Chef Share – A New Business and Service in Conshohocken

Chef Share – A New Business and Service in Conshohocken

by Brian Coll

7/14/2020

I stopped into a little place, that for years seemed to be one little business or another including a consignment shop, an office and at one point long ago a butcher shop to the best of our knowledge. This place is at the bottom of 8th and Maple Streets and recently I’ve seen the construction crews in and out… so I had to know what was going on. I stopped in and saw a familiar face, Joe Ferrigno. We got to talking and it seems like a really cool place. There are a couple of aspects to it. One, if you have a recipe that you work on at home, and are thinking you need a commercial kitchen to try it out so you can start selling to the public, give Joe a call. There is a way for you to use the commercial kitchen space. In the current situation, I didn’t want to overstay, so we talked for a few minutes, he handed me a meal to try at home and then I reached out and told him I had to do a little more than just post a picture on Facebook. I then started talking to Joe about the Chef Share aspect of it and here is where our conversation went.

It’s was so cool to pop into your place and check it out… what made you want to do this and how long has it officially been “open”?

Thanks for stopping by, Brian!  I have a 10+ year background in benefits – I ran benefits departments for a few different companies over the years and had a particular interest in focusing on personal and financial wellness.  Your personal wellness can boil down to 2 things:

1. What do you put in your body and how active can you be?
2. How much time can you allocate to #1?

If you really analyze the time it takes to eat well – finding a recipe, buying the right ingredients, cooking it (correctly) and the clean-up – it can take 5-10 hours of your week away from you after you’ve already worked 40+, did the laundry, yard work, etc.  Throw in a social life, kids, family, etc. and sometimes it is just easier to run to McDonalds or order a pizza which isn’t exactly the best thing for you.

Chef Share’s goal is to get you eating well-balanced meals that are cooked by real Chefs and hand delivered to your door.  Put the meals in the microwave when you’re ready to eat and recycle the box when you’re done.  Take back those hours of your life and focus on what is important to you while improving your health.

We’ve been open for about a month now and are adding new customers every week – we’re so thrilled with the response we’re getting!

That’s awesome, how do people go about ordering?

All orders are done via our website – www.chefsharemeals.com – were you can pick from 3 different meals plans which will have us deliver 3, 5 or 7 meals to your door on Sundays for your week.  We are a “virtual” company, so we are delivery only and only accept payment via credit/debit card.

I know you mentioned these being healthy or at least, calorie set meal options, can you further explain that?

We build our menu so that each item is under 1000 calories for the whole box with an average around 800 calories/box.  Most of our boxes are 2 servings (roughly 500 cals per serving).  Some of our clients eat the whole box, others say they can split it into two meals.  It is important to us that you’re full after you eat one of our meals, which is why we offer a more generous portion size.

When do people order? When are the meals delivered?

We ask that orders are placed before 5:00pm on Thursday’s, as we buy all our ingredients on Friday, cook them on Saturday and deliver to you on Sunday to make sure you have the freshest meal possible.

I was lucky enough to try a meal, at home, with a quick pop in the microwave. Is that how all the meals work?

Absolutely.  Each meal is microwave ready and takes about 3-4 minutes to heat up.  No cooking – no clean up!

Joe, this has been great. I know safety is a concern for any restaurant during regular times if you will. It seems like you have a perfect business model for the current times and beyond, best of luck. I know some people have been very hesitant to venture out to a restaurant, even outdoors… tell us one more time how this virtual business works.

Especially during these times where we’re all concerned with safety amid the Covid crisis, we have our own commercial kitchen and no retail store, meaning we have total control of who enters our kitchen.  We take all the proper cleaning precautions and deliver with the recommended PPE (mask & gloves).  Since we’re a “virtual” company, the meals are paid for electronically meaning there is no need to fuss with needing cash at delivery.

We’re looking to add to our menu regularly, meaning you’ll have new options to choose from to keep it fresh!  Sometimes that will be seasonal, sometimes monthly or even weekly.  As we grow, these menu changes will become more frequent so we can have you trying new food each week!

Best of luck. I’m going to drop the website one more time here: http://www.chefsharemeals.com