Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Casanova.
Hi Rachel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I began my journey as a young mom wanting to be able to have convenient meals that felt homemade and full of nutrition for myself and my family. I began to deep dive into reading labels after my daughter was born and tried to start making everything from scratch to cut out all the artificial ingredients and noticed how much better I felt all around. I had to go back to work after about a month after having my daughter and was struggling hard with post-partum depression and had not much support system to lean on. I had multiple jobs, felt so unfulfilled and overworked with exhaustion, yet somehow decided it was time to start Ray2ZCooking. My mission has always been this- to provide nutritious, scratch-made meals convenient and accessible to all people and help people understand eating clean doesn’t mean it can’t be delicious. I was already working full time when I started my business, so only prepped and delivered on weekends in my spare time, which completely burnt me out within a year. With the rising prices in California and the likelihood of being able to afford a home any time soon, my husband and I decided to relocate just outside of Portland in July 2019. Here, we started fresh with new jobs, and I had started working at Nike as a catering chef and loved it, and then Covid hit. Just a couple months into the pandemic, I had an ectopic pregnancy and had the scare of my life that put me in the hospital for emergency surgery and had me questioning my entire life. I have never wanted to do anything but cook my entire life, and knew somehow, this was my chance to start over with my business and do it right this time. So, I used my 2-month recovery period to smooth out the details, figure it all out, and in July 2020 Ray2ZCooking was back in business in the PNW. Since then, we have grown significantly and have gone from prepping and delivering a hundred meals a week all by myself to now having a 4-person kitchen crew, 7 drivers and 400-600 on a weekly average. I retired my husband from his restaurant management job when our son was born 4 years ago, and since we have added catering to our repertoire, and also, I started bringing my artisan pickles to farmers markets which has been a blast. Now, we are in a tight spot where we are growing out of our current shared kitchen space, so are looking for our own spot, but are trying to figure out how to fund our next step in expanding into a small store front.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been tons of struggles along the way including financial, emotional and physical. Owning a business as physically demanding as this has its ups and downs, always, but the pressure we put on ourselves is far more exhausting than anything. Financially, we have had to navigate and manage on one income with two small kids, which seems like the list is never ending for things you constantly are in need of. The emotional stress is crazy, and always being pulled in every direction makes you feel like you are bound for failure no matter what, yet somehow, it is still the best and most thrilling time. Physically I’ve had to go through different medical issues including the multitudes from my children on the regular, plus personally had to go through gallstone surgery, pneumonia, ear infections, covid, strep throat, you name it- it seems like we’ve been through it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself an artist in the culinary industry because truly I just am passionate in the kitchen. I am not out here looking for accolades and stars; I just love cooking good food for people and helping make their lives easier. I specialize in international cuisine and am most proud of the variety of food I’m able to showcase to my clients in ways they aren’t afraid of trying. I think food is the most beautiful platform to bring people together and learn about other cultures and traditions. How beautiful to be creating a community of people who are thinking more about what they consume on a regular basis and I sleep well at night knowing I am actually making a difference for people out there. What sets me apart from other companies is me, you don’t just get a meal. You get love, warmth, dedication, passion, and my time, and that taste speaks for itself. I’ve been told many times that nobody will ever be able to replicate my cooking, and it warms my heart knowing people come back week after week and still leave them satisfied every time
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Honestly my ADHD. My ability to multitask and my perseverance makes me literally unstoppable. I knew a long time ago I wasn’t like other people and have always dreamed big. I think knowing myself and my strengths in knowing what I want has given me a leg up on the competition because I have never been able to be told no. I know how to fight and overcome and get the things I want and am determined to come out on top
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ray2zcooking.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ray2zcooking_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ray2zcooking
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Ray2ZCooking
