Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert ClarkeBell.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hello my name is Robert I’m 33 years of age and this is my story. I started cooking as a young boy; being raised mainly by women most of my life. My dad was a huge influence of my cooking history as well. Growing up, I remember my dad would cook all different types of meals. My inspiration with most of my dishes and culture comes from the everglades of Itta Beena Mississippi with a taste of the island of Jamaica. The south which was my dad and the islands are where my mom’s family is from. Both of these cultural influences have helped me develop a taste and style to create some amazing dishes.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely been a journey. The concept of smooth is probably far from it, but at times that’s the price of success. From working 40hrs plus a week then popping up when I can. It has been tiring and there were times where I felt like giving up. Tons of nights on a few hours of sleep. I am thankful though because I haven’t been on this ride alone; I have my life partner and friend Lauren. She really has helped boost our brand not only on the marketing side but graphics and design development as well. We strive to provide a transparent and fundamental environment. The concepts of our food and way of life is somewhat easy to adapt to when it comes to our eating habits and understanding the concept & roots of our business.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Just to give a brief summary of who and what ital wellness eats is, we thrive to provide clean and healthy plant-based dishes. My main focus was ‘taste of the islands’ because of my Jamaican background on my mom’s side. We re-create dishes such as curry chicken, rice and peas, beef patty, stew chicken, etc. just to name a few. We removed the meat and replaced with plant-based protein such as oyster mushrooms, crimini, trumpet mushrooms and jackfruit. We also make a variety of other great dishes: vegetable curry, mushroom tacos, jerk burritos and loaded salads, Mediterranean plates with all the fixings; hummus, rice, tzatziki, olives and sometimes a flatbread. We also specialize in herbal teas; everything we use is organic and mostly all fair trade. We make colorful teas only using natural plants, flowers, roots, fruits and herbs. We offer custom orders; local pick up and delivery for weekly meal prep also. You might catch us at your local pop-up event as well.
The thing that I would say I’m most proud of is just the determination and overcoming the struggles of building a business. For me, it’s ultimately the overall customer satisfaction and just ensuring that my customers are happy with the business that I’m providing. I would say at the end of the day, what makes myself and my business different is the story behind it and the hard work and struggles.
What also sets us apart from others is the knowledge and understanding in the concept of what we’re providing. There’s a lot of people that provide similar to the same concept but they don’t fully understand like what it is. For instance the concept of being vegan, eating clean, no soy especially-considering that’s like a main factor in the vegan world because it’s so easy to cook with. A lot of people don’t look up at the end of the day it is a major carcinogen and causes detrimental harm to your body. It’s about eating clean foods from the earth; free from pesticides, toxins and gmos – being mindful of what we putting into our body. Aside from that, my business motto is to adapt or get left behind. Meaning sometimes you’ll be the trendsetter and other times someone else will, but never get too comfortable because the world never stops spinning. If you’d ask me if I have any advice for you young entrepreneurs never give up and always have a great vibe of people around you. Life too short for negativity and negativity is bad for business. Much love and positive vibes yours truly Robert.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We heavily appreciate life and the people we have in it. Every day is a day to be thankful for and life is too short to be ungrateful. Thank you so much to all of our supporters.
Contact Info:
- Website: linktr.ee/italwellness https://ital-wellness.square.site/
- Instagram: italwellness_eats
- Other: instagram: @italwellness_eats @vegan_frequency
