Here at Hungry & Fit, we are always encouraging and promoting companies that seek to make the world a healthier place. That’s why we are featuring BizEatz, a company focused on helping business travelers eat healthy. A good portion of the workforce, especially in corporate, travel frequently. That means unstable and unreliable meal sources that usually end up not being very healthy. BizEatz recognized this problem and sought out a way to improve traveling professionals’ experience of eating on the move.
Meet BizEatz. A platform that connects healthy food to professionals, whichever city they might be in. I actually partook in the product a few months ago when I traveled and it worked great for me. Instead of indulging on french fries and grilled cheese, I had nutritious meals at my disposal. Before I go on and blab about how it works, I’ll let the Founder himself, Adrian Lai, take over. Hungry & Fit interview Adrian about his company, BizEatz. Enjoy!
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Adrian (A): I am originally from Tucson, AZ. Attended the United States Naval Academy after high school and then served as a submarine officer for 8 years. Finished my MBA while I was active duty worked at a FinTech startup in LA before leaving and starting BizEatz.
A bit more about me is that I’ve been a lifelong fitness enthusiast, played tennis since I was 7, and come from a family that is Chinese and Colombian…some would say that makes me Chilombian American 😉
Q: What is BizEatz? How does it work and where is it available?
A: BizEatz finds healthy, ready-to-eat, convenient meals for business travelers and ensures smooth delivery to their hotel or office nationwide. We provide our customers with a selection of only healthy meals and help them plan ahead to eat well while they are traveling.
The way it works right now is a customer goes to our website and lets us know when and where they are going, and if they have any dietary restrictions. Our food concierges then ensures their hotel supports delivery (refrigerator/microwave) and finds a vendor that we partner with to deliver the food. We send our customers an online menu where they can order and pay.
By the time the traveler checks into their hotel the following Monday, they have healthy meals for the week waiting for them at the hotel. In the near future we will automate these processes so you can simply input your travel information, select your meals, and have nutritious meals waiting for you at check-in.
Q: Why did you start this product/company?
A: BizEatz was started with a passion for helping people. My brother and several friends are career business travelers, and although this career might seem glamorous, they shared with me on many occasions that the daily grind they experience has many drawbacks. One of the challenges they continuously faced was maintaining a healthy lifestyle while traveling. As a result of seeing people who I know and love struggle with this issue, I knew that I had to do something to help them.
We initially were helping people exercise while they were on the road, but soon realized that we could have greater impact if we solved the nutrition problem for them. As many people know, what you put in your body is more than half the battle!
Q: Were you nervous quitting a stable, well-paying job and starting your own bizness? Tell us about that experience.
A: Absolutely. It certainly didn’t make any financial sense, but I had a gut feeling that it is what I needed to do. A few things played a role in that decision:
- I wanted to move back to Tucson and with a limited tech scene, figured I would give it a go by myself.
- Set the ego aside and after living alone for the last 10 years of my life, I moved in with my brother and sister-and-law…aka minimal “rent”. Thanks Oscar and Janee!
- I managed not to take out any loans for school so I didn’t have monthly school loan payments.
- As mentioned above, this was a problem that my friends and family were struggling with and wanted to help them!
At the end of the day, I consider myself pretty fortunate to have this opportunity to pursue BizEatz. Every now and then, I do think of how nice it would be not to be living off of savings. However, knowing that we are already impacting the health of a small number of business travelers and have the potential to solve the problem for all business travelers keeps me going.
Some of my meals when I used the service
Q: What sets BizEatz apart?
A: A couple of things:
Our focus on the business traveler. There are lots of companies out there that are providing healthy food options but not many that focus on the catering it for business travelers. As a result, we are able to tailor our product to have features that are unique to them as I outline below
- Convenience
- We deal with the subscriptions, delivery to hotel, refrigeration, microwave, etc so all the customer has to do is order.
- Increase odds of healthy meal selection
- Only healthy meals on the menu ensures the customer can only make healthy food decisions
- Pre-ordering allows the business traveler to plan their healthy meals ahead rather than make decisions when they are tired and hungry
- Time saved
- Customer can order healthy meals for the week in a few minutes rather than having to spend time deciding for each meal
- Customer has meals waiting in the refrigerator for the week instead of having to wait at a restaurant or wait for delivery each meal
Our customer service. We know business travelers have a million things to worry about. That is why our food concierges are trained to ensure a five-star customer experience.
The CEO. Just an all-around stellar guy and great jokes too!
Q: Do you have any good stories of some learning moments that our entrepreneur followers could learn from?
A: So many…so so many…
You as the entrepreneur, the one that is most invested, is the one that is responsible for making decisions that are best for you and the business. As you pitch/share your idea with people, everyone is full of opinions as to what you should be doing or what you should do next. At times, it is valuable and at times it is not.
While I always keep this in mind, there has been a time or two where I think mistakenly I shifted the focus of our team based off of one discussion or opinion. That being said, do not simply discount any opinion that doesn’t align with your own. It is a balance between being confident in your decisions but also being open to feedback.
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So, on your next business travel, I encourage you to give BizEatz a try. They provide you healthy meals that are very affordable right to your hotel. You don’t need to worry about having to go to the hotel restaurant and trying to scour for the most healthy item. You already know what you’ll be eating for the week…BizEatz! Use BizEatz to stay hungry and fit!
