Like many of us, Taylor Silva grew up eating pizza and hot pockets. When she began working out at her high school gym, she found herself craving more from her food. She wanted to eat to support her performance and get better results from training, so she started doing research.
Seven years later, Taylor’s obsession with food and fitness has turned into a brick and mortar reality — Taylored Meals — that is changing the way Kona eats.
Along with a team of 12, Taylor feeds over 100 people a week and growing with her healthy meals-to-go business model. She has watched countless clients lose weight, sometimes as much as 10 pounds per week from eating her meals and exercising.
“It lights me up to see people transform before my eyes,” Taylor said of her clients. “They look different, feel different, their entire outlook on life changes.”
Taylored Meals began in 2014 when Taylor, a personal trainer, started cooking for a handful of her training clients at home. She would tell them what to eat to get the best results. But she also found that most people were too busy with life to cook for themselves and lacked the discipline to change old habits at the grocery store. The clients she was training and feeding began to see immediate changes, and soon she was cooking for over 30 people on her home stove top. Then, one day, her husband surprised her with a key to an office space in Kona’s Old Industrial Area at 74-5616 Alapa Street.
In her true DIY spirit, Taylor took the leap.
She and her husband spent many long days and nights building a commercial kitchen from scratch. She commissioned her ubiquitous logo on the website Fiver and launched an Instagram account — which now has over 12,000 followers — as a marketing plan.
“I slept in my kitchen for the first year,” said Taylor, who initially struggled to find employees. “I just refused to give up, no matter what.”
Her spirit and tenacity have paid off. Taylored Meals recently expanded to serve clients in Hilo and fed the National Guard during their response to the volcanic eruptions in Puna. Taylor herself is an example of someone who practices what she promotes. Last year she took second place in the NPC Sacramento Pro competition after training for 20 weeks and eating a steady diet of Taylored Meals.
Meals start at $13 for entrees and $7 for breakfast items. The meals are paleo inspired, using high-quality proteins like Big Island beef, organic free-range chicken, and wild caught fish, and a variety of locally grown vegetables. Vegetarian protein options are also available. House sauces and dips are made from scratch, like their delicious vegan ranch, and mango salsa. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried their Pronuts — gluten-free donuts packed with protein and good stuff — because your sweet tooth still needs love, OK?
For a full menu, visit tayloredmeals.com. To order, text (808) 201-2301. Follow Taylored Meals on Instagram and like her on Facebook @tayloredmeals.
Emily Gleason is a member of Business Network International (BNI) Alii Networkers Chapter in Kailua-Kona and helps business owners reach their dream clients at www.mthewriter.com. She contributes a monthly business feature to West Hawaii Today.