Together, Zac and Alyssa Starr lost 190 pounds.
How did they do it? Not through crash dieting and excessive exercising.
The couple—an executive chef and engineer—upended how they ate to embrace a healthy lifestyle.
“I have been a chef for over 15 years and started swapping ingredients to clean up our favorite dishes, making them healthier without sacrificing the flavor,” explains Alyssa Starr, who owns Mother of Macros with her husband Zac Starr.
The goal of the business is to offer creative and delicious meals to others so they can meet their own health goals, but without the overwhelming effort Alyssa had to put in to get started.
With convenience part of the eating healthy equation, Alyssa and Zac figured more people could overturn their eating habits and see great results.
While Alyssa is responsible for the recipes, Zac’s background is just as much a part of the business.
“Zac… always makes sure our systems at work are iron-clad along with a perfected cold chain shipping process that allows us to ship our meals nationwide,” Alyssa explains.
The bulk of the business model is an online ordering system of healthful meals that ship right to your door. Unlike other meal services, the menus don’t rotate and are instead fresh (pun intended) every week. Behind the scenes, Alyssa is doing the science experiments to ensure every meal is also balanced in macros.
It’s not that there isn’t competition in the healthy meal prep space. Alyssa simply says they aren’t paying attention to it. And unlike other nationwide subscriptions like HelloFresh and Daily Harvest, the experience is a bit more intimate.
Weekly at 9 p.m. on Saturdays, Alyssa posts a menu that she has created of meals available for the week. Then, ordering begins. Everything is done through the website and orders have to get in fast so the small team has enough time to shop and prep. They only buy what is ordered and they immediately get to work prepping meals.
Food ships out the following Thursday, in chemical-free, compostable containers, and is delivered nationwide. Local deliveries—the facility is based in Sparks—ship free with a minimum order of $60.
The meals are fully prepared and all customers have to do to enjoy, is heat them.
Easy enough, right?
Well, the meal prep service isn’t the only tasty offering Zac and Alyssa have.
“We also have a bakery line called Clean Cheatz, which are gluten-free and refined sugar-free donuts, cookies, cakes and parfaits,” Alyssa says. You may have seen them around town at various places including Enchanted Cat Café and Superstitions Java.
Alyssa said they also recently reached a deal with Raley’s grocery stores so their confections will be more readily available to locals and those out of state.
In addition to the healthier option for a decadent dessert, she said kids go gaga over adorable character faces on their donuts and other delights, which have been known to include familiar faces from Sesame Street, like Cookie Monster and Elmo.
The nutrition facts make the desserts more appealing for adults, too. The Cinnamon Streusel Donut, for example, is 130 calories and includes 6 grams of protein, 17 grams of carbs and 5 grams of fat.
While all of the meal prep ordering is done online at MotherOfMacros.com, the café, at 1127 Gator Way in Sparks, has some sweets on display.
In addition to their mission to eat healthy and support local businesses, Alyssa says giving back to the community that helps them thrive is equally important.
“We are heavily involved in many local nonprofits,” she says, rattling off familiar names such as Urban Roots, The Eddy House, The Ronald McDonald House and Girls on the Run. “When you support us, you help us give back financially to our community.”
While it sounds like the Starr family has hacked healthy eating (and how to monetize it) that doesn’t mean they are done expanding. In addition to new partnerships, Mother of Macros will open a new, state-of-the-art facility later this summer.
“Together [Zac and I] are an unstoppable force,” Alyssa says.
