In this interview, host Donald Burns discusses the importance of meal preparation for fitness and invites Nick, the founder of Ready Strong Meals, to share his personal and professional journey. Nick explains that after a decade in corporate America, he felt unfulfilled and sought a more meaningful path. Leveraging relationships and lessons from his corporate experience, he transitioned into the restaurant industry, creating Ready Strong Meals—a meal‑prep service designed to help people stay on track with their health and fitness goals. The conversation highlights the motivations behind leaving a traditional 9‑to‑5, the role of meal prep in supporting fitness, and the founding vision of Ready Strong Meals.
And if you're— I mean, looking for some really, really great meal prep, because I'm a huge believer in getting meal prep. I think it's one of the things that helps me stay on track and on, on schedule with my fitness goals. So I definitely wanted to bring Nick on and have him talk about his brand. So tell us a little bit about you, tell us a little bit about your story, tell us a little bit about— and then tell us a little bit about Ready Strong Meals.
Yeah, so, um, really pumped to be here. So my name is Nick, I own Ready Strong Meals. Actually, before I started the business, I was working in corporate America for about 10 years. So did the normal, like, you know, go to college and graduate and get a, get a job in a 9-to-5. And I just really wasn't happy in that, in my current situation. Like, I didn't want to do, like, corporate forever. Um, it was, uh, you know, it was— I definitely learned a lot and built really strong relationships that I still kind of leverage and use today, but I didn't see myself doing it for like 30, 40, 50 years. You know, you work, you retire, you sit on a beach. It's like there's more, there's more to life than that. So, you know, I decided to get in the restaurant business. That'll keep me busy and occupied.
Now you didn't just think of like, you know, you just like woke up one day going, you know, I think I want to be in the restaurant business. I mean, there had to be something that like— Yeah, no, so I'm kind of just I'm just joking around, but, um, no one ever wakes up and go, you know, I think I just want to mess my whole life up.
Yeah, so I've always worked in restaurants and like always been around food, um, you know, growing up. Like, my mom always cooked like really high quality food in my household. Um, you know, Sunday was like a really big deal in our house. I come from an Italian household, so like my mom would make like sauce and pasta and meatballs and sausage and all that stuff. So, um, you know, I was always like revolved around food and And I worked in smaller mom-and-pop restaurants growing up. So it was always kind of an itch to start a business.
