Nutrition and food science senior Kristen Salles combined her love of food with her passion for nutrition when she started Kristen’s Catering, a personalized meal delivery service for individuals and small groups.
Kristen’s Catering is a part-time business run by Salles and delivers fresh and nutritious meals to customers who have limited time to cook for themselves.
The business was created nearly six months ago after this past spring break when Salles said an LSU student was too busy to cook her own meals.
Salles said the student enjoyed her meal, and she decided she had a potential business model. She then began to cook for friends and family friends.
A Baton Rouge native, Salles said she enjoys cooking nutritious, homestyle meals. She’s even created an Instagram to show off her dishes such as zucchini noodles, crawfish etouffee and sweet potato pie.
Salles said her favorite dish to cook for customers is a full baked chicken with vegetable stewed rice.
Besides Instagram photos, Salles said her business relies on word of mouth and referrals.
Salles said her knowledge of nutrition from her university classes aides her in her knowledge of how food groups apply to the human body, and cooking helps her solidify her knowledge.
“It is an incorporation of a passion and a business,” Salles said.
She said she was inspired to learn how to cook from her grandmother and her parents and was able to turn that culinary passion into Kristen’s Catering. She attributes her southern hospitality to her love for cooking.
Currently a senior at LSU, Salles said she enjoys teaching others about nutrition and how to cook. She also loves a live audience when she’s creating dishes and said letting customers watch her cook the food serves as a teaching tool.
“It’s really neat that I have the ability to teach them ways to become healthier,” Salles said.
One distinct component of Kristen’s Catering is people can request specific meals for Salles to cook for them. Salles said she primarily cooks food on Sunday and delivers the cooked food on Monday. While the business is part-time, she said she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of eventually expanding the business.
“If demand increases, I would love to have others working with me,” Salles said.
In the future, she said she hopes to extend Kristen’s Catering to young athletes.
“They’re working hard day to day, doing physical activity, but if they had a healthy meal to bring with them right after they leave practice, that would be so neat,” Salles said.
Salles is looking for investors so she can buy equipment to cook for more people at one time, she said.
Looking for another way to expand her business, Salles said she hopes to create a website to display her offerings and nutritional information to potential customers, as well as a Facebook page.
Customers can contact Salles regarding food inquiries at [email protected].

Gallery • 10 Photos

Haskell Whittington

In this file photo from 2015, then-LSU student Kristen Salles begins prepping fresh vegetables and some fruits for her next dish.