batch.food. : Give Away

Today we at 

Just An Ordinary Family

are so proud to introduce you to

Batch Food!

Joanne is the founder and creator 

of Batch Foods and is a mommy from the same town I live in.

Naturally, that makes me feel extra excited to 

share with you a local business woman!

In honour of Mother's Day coming up

Batch Food is giving away not just one,

but two prizes!

"Mom's Night Off"

will include a lunch and dinner to be made for you!

You can nominate a friend and you will both win 

a Mom's Night Off! 

Our family has enjoyed 

Joanne's delicious creations.

Her assortment of meals is impressive.

Varying from classic comfort food like Chicken Pot Pie

to a more exotic dish like Butter Chicken and Ginger Beef.

Her dishes are not only taste good,
they are also easy to prepare and healthy too.

You can choose to pick them up

at their Richmond, BC location 

or have them delivered if you live in one of their 

15 delivery locations.

Is there anything better than waking up

and having that weeks meals already prepared and waiting

in a cooler by your door?

It was so convenient to have my fridge and freezer stocked

with ready made meals. 

Each dish we tried was pleasing to the palate.

We tried an assortment of dishes 

such as the winter squash soup,

the macaroni au gratin and the breakfast bowl.

My all time favourite dish was the Roasted Cauliflower Salad with a Curry dressing.

Mmm mmm!

Recently, my best friend's grandma had a fall

and was unable to prepare meals for herself.

Right away I went online and ordered a few meals that would

be simple to prepare and they were delivered to her door.

She said that they tasted delicious and were so helpful!

Read on below to see how Joanna got her start with Batch Food,

her previous culinary experience and of course 

how you can win a Mom's Night Off for yourself and a friend!

Just An Ordinary Family: The concept of Batch Food is genius! How did you come up with the idea?

Batch Food: When my kids were young and my husband and I both worked full time as chefs, I would batch cook meals and freeze so on busy nights or if I was to just to exhausted to make something fresh, I could pull out something homemade. We always talked about how great it was, and that we should start a business doing it. 

JAOF: What pushed you to take the leap to create Batch Food and have it as your full time job?

BF: We started out very small. First we just sold to our friends, then they told there friends and it grew from word of mouth. We set a weekly sales goal, when we reached that, I could focus on building batch full time. Everything kind of fell into place, we hit our goal we found a kitchen space to lease. 

JAOF: What did you do before you began Batch Food?

BF: I always worked in the culinary field as a chef. Then I focused on baking and became the Pastry Chef at the River Rock Resort. My last position was in the test kitchen at the Original Cakerie, working on new products and reformulating existing recipes. 

JAOF: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently to make the transition from your former job to opening Batch Food?

BF: No, don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy to launch a new business, but I always felt like everything somehow kept falling into place for me. 

JAOF: What do you like best about running your own business? What do you like least?

BF: I like being able to create my own menus supporting local farmers and markets and working with other local businesses. 

My least favorite part is having to take care of things that aren't my area of expertise. If a delivery driver is sick, I have to make deliveries or if the printer doesn't work, I have to figure out how to fix it. There is no maintenance or IT department to call when there is a problem. 

JAOF: How do you manage your time as an entrepreneur, wife and mother?

BF: It can be pretty tough to balance everything, some days are full of family and some days are full of work. Batch is a family business so my husband and kids spend some time helping out doing what they can, but I am way more available for them then if I had a regular job. 

JAOF: What three pieces of advice would you give to someone who is wanting to leave their current employment situation and become their own boss?

BF: Stick to your passion, trust you instincts, set preliminary goals. 

JAOF: Where do you see Batch Food in 5 years?

BF: I would like Batch to be sold in the smaller gourmet groceries. 

Thanks for sharing with us Joanne.
It is so great to see that you were able to
use your skills to adapt to your family dynamics.
Even including them in your business.

Want to learn how to win a Mom's Night Off?
There are a few ways to do this!

1 - Leave a comment on this post with your name and email address.
Nominate a deserving friend and tell us why you think she deserves a day off from cooking.

2. You can also enter on Facebook and Instagram.
To do enter you must 'like' both Just An Ordinary Family and Batch Food.
Comment on the photo about the giveaway
and tag a deserving friend and tell us why she deserves a day off from cooking.

The winners must be able to pick up their meals from the Richmond location,
or live in one of the cities Batch Food delivers too.

Good luck!