Today we’d like to introduce you to Reneta Jenik
Hi Reneta, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Hi! I am Reneta Jenik, the founder and CEO of Foodom. I left one of the best corporate jobs in the world to start Foodom. This is my story, the short version. For the longer one, feel free to reach out directly!
My husband thought I was crazy. He gave me that “Did you lose your mind? We are not rich” look when I told him that I wanted to hire a personal chef to cook for us so we could eat healthier together by the dining table and not need to eat out so often during our busy kid-filled weekdays.
Since he usually does the cooking when not eating out, I might have agreed with him, but I wanted to spend more time with our kids, and less time rushed with meal prep or ordering takeout, with too much food and packaging waste.
I might have agreed with him if I didn’t know that eating out was leading to poor nutrition and a struggle to maintain my health and the 80 pounds weight loss to prevent diabetes, cancer and other health complications. And eating out is very expensive.
I had to do something! And that something led to Foodom being born a few years later.
You see, my mother passed away when I was 12 years old, a few years after I immigrated with my family as political refugees from the soviet union. I had to step up at an early age and take up many chores and responsibilities for my family, but I didn’t take care of the cooking. Why?
My dad picked up this task and didn’t let anyone into his kitchen. He kept on cooking his healthy, clean and delicious Eastern European food all his life, until he fell and broke his hip, at the age of 90. My mom, diagnosed with late-stage cancer, fought her illness with a special diet that extended her life by years. These experiences ingrained in me the understanding that food serves as a medicine.
I grew up focusing on academics and athletics, developed a successful business tech career in large well-known technology corporations, leaving me no time to develop my cooking skills. I found myself feeling guilty that I wasn’t taking care of my own family the way my dad did.
Guilt that other mothers might judge me, especially when bringing a store-bought cake to my kids’ birthday parties.
Guilt that I wasn’t able to cook healthy and delicious meals for my family every day.
Guilt that my family might feel I didn’t love them enough to cook for them.
If you can relate, we might be kindred spirits.
If you can relate, you are also the reason I created Foodom.
Before founding Foodom, I was deeply immersed in the semiconductor industry. I worked in this space in marketing, product, business and technology roles, growing various semiconductor products from a few million to billions, working with PC OEMs and our teams around the world. My last role at Intel was AI/ML Technology Director, helping bring AI use cases to client computing. I left that to start Foodom, incorporating the skills and learnings from my amazing experiences there.
My journey includes immigrating twice—first as a child escaping the Soviet Union with my family, and later as an adult embracing new opportunities in tech in Silicon Valley and LA. This experience has deepened my understanding of the challenges and triumphs of starting anew, shaping my resilience and determination.
Do you know what it feels like to be the only woman in the room, just a week after immigrating to the US, not understanding what’s going on, and then having your boss ask you to send a summary of the meeting and ARs for everyone? Or meeting my husband here in the US on OK Cupid. He is a country boy, a mechanic, while I am a city girl working in tech. He liked my accent and said it was cute—until we got into a fight and I switched to my native language. I had lots of learning and growth came from these experiences.
When I finally hired a personal chef, I got my life back, my family back, reduced our food expenses by half, eliminated food waste, and I am still working on letting go of that guilt 😉 I discovered that hiring a chef costs less than therapy!
Foodom has since grown, and we continue to support families by providing personalized chef services that are tailored to their dietary and medical needs, as well as to their preferences. My journey from a high-tech executive to the founder of Foodom has been driven by a deep-rooted belief in the power of healthy eating because food is medicine, the power of prevention and the desire to make it accessible to everyone.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Building a startup and raising funds in gloomy times is not easy and not smooth.
It hasn’t been a smooth road. I left Intel a few months before the pandemic, trying to figure out how to build Foodom. By the time I bootstrapped and launched our Alpha, it was three days before the world shut down. I had 100 orders ready to go, but everything collapsed due to the pandemic chaos. I had a few great investors supporting me, people who know me, and customers who love what we are building. However, raising our pre-seed was a challenge. I had to talk to about 200 investors to raise it, which was not easy. It felt like finding a needle in a haystack, but I had to find multiple needles! It was easier to date and find my loving husband that to go through the fundraising process initially.
