DAYTON — Change is something that we’ve all gotten a big dose of over the last couple of years. Now, one local woman decided to embrace the changes happening in her life when she got furloughed from her job during the pandemic.
This week’s WHIO Reports introduces us to Katie Easton and her work to bring balances, fresh meals to the community.
When Easton’s business took off, she needed a space to work and soon discovered a local church.
Easton owns Dished! and she said, “Right now here at the church we were a limited on our space so we’ve been using our carts for all of our dry storage.”
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Easton said she believes in flavor and does not want to skimp on that. “We like our spices and our herbs here for sure.”
Friday is food prep day for Katie and her team. She said, “We’ve got Rachel here, she’s chopping our kale for that sunflower crunch salad.”
On Monday, the food goes out to customers.
“We put on all of our labels, the shelf life for them and how to store them,” she said.
While cooking is something Katie has always enjoyed, pre-pandemic, she was on a different path.
“Back in March 2020 I was furloughed from my longstanding job in the hospitality industry. I took advantage of my time off for a couple of months, but quickly got bored,” Easton said.
In her boredom, Easton discovered some new hobbies. “I was attending a gym and meal prepping for my own family.” She continued by saying, “Several of my friends, were like you should totally meal prep for us too and we’ll pay you for it.”
Out of that conversation Dished! was born. “We thought it was a good play on words. We could do yard signs, get dished, we got dished and things like that,” Easton said.
She made her first delivery in June 2020. “It was right at that time where restaurants were closing down. They were only available for carry out and Door Dash was huge,” she said.
Since August of last year, Easton has been working out of a church kitchen with a staff of about 1o people. She said she’s always been a dreamer, and all it took was a little push.
Easton said she is moving the business to a larger space at 5860 Bigger Road starting in March. She hopes to start offering grab and go meals.
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