Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricardo Lona & Katherine Pacheco.
Hi Ricardo & Katherine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
My name is Ricardo Lona, chef/owner of Flavor Lab. I was born & raised in San Diego, CA. I began working in restaurants at the age of 15 & stuck to it for 8 years. I cooked in a variety of kitchens both casual & fine dining. I decided to change directions in my career and really focus on doing my own food. I was not happy cooking other people’s menus. I decided to move to Vegas where my buddy & I would spend countless hours in the kitchen experimenting. I would make small batches of cool condiments & ferments. I would sell them through word of mouth to family & chef friends. In that time, I also began growing a relationship with Katherine, as she was also running her own food business. She would come with me on deliveries when I would visit her. We would spend a lot of time connecting through the food & art, so we eventually decided to completely free ourselves from working for other people. After countless hours of plant-based R&D in our home kitchen, Flavor Lab was born. From collaborative popups & farmers’ markets to private dinners & special events. We now do it all.
My name is Katherine Pacheco born and raised in San Diego, CA. I am the other half of Flavor Lab. My passion towards food developed at a young age. I would sit on the kitchen countertops to watch my mom cook and ask her questions. I grew up waking up to amazing smells and constantly hearing how great of a chef she is. She cooked meat and a variety of vegetables, and for that I thank her. I’m grateful that my first teacher was my mother; she planted a seed in me that I didn’t know was growing. Fast forwarding into 2015 I became vegetarian for the animals and my health. I began to explore and create with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms. My creativity was flourishing, and I realized I enjoy making dishes that can help change the perspective in the vegan world. I first started my business as a food delivery service, and it was a great start. Being a single mother at the time it wasn’t easy to manage on my own so I decided to put my dreams on pause. In 2018 my wheels started turning again, and started selling plant-based tamales. Both of my parents come from Central America our tamales are a bit different from the Mexican culture. These tamales were a HIT I was filled with joy and knew that this is exactly what I need to be doing! That same year I met Chef Ricardo and wow did he make an entrance into my life! I was instantly inspired by his fermented goods and drive to run his own business. We are both passionate about the food, art, and music. We spent countless hours on the phone bouncing ideas and creating in two different places. I was deeply elevated in the love he would give me. As we grew our businesses so did our relationship. He would visit from time to time and we would collab on dishes. It came to a point where we decided to stop collaborating and just become one. That’s when flavor lab was born.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being first-time business owners and having to learn everything from scratch was challenging. All the paperwork and licensing we needed seemed intimidating and felt like we had zero guidance but we soon realized we weren’t alone. Being full-time parents and homeschooling our children was also difficult. We had to use every min of our time wisely. Sometimes one of us had to stay behind when we had events because we had no one we could trust to care for our children. We both agree that this is why it took us longer to keep up with pop-ups and growing our business. Thankfully we received help from our friends and family. These obstacles did help us grow by changing our perspective. We kept saying and thinking we had zero help. Saying we were doing it all on our own but really, we were blessed with guidance from IRC (International Rescue Committee). They helped us by sending us the paperwork we needed to file for farmers’ market and to operate with no problem. We are extremely thankful to everyone and everything that has helped us and Flavor Lab grow.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
We are both chefs and specialized on plant-based food made with clean organic ingredients. We have also continued our exploration into the wild world of small batch fermentation. We make a variety of goods including kimchi, pickles, Lacto fermented salsa & barrel-aged kombucha. We are known for bringing an Asian twist into classic Mexican dishes. We are most proud of the positive reviews of what we create especially the ones we get from carnivores. What sets us apart from the others is that we care about the quality of every single ingredient. We do our best to only source organic produce and support local farmers because of how polluted the food system is. We care about people’s mental health which is connected to gut health. All non-organic produce is being sprayed with glyphosate. Glyphosate cannot be washed or cooked off, and it is killing our healthy gut bacteria as well as depleting the earth’s soil of minerals and nutrients.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Patience.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flavor.lab_
Image Credits
Tavahi Matairea