Dealing with rejection was tough. Every “no” hurt, and it wasn’t sustainable to be in so much pain all the time, I looked for advice and ideas how to deal with it. A wonderful female investor told me to count the “nos” and know that out of 100, I would close with at least 5-10. That encouraged me a lot. I rolled up my sleeves and kept going. Along the way, I how to fundraise, and keep on building my startup efficiently.
I learned that having solid growth and traction are king for fundraising, especially when the startup is not in a trendy market, and if the founder is first time and not famous. You can still make it, by delivering solid results.
I joined several amazing accelerator and entrepreneurship programs, including ForthWave, On Deck, and The Growth Factory, which also invested in Foodom. The Launch House in LA even booked chefs from our platform, allowing me to connect with their team and create valuable connections. These experiences provided a supportive network and invaluable learning opportunities. One of the most impactful lessons came from Nancy Perlman, ForthWave founder, who introduced me to conscious leadership principles. Nancy became a dear friend, and the principles I practiced with coaches and mentors, like safe positive communication, breaking the drama triangle, staying above the line and zen minimalism, now shape both my leadership and my family life. I believe in doing less with ease and flow, authentic communication, and evolving consciousness.
But there are more challenges in the journey like the recession, a bank run, inflation, a war in the Middle East, and more. Despite the hard years, Foodom is growing constantly. We are on the verge of breaking even, progressing fast in the medical space, and working on breakthrough innovative solutions that no one else offers, such as the option to pay with HSA or FSA for diabetes meals cooked by a chef at home for people with prediabetes or diabetes.
As hard as this journey is, it’s the most interesting and satisfying thing I’ve ever done. I feel like I am living in my dharma, happy to jump out of bed every day to be of service to our clients, team, partners, investors, of course the family and the world.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
About Foodom
What We Do:
Foodom is a marketplace that connects families with local chefs for healthy weekly meal prep at home, starting from $5 per portion. We support families, employers, and health providers in managing and preventing chronic conditions.
Specializations:
Foodom specializes in personalized in-home meal prep and dining services. Our platform matches families with professional chefs who create delicious and nutritious meals tailored to individual dietary needs and preferences. Our meals are not only healthy but also cost-effective, often end up being lower than delivery or fast food options.
What Sets Us Apart:
1. Personalized Convenience for healthy living: Foodom offers bespoke meals crafted by local chefs who prepare food in the clients’ homes. This ensures freshness and customization to each family’s dietary needs and preferences. We use micro bulk cooking, and the meals cooked at the custom’s home. This enables to avoid cross-contamination, and clients can control the ingredients in their meals, they know what goes into their food. Chefs handle grocery shopping, with options to integrate with Instacart or have the chef purchase groceries directly. Once the customer found a chef they like, they can reserve a regular 1-2 times a week with the chef and pay a few days before the appointment after they select meals, putting cooking meals on auto pilot.
2. Healthy Eating Focus: We believe that food is medicine. Foodom emphasizes wholesome, nutritious meals to prevent and reverse diet-related conditions. We offer medically tailored meals cooked in the client’s home by local vetted chefs.
3. Cost and Payment Options: Services start at $125 per visit, plus the cost of groceries, providing meals for the entire week in one visit. We accept HSA and FSA for diabetes meals and offer employee perks through platforms like Perks at Work and Joon. If you don’t see us on your employee perks platform, request to add us by providing my name and the email [email protected]. We are also working on health plan coverage, which will be available soon.
4. Cooking Classes: Learn how to cook from experts. Either to gain cooking skills, or to have a quality night with a loved one, we help individuals, families and people with disabilities by making affordable private cooking classes, taught by culinary experts.
5. Back Up Chef Program: Our Back Up Chef Program ensures uninterrupted service when your regular chef is unavailable due to vacation or illness, maintaining the continuity of home-cooked meals.
