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Healthy meal delivery service and caterer, Kitchfix (Formerly CJK Foods), has raised a $300,000 seed round led by Ken Leonard, who was the also the first and largest investor in healthy eatery Protein Bar.
Superfoods and super standards: what’s Kitchfix?
Founded by Chef Josh Katt, Kitchfix aims to help busy people live healthy lives with nutrient dense food. They craft ready-to-eat, chef-created meals that are made with locally sourced, organic, gluten, dairy, and soy free superfoods that also please the paleo palate.
With a few clicks on their website, customers order fully prepared and healthy meals for home delivery, or customers can pick up their meals from a Kitchfix hub.
“With our philosophies being gluten and dairy free, food turns out less processed with less calories”, said Katt. Kitchfix sources their ingredients from local and organic (as much as possible) Illinois and Indiana farms. Beef is grass fed, and meats are pasture raised and non-GMO (meaning they don’t contain genetically modified organisms).
“When we create menus we create menus that sound really good to us, and we make that,” said Katt.
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Chef Josh Katt’s local roots
Katt, who has been cooking since he was 14, attended culinary school, and then spent more than 12 years in the restaurant industry.
In 2010, getting out of the restaurant world, Katt saw the diversity and imbalance of food in Chicago, and wanted to give back; so he did some work with a non-profit, educating kids in an after-school cooking program teaching kids about healthy cooking and eating.
Shortly after, he was hired to prepare meals for a family that needed a personal chef who could cook according to the Anti-Inflammatory Diet. This kind of diet emphasizes the use of whole, unprocessed foods like fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, and meats, and avoids inflammatory ingredients such as dairy, gluten and soy.
Realizing there was a business here, Katt soon realized he’d need a licensed kitchen if he wanted to keep growing, so he took a chance.
Katt’s first delivery was to River North Cross Fit and started with 100 meals. They started taking orders with a simple form, and as they grew they decided to build an online ordering system.
Looking forward to a super (foodie) year and celebration
In the coming year, the Kitchfix team of 25 plans to serve more areas of Chicago and the suburbs. They’re also planning to expand delivery times, build more capacity, build tech, and increase to 50 pickup hubs in the city from their current 20. In addition to delivering healthy meals, they also want to deliver a more experience-rich service to customers.
Kitchfix has signed a lease for a new 5,000 square foot kitchen space and storefront over at 1731 W. Grand Ave. (Grand and Ashland). Near the end of the summer, consumers will be invited to their new kitchen and offices to celebrate with them.
“We’re really excited about giving people a product we feel really good about and they can feel really good about,“ Katt said.
