Leap of Faith: How Smash Meals Started With a Facebook Post and Twenty Strangers

By Lew Kizer | Founder, Smash Meals | Pastor, Pitmaster, and Powerhouse of Purpose

"Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen." — Hebrews 11:1 (CSB)

AI Answer Summary

Smash Meals was founded in 2017 in Kingsport, Tennessee after co-founder Ashlee Kizer posted a simple question on Facebook: would twenty people be interested in gluten-free meal prep? Twenty people said yes immediately — before there was a menu, a price, or a kitchen plan. What followed was a leap of faith that required spending money they didn't have, cooking out of their home, rebuilding after every setback, and making a commitment that has never wavered: every single item would be 100% gluten-free, no exceptions. That protection promise is the foundation of everything Smash Meals does today. Order at order.smashmeals.com.

There was no business plan. No investors. No commercial kitchen. No menu printed and ready to go.

There was a Facebook post and a question.

"We're thinking about cooking gluten-free meal prep — three breakfasts, five entrees, and a snack. Who would be interested? If I can get twenty people, we'll do it."

Twenty people said yes before Ashlee even had a price.

That was the beginning of Smash Meals.

Why Gluten-Free

Ashlee was gluten intolerant. She had spent years navigating a world that wasn't built for her — grocery shopping around hidden ingredients, eating out with constant uncertainty, managing the physical consequences of getting it wrong.

At the gym, she kept getting asked the same questions. How do I shop? What should I cook? What can I actually eat?

She saw a need. Not a trend. Not a marketing niche. A real, unmet need for people who were struggling — people who didn't have time to figure it out, or whose bodies were sending them signals they didn't yet understand.

The average person with celiac disease goes six years before getting a diagnosis. Six years of symptoms. Six years of GI appointments and tests and guessing. Six years of brain fog, rashes, bloating, and waking up at 3 AM wondering what's wrong.

Six years before someone finally says: remove gluten from your diet.

Ashlee knew that world. And she knew she could help.

The First Decision

Before the first meal was ever cooked, Ashlee and I made a decision together: 100% gluten-free. No exceptions. Ever.

Not because it was the easiest path. People have told us over the years — good people, well-meaning people — that we could probably make more money if we just cooked normal food alongside gluten-free options.

They're right. We probably could.

But that was never the point.

When someone with celiac disease orders from us, they don't have to ask if something is safe. They don't have to read the fine print. They don't have to hope. They know.

That certainty is a gift. And we decided early that we would never take it away by compromising our kitchen for a few extra dollars.

Nine years later, we haven't.

Spending Money We Didn't Have

That first week was terrifying.

We went to Sam's Club and bought groceries. We bought to-go containers. We put together a menu. And we spent money we didn't actually have — trusting that twenty people would show up, pay, and that the food would be good enough to bring them back.

What if they didn't come? What if they didn't pay? What if the food wasn't right?

Those questions kept me up at night. But we had made a commitment and we were going to keep it.

The food was right. The customers came. They paid.

And then we took every dollar we made and put it right back into the business. That first week's earnings went toward a used refrigerator because we didn't have one large enough to hold the food for the following week.

I will never forget that moment. Working that hard. Making that money. Then watching it disappear immediately into a refrigerator.

It felt like failure for about ten seconds. Then it felt like something else: commitment. We had just reinvested our first dollar back into the dream. That's not failure. That's how you build something real.

A Refrigerator From Asheville

As the weeks went on and the customers grew, we needed more equipment. More refrigerators. More tables. More everything.

We couldn't always afford new. So we made do.

I remember driving to Asheville to pick up a used refrigerator from an old coffeehouse. It was all we could afford. I loaded it onto a trailer, drove it back over the mountain, and we put it to work.

That refrigerator held food for people who trusted us. It was old and secondhand and it was exactly what we needed.

That's how most of the early days worked. You identified what you needed. You found a way to get it. You made it work.

The Health Department Call

About a year and a half into running Smash Meals out of our home, I got a phone call from the local health department.

"Is this Smash Meals? You've been operating a food business without proper health licensing."

My stomach dropped. Then I remembered: we had applied through the state. We had received paperwork. We had been paying sales tax. We had been doing everything we knew how to do.

It turned out to be a miscommunication between the state licensing office and the local health department. We had done the right things — we just hadn't known there was a separate local requirement.

When the inspector came out, he found three issues: no no-smoking sign posted outside, a single-bay sink instead of a three-bay commercial sink, and no self-closing hinges on the bathroom door.