Pride in Our Brand:
We take pride in delivering a personalized, seamless in-home dining experience. Our Back Up Chef Program reflects our commitment to reliability and customer satisfaction. Our focus on health, wellness, and mindfulness through food aligns with our core values and distinguishes us in the market. We walk the talk!
Key Offerings:
– Personal Chef Services: Weekly meals cooked by local chefs tailored to your family’s needs, including medically tailored meals. To learn more about the medical meals visit here: www.myfoodom.com/food-as-medicine/.
– Cooking Classes: Helps families and individuals maintain healthy eating habits while gaining cooking skills. We work with families who are as part of the Self-Determination Program, working with vendors across the state to provide cooking classes to kids and teens with disabilities. www.myfoodom.com/cooking-classes/.
– Back Up Chef Program: Ensures uninterrupted service when your regular chef is unavailable.
– Concierge services – providing special booking support. www.myfoodom.com/booking-assistance/.
What We Want Readers to Know:
Foodom is more than a meal service; it’s a solution for busy families seeking to eat and live health, and appreciate the benefits of home-cooked meals without the daily cooking hassle. Our personalized approach and commitment to healthy eating make us the ideal choice for enhancing your home dining experience. We invite you to discover how Foodom can transform your meal planning and provide the convenience and quality you deserve. www.myfoodom.com.
We also accept FSA and HSA funds for qualifying health conditions. Learn more about it when you check our menu.
Service Areas:
We serve major metro areas across California, including LA, San Diego, the SF Bay Area, and the greater Sacramento area, with plans to expand to San Diego by the time this article is published. To find out if we are in your area, add your zip code on our home page and click on Get Started.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
Industry Outlook for Chef Services and Health Meals (Next 5-10 Years)
1. Increased Demand for Personalized Nutrition: As awareness of diet-related health issues grows, there will be a heightened demand for personalized meal plans tailored to individual dietary needs and health conditions. Currently, diet-related health diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are affecting a significant portion of the population. By 2025, half of all Americans are projected to live with obesity, and more than half of American adults have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many of which are related to poor-quality eating patterns and physical inactivity. These conditions include cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and poor bone health. Approximately 90% of these diet-related health issues are preventable with the right nutrition. This trend will drive the need for chefs who can provide customized meal solutions aimed at managing and preventing these chronic conditions.
2. Focus on Sustainability: Sustainability will continue to be a focus. This includes sourcing local ingredients, reducing food waste, and utilizing eco-friendly packaging. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental impact of their food choices, pushing the industry toward greener practices and sustainable meal solutions.
3. Rise of Remote and Flexible Work Trends: With the rise of remote work and flexible schedules, there will be more opportunities for chefs and meal services to cater to non-traditional work hours and settings. This flexibility can lead to new service models that adapt to changing work environments and lifestyles.
4. Increased Awareness and Education: As more people become aware of the benefits of healthy eating, there will be a greater emphasis on education. This may include workshops, cooking classes, and informational content about nutrition and meal planning, aimed at empowering individuals to make healthier food choices because it will be easier and lower cost than eating out and prevent diet-related health conditions.
The chef service and health meals industry is evolving to address the growing prevalence of diet-related chronic diseases. By emphasizing preventive nutrition and expanding service offerings, the industry aims to meet the rising demand for health-conscious meal solutions and support a healthier future for all.
Pricing:
- On average, a family of 4 spends $150 on labor + $150 on groceries and gets about 30-40 meals for the week
- The min order is $125 per service (labor)
- Accepting HSA and FSA cards for chef-home-cooked diabetes meals for people with prediabetes or diabetes
- Accepting Self-Determination Program funding for cooking classes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.myfoodom.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myfoodom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myfoodom
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Foodom/
- Twitter: https://x.com/MyFoodom
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@foodom
- Other: https://www.myfoodom.com/podcasts/food-as-medicine/
Image Credits
Ilanit Turgeman
