Ready Set Prep'd opens location in New Albany
Sep. 15—NEW ALBANY — A local meal prep service focused on healthy flavorful food has expanded with a new location and additional options in New Albany.
Chef Peggy Garbe started Ready Set Prep'd several years ago with husband Andrew Garbe to offer convenient, ready-to-eat meals.
She has operated the business out of MESA, A Collaborative Kitchen in downtown New Albany for the past couple of years as part of the kitchen's incubator program, but on Aug. 21, she opened a brick and mortar location at 1222 State St.
The meal prep is the main part of the business. Customers can preorder meals on the website, or they can walk into the store to see what is available.
Ready Set Prep'd is now able to offer made-to-order lunches Wednesday through Sunday. The lunches can be ready in less than five minutes, and options include salads, wraps and protein bowls.
The space includes a drive-thru, and Ready Set Prep'd also offers delivery within a 15-mile radius of New Albany.
The lunch menu is seasonal, and the meal prep menu rotates every week. The jerk chicken bowl with mango, sweet potato, zucchini, spinach and avocado is the bestseller on the lunch menu, as well as a kale salad with farro, mango, spiced pepitas, feta and a turmeric vinaigrette.
Ready Set Prep'd uses fresh ingredients, and all of the meals are made from scratch, Garbe said. Meals can be adjusted for various diets and lifestyles, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free low-carb and and dairy-free.
The business offers information about meals such as calorie counts, macronutrient values, complete ingredient list and allergens.
Garbe is a professionally-trained chef who has worked in fine dining, including Louisville restaurants such as Jack Fry's and Milkwood. She loved her career, but she wanted to spend more time with her daughter and left the restaurant industry.
She joined a gym in New Albany and started meal prepping as she completed nutritional challenges. This led to a side business that eventually expanded into a full-time business.
When Garbe started at Mesa, she was receiving about 250 to 300 meal orders per week, but it grew significantly when COVID-19 hit since people weren't able to go out to eat.
The business model was always based on pre-orders and pick-ups, so it worked well during the pandemic.
"During COVID, we were lucky that we didn't have to change our business model very much," Garbe said.
As the business grew, they saw the need for a larger kitchen, and it became necessary to move from MESA. The move into their own space has also allowed the business to serve meals more days a week.
Garbe noted that the State Street store is just down the road from the hospital and it is a convenient option for workers who want "to get some healthy food instead of going through the drive-thru" for lunch.
Garbe said it has been a "rollercoaster of emotions" to expand the business.
Ready Set Prep'd offers "healthy food in a more elevated way," she said.
"So we're not just giving you chicken and broccoli in a box — we're giving you like a flank steak panzanella salad," Garbe said.
Ready Set Prep'd is open Wednesday and Thursday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
