Episode 131: Interview with Bernardo De La Vega, Mealthy Food Company Founder and CEO

We chat with entrepreneur Bernardo De La Vega, the CEO and founder of the new food company, Mealthy, about how he came up with his idea for Mealthy, developed a business plan, and makes the 2nd highest sold electric pressure cooker on Amazon, the MultiPot. We talk about what makes them different than other pressure cookers. Hint: It's in the website and the app! Plus, we talk about Mealthy's CrispLid, an air fryer adaptor to your pressure cooker and how you can "invest" in Mealthy as a company.

Let's taco 'bout it!

Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

• Food Nerd Shoutout: Our listener, Miriam, recommended our podcast on Facebook, and called Hungry Squared "Funny, uplifting, interesting". Thank you for the kind words and recommendation, Miriam! If you want to tell us about what YOU think about the podcast, email us at hungrysquared@gmail.com. 
• Let's Dig into the Kitchen Drawer: Remember Winter's love for her original GoWise Air Fryer on another episode? Well, Winter got to preview Mealthy's CrispLid ahead of this episode and had a lot of fun using it.  Can we say Crab Rangoon? Yum-O! And Winter loves things extra crispy and the CrispLid did the trick. You just attach it to any 6- or 8-quart sized electric pressure cooker, such as Mealthy's MultiPot or the Instant Pot. After the time we recorded this, Winter also tried out this and this recipe out and they're both winners! Winter's rating: 4 out of 5 stars (for now). (Note: Though Winter received the CrispLid at no cost from Mealthy, this opinion is her own and legit gave it 4 out of 5 stars!)

• We got to chat with Bernardo De La Vega, the founder and CEO of the Mealthy company. Bernardo's vision brought together his passion for food and technology.
• Mealthy's first product was the MultiPot, an electric pressure cooker. It is the second most sold electric pressure cooker on Amazon.

• The Mealthy website and app (Apple and Android) are so valuable to the Mealthy customers. It is solving a problem for Mealthy's customers and provides added functionality outside of the appliance itself. Mealthy "provides the absolute best experience" and therefore it builds loyalty!
• Have you seen their quick start guides? They're quick (obviously) and super helpful! It's all about making cooking easy and fun. There's engagement from the top down.

• Background on how Mealthy got started: Bernardo went to the Canton Fair in China and basically came up with a business plan very quickly and was able to make a deal with a manufacturing company. He asked what was lacking in the current food landscape and designed the MultiPot accordingly. The cooking progress indicator is genius! The accessories were thoughtfully chosen! The website and app were intentional!
• Leave a review on the recipes on Mealthy--this is key to the success of the recipes since the company will read the reviews and edit the recipe to help future cooks out.
• Mealthy is now introducing the CrispLid, which makes your electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot, MultiPot, Ninja, etc) into an air fryer. What?!? Mind blown! Here's the gist of how it sets up and works:

• Are you a Mealthy raving fan? Well, you could be a part of the Mealthy company, by investing in the company. Mealthy's "crowd investing" is live as of May 2019.
• Join the Mealthy Facebook Group here! (They want to include everyone!) When you do, you get entered into the CrispLid giveaway. 1) Join the group and 2) tell us you joined in the Comments or on the Hungry Squared Facebook Page or Instagram giveaway post by June 30, 2019 at 11:59 pm. We will announce the winner on July 2, 2019.
• If you want to buy your own MultiPot or CrispLid, click here for our affiliate link. It's no extra cost to you and you help support our podcast!

• Introducing Interesting Ingredients: Sharon wanted to introduce fish sauce to our listeners. It's made from fermented fish. Sharon likes the Red Boat brand to make a seafood stock (the recipe is from Tamara from Beyond Mere Sustenance). By the way, the Red Boat brand is  Whole 30-approved per Melissa Hartwig. Winter purchases a Thai brand, Spring Roll Fish Sauce, at her local Asian market.

Run Time: 68 minutes

Sponsors: The sponsor of the Hungry Squared podcast is ThermoWorks! We both love our Thermapen MK4 thermometers and Lee loves his Smoke and Smoke Gateway for when we're smoking a brisket. ThermoWorks is always having amazing sales. Check it out!

Leave a Comment Bernardo de la Vega, Crisplid, Mealthy, MultiPot, pressure cooker