Welcome to LiveWell Week!
Wellness has been a buzzword for the past few years, and this burgeoning industry valued at over $3.7 trillion globally, has spawned several brands home and abroad committed to helping us, in millenial speak – live our very best lives. This juggernaut industry covers not only the typical areas like fitness, nutrition and beauty, it’s evolving more and more to include mindfulness, mental health and well-being in our careers and at home.
In this series, we explore wellness on the continent, not only tapping into this trend but speaking to various individuals and brands about what wellness and self-care means to them and spanning different aspects of the industry from wellness tourism , alternative medicine, workplace wellness, beauty and anti ageing as well as the reactive and proactive elements in wellness and self-care.
Meet the Founder of Green Grill House and learn all about what they are doing to put the fun into healthy eating!
[The] biggest reward will be seeing my passion come alive and most of all when people walk up to me and tell me ‘You are doing a very good job‘ and they love my offerings. It really makes me feel all the stress involved is worth it.
Why did you start?
After 6 years in a telecoms company I decided to quit my job because I wasn’t happy. I started making home cooked meals for my former colleagues and other people who needed good food for lunch. Along the line, I realized my salads were selling out and I was left with meals each day. Making a [tough] business decision, I quit the meals and concentrated on the salads especially since there were no take-out salad businesses at the time.
On the Challenges & Rewards of Running Green Grillhouse
Biggest challenge hmmmm, that’s staying in business and making sure people who depend on me get paid at the end of the month. FUNDING is also a big challenge in virtually all areas of starting the business. Funding to start up, funding to roll out new products, funding for certifications, funding for basically everything. Our banks are not helpful to entrepreneurs so a lot of people are reluctant to take loans because at the end of the day you will be paying too much back. when I started out and I needed to expand, I had to get loans and donations from my darling husband and loving parents and with we expanded the business as we went along.
[The Biggest Reward] is being a part of peoples healthy lifestyle, being the go to place for trusted healthy food and being my own BOSS.Seeing my passion come alive and most of all when people walk up to me and tell me ‘you are doing a very good job’ and they love my offerings. It really makes me feel all the stress involved is worth it.
Founder Responsibilities?
Practically everything. I have delegated some parts of the job to capable hands but at the end of the day the success of my business is very important to me and so you have me coming in and acting in whatever role needs my attention at the time. I have taken on the roles of a dispatch rider, customer service, cook, server, cashier, madam etc Hahahaha
On Dealing With Criticism
This was very hard for me in the beginning. There were times when I would cry and cry , I just wanted to throw in the towel and close shop when I was criticized. But with time I have learnt that criticism and negative feedback is all feedback and how else does your brand grow better? Take the feedback and work on it. I focus on the fact that I love what I do, I love my business, its my baby and so I will nurture it to grow. You do not discard your child when he/she isn’t getting all the prizes in school, you work with them to do better.
Our Mission is to put back fun into healthy eating
You have quite a few social media followers . How did you grow your audience and how does it affect your business positively or negatively?
Mostly by word of mouth and collaborations with other businesses. Having many followers has definitely helped the business positively. Simply put, all our followers are potential brand advocates- when they talk about us in a positive light, we tend to gain more followers and customers. Our audience grew steadily over time, it was a natural growth.
A Day In The Life Of The Founder
Phew…. I do not have have to wake up so early anymore as I have processes and structure in place. However, my day starts with me sending messages to the team on any update or information I want to pass across. I get to the Lekki Cafe at 10am, this is an hour into the days shift. I deal with any and all outstanding correspondence & requests, look through our inventory etc. While I’m at the cafe I take over the till, so i deal directly with the customers, check them out, have a chat etc. Then I leave Lekki and go to the VI location, basically do the same thing and sometimes if we need emergency stuff I go off to sort that out.
I make it back home at 6pm and get straight to making dinner, catching up on my favorite TV shows, video calling my family (we do this everyday loll) , hang with my husband, go on social media to see what’s happening and basically that is it. I also tend to respond to a lot of e-mails at night because I do not sleep early. This is also the time I work on my pet project…2 books I am writing.
What is one thing that you wish you had known when you were starting out?
Having processes and structure, because I started without this, my early years were chaotic, stressful and full of tears.
The Green Grillhouse Mission
Our Mission is to put back fun into healthy eating. Over the years there is this notion that healthy food or healthy eating is boring, bland and not nice, but this is wrong. At Green GrillHouse, we have mastered the art of cooking healthy food deliciously, using local favorites cooked in healthier ways.
What daily, weekly or monthly rituals do you have to make sure you are taking care of yourself in an intentional way?
Family is very important to me. I grew up in a very close knit family so we video call, group family chat and talk to each other everyday. That makes me happy and de-stresses me.
With the amount of time I spend standing at both stores daily, getting home standing in the kitchen, staying up at night on the computer I do not joke with my massages. So I make sure I take a ‘me’ day to pamper myself.
What does wellness and self-care mean to you? Do you think it’s important ? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know your thoughts in the comments
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