STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — South Shore residents Christine and Louie Noia met and fell in love after they bonded over their common interests, including maintaining a healthy diet. Over the last 19 years, the pair turned their shared penchant for healthy eating into a successful business concept, Better Gourmet Health Kitchen — which has four Staten Island locations and is now officially a franchise.
And the newest addition, launched last month, to the Noia’s chain of eateries is Better Meal Prep, which includes an array of prepared meals featuring many of Better Gourmet’s most requested dishes.
Better Meal Prep includes an array of prepared meals featuring many of Better Gourmet’s most requested dishes. (Courtesy of Kaiden Noia)
“It’s healthy food that tastes good. That’s really what ‘Better’ is all about. It’s a better version of what you like to eat somewhere else,” said Louie, 44, who struggled with weight as a kid, which forced him to choose healthy meal choices, and eventually led to the creation of Better Gourmet Health Kitchen.
They developed the new meal prep business at the request of their army of loyal customers.
“Our customers were requesting the meal prep; it was in high demand,” said Christine, 45. “We had already been unofficially prepping for a lot of our customers, such as people who work off the Island, athletes who want to cut weight and just busy working people.”
Said Louie: “It’s for people who want a bunch of meals in their refrigerator ready to go and ready to pop into the microwave.”
South Shore residents Christine and Louie Noia met and fell in love after they bonded over their common interests, including maintaining a healthy diet. Over the last 19 years, the pair turned their shared penchant for healthy eating into a successful business concept, Better Gourmet Health Kitchen — which has four Staten Island locations and is now officially a franchise. (Courtesy of Kaiden Noia)
WHY HEALTHY EATING?
The meal prep recipes are based on the “better eating” concept developed when the pair opened their first restaurant in Travis in August 2004. The pair modeled their menu options on a macro nutrient diet focusing on proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Since then, they have opened restaurants in West Brighton, New Dorp and Huguenot.
“Louie found a way to lose weight and get in shape while still eating a good amount of food, but he ate quality healthy food,” said Christine, noting the pair are parents to two teenage boys, Kaiden and Cam, who are athletes. “He basically taught himself that you don’t have to starve yourself to be in shape and lose weight. You just have to eat healthy food that is prepared.”
In addition, Christine suffers from celiac disease, which led to her having thyroid issues as an adult. But it also led her on pathway to healthy eating.
“We develop our recipes based on the way we eat,” she said.
Better Meal Prep includes an array of prepared meals featuring many of Better Gourmet’s most requested dishes. (Courtesy of Kaiden Noia)
HOW THE MEAL PREP WORKS
The meal prep — prepared in Better Gourmet’s Travis location, is available for pick up and delivery — offers a variety of healthy dishes, including those that boast of being tasty and low-carb at the same time. All the meals also stay within a healthy calorie range, said Christine.
The Noias offer a meal prep menu that features items like “Buddha Tuna,” ahi tuna, broccoli and brown rice with “Asian sauce,” and “Santorini Chicken,” which is organic grilled chicken with homemade hummus, feta cheese and sauteed spinach with tzatziki sauce. In addition, customers also have the option of creating their own meal prep dishes or ordering certain items, like grilled chicken by the pound.
“It’s healthy food that tastes good. That’s really what ‘Better’ is all about. It’s a better version of what you like to eat somewhere else,” said Louie Noia, 44, who struggled with weight as a kid, which forced him to choose healthy meal choices and eventually led to the creation of Better Gourmet Health Kitchen.(Courtesy of Kaiden Noia)
“We also priced these meals so they are affordable as if you cooked them yourself, but without the mess,” said Louie, noting they are offering a 10% discount until March on all prepared meals with the code BETTERPREP10.
“It’s made by chefs, and it’s tailor made for you,” he added.
BETTER MEAL PREP AT A GLANCE
Address: 4077 Victory Blvd.
Website: justeatbetter.com
Instagram: @bettergourmet
Facebook: @bettergourmet
New Businesses in Focus is a weekly column that relates the stories of new Staten Island business owners.
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