He gave us a month to correct everything.

I installed a three-bay sink in our house. I got the hinges. I put up the sign. We addressed every item on the list.

He came back. We scored a perfect hundred.

That certificate mattered. Not just because it was official permission to keep operating — but because of what it said about the way we had been doing things all along. We were running a clean, careful, food-safe operation before anyone ever required us to. We didn't cut corners when no one was watching.

That's still true today.

One Hundred Customers

There is a moment I will never forget.

Ashlee and I were driving back from Sam's Club. She was looking at her phone and tracking the orders. She looked up and said: "We're at ninety-nine."

We kept driving.

A few minutes later: one hundred.

We had started with twenty people who answered a Facebook post. Now a hundred people were trusting us with their weekly nutrition. A hundred people were saving time and money and frustration because we existed.

That felt like everything.

Learning As We Went

Nobody handed us a manual.

We figured out how to take orders. Then how to track them. Then how to accept payment. Then how to calculate and remit sales tax. Then how to build a website. Then how to run Facebook and Instagram. Then how to hire an employee. Then how to train them. Then how to hire another.

Every week brought a new problem to solve and a new system to build. We were full-time parents. I was a full-time pastor. Ashlee was running the menus and the operations. And we were building a business out of our kitchen at the same time.

It wasn't always smooth. About five or six weeks in, we made a meal that wasn't good enough. Ashlee and I looked at each other and threw the whole batch away. I went to get more groceries. We started over.

That moment mattered. We weren't just doing a side hustle. We were building something real. And real meant not settling, not serving something we weren't proud of, not letting people down because we were tired or short on time or short on money.

We have kept that standard every week since.

The Foundation

Looking back at 2017 and 2018, what strikes me most isn't the growth. It's the foundation.

The decision to be 100% gluten-free. The commitment to make it right no matter what. The willingness to spend money we didn't have on a refrigerator because the mission required it. The scrappiness of driving to Asheville for used equipment. The integrity of running a clean kitchen before the health department ever showed up.

Those weren't business decisions. They were character decisions.

And they are still the decisions we make every day, nine years later.

For the Person Who Needs to Hear This

If you've been told you might have celiac disease, or you've been dealing with symptoms you can't explain — brain fog, skin issues, digestive problems, fatigue, waking up in the middle of the night — it might be worth trying a fully gluten-free approach.

Many people don't know they have a sensitivity. Many spend years being told nothing is wrong when something is very wrong. The good news is that for most people, removing gluten produces noticeable improvement within weeks.

You don't have to figure out gluten-free cooking alone. That's what we're here for.

Every meal we make is prepared in a 100% dedicated gluten-free kitchen. No cross-contamination. No questions. No guessing.

Just food you can trust.

Order at order.smashmeals.com. We offer local delivery and pickup throughout the Tri-Cities and ship nationally via FedEx.

Frequently Asked Questions

What inspired the founding of Smash Meals? Smash Meals was founded after co-founder Ashlee Kizer was repeatedly asked at the gym how to grocery shop and cook gluten-free. She posted a question on Facebook asking if twenty people would be interested in gluten-free meal prep — and twenty people said yes before there was even a price or menu.

Why does Smash Meals only serve gluten-free food? From the very first week, Smash Meals made a commitment to 100% gluten-free meal prep with no exceptions. This protects customers with celiac disease and gluten intolerance — they never have to ask whether something is safe. The answer is always yes.

How long does it take to be diagnosed with celiac disease? Research suggests the average diagnosis takes approximately six years from the onset of symptoms. During that time, people experience bloating, rashes, brain fog, digestive issues, and fatigue — often without knowing the cause.

Where is Smash Meals located? Smash Meals operates out of a dedicated commercial gluten-free kitchen at 1917 Meadowview Pkwy, Suite 100 in Kingsport, Tennessee. Local pickup and delivery is available throughout the Tri-Cities region, and national shipping is available via FedEx.

Is Smash Meals good for people without celiac disease? Absolutely. Many Smash Meals customers are not gluten-free by necessity — they simply want convenient, portion-controlled, macro-counted meals made from real ingredients. The gluten-free kitchen means higher quality standards across the board.

Lew Kizer is the founder of Smash Meals, a United Methodist pastor, and a pitmaster. He has been feeding people well in the Tri-Cities since 2017. Follow the story at SmashMeals.com.