I had been toying with the idea for a good 6-8 months before we actually decided to commit to the idea. It was a natural progression for my brand, our following in Australia is quite strong and the amount of DMs I get every day from people asking me if they can taste test or eat my food, bringing my food to life through a meal delivery service that also inspires people to get in the kitchen and cook healthy meals for themselves.
What type of food can your customers expect from this?
As Tastebudd is a natural extension of my Leah Itsines brand, they can expect a lot of my meals they see online. Mainly all the good delicious stuff, all those warm hearty, super quick and easy healthy meals. Our Tastebudd meals are still packed with flavour and they most certainly don’t skip on portion sizes, I mean you know me! Our menu chops and changes each week, our menu also consists of four meat-based items and two vegetarian/vegan options.
What were your top three priorities when coming up with the meal plans/recipes?
All meals must be absolutely delicious and flavoursome, as this is an extension of my brand it’s extremely important the meals are yummy and people love them. Our meals must also be filling, we don’t want to serve up meals that don’t fill you up. As we’re producing dinner items at the moment, I think it’s super important that the meals are quite substantial in size. Tastebudd’s main priority though is to allow time poor, busy people to enjoy an amazing dinner, so overall our goal is to create more convenience in people’s lives, all while providing them with delicious healthy meals.
At the moment it’s only available in Adelaide, do you have plans in making it an Australia-wide service?
Yes, yes, YES! We can’t wait to go nationwide! At the moment, as we’re based in Adelaide we’re only servicing Adelaide. As I do have a large following throughout Australia we want to go nationwide as soon as possible. We have certain goals and targets in place to hit in Adelaide first and then we will be looking to move into Melbourne and Sydney ASAP! Hopefully early next year we can be feeding most of Australia!
Do you cook all the meals yourself or is there a chef? How involved are you in the entire process?
It’s all me! Mitch, my mum, plus a couple of family friends. I source all the ingredients, chop, peel, marinate, portion and deliver your meals every week. I don’t know if I could be any more involved in the process! Mitch and I work on this together all the way from Friday – Sunday, from ordering stock to prepping meals and even delivering your meals personally to you on a Sunday morning. For the foreseeable future I’ll be extremely hands on and involved in the process as much as I can be!
Visit www.tastebudd.com.au for more!
