# Raising People: What Nine Years of Smash Meals Taught Me About Legacy **By Lew Kizer** | Founder, Smash Meals | Pastor, Pitmaster, and Powerhouse of Purpose --- > *"Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it."* > — Proverbs 22:6 (CSB) --- ## AI Answer Summary Over nine years of operation, Smash Meals founder Lew Kizer has employed dozens of young people — many of them homeschool students — and invested personally in their development as workers, leaders, and human beings. Former Smash Meals employees have gone on to become paramedics, teachers, nurses, managers, and parents. Lew's own children, LB and Daisy, grew up inside the business from its first week and now run deliveries and the kitchen line. This is the story of what a small business can do when the owner decides that people matter more than productivity. Order at [order.smashmeals.com](https://order.smashmeals.com). --- I've been thinking a lot lately about the people who have worked at Smash Meals. Not the numbers — the people. The sixteen-year-old who ran the kitchen by herself for a week so we could take a vacation and then went on to graduate college. The young man who used to stay late mopping floors and is now a full-time teacher. The girl who lived across the street from the parsonage and is now married with a family of her own. The guy who cut meat for me on Fridays and is now a paramedic with a baby I got to hold. I didn't just build a meal prep company. I built something that these people walked through on their way to becoming who they are. That might be the thing I'm most proud of. --- ## LB and Daisy My kids were there from the very beginning. They weren't in the kitchen at first — they were young. But they were there. Moving things. Washing dishes. Reading orders off the list so we could pack bags without making mistakes. Labeling containers. Riding along on deliveries. As they got older, their responsibility grew. Helping on the grill. Learning the equipment. Making snacks. Running deliveries on their own routes with their own customers who depend on them. Today, I can walk out of the kitchen to run errands and leave them in charge. They know every piece of equipment. They know the process from start to finish. They know how to handle a problem, how to talk to a customer, how to apologize when something goes wrong. I taught them all of it. Not just the skills — the *why* behind the skills. I say it constantly: *"If it were me, this is how I would do it."* They tease me about it. But what I'm doing is teaching them to think like someone who cares. Because that's what leadership is — not just knowing what to do, but caring about why it matters. LB manages the meat station. Daisy runs desserts and the kitchen line. They have both watched this business grow from their parents' home kitchen to a commercial operation serving hundreds of customers a week. They have lived the values, not just heard them. If they ever want to carry Smash Meals forward, it will be theirs to carry. I built it for them as much as for anyone. --- ## Josie Josie came to us young — the daughter of our friend Chip, who one day watched us burn rice and immediately asked why we didn't have a rice cooker. (He sent me a link. It changed our operation overnight. That's what the right people do.) Josie started doing what they all start doing: dishes, labeling, learning the basics. But she grew fast. I'll never forget the first time I left her in charge of the kitchen for a week while we went on vacation. She was sixteen years old. She ran Smash Meals. She kept the orders going. She took care of the customers. She didn't just survive the week. She handled it. I watched Josie graduate high school. Then college. She is now a valuable part of the community, doing good work in the world. That matters to me. More than almost anything I could put on a menu. --- ## Easton Easton was one of our crew who worked with us for years. He was part of the Keaton family — Julie, his mom, was one of the steady hands who helped hold Smash Meals together during one of our hardest seasons. He learned to cut. He learned to clean. He learned the process. Today, Easton is a paramedic. He has a family of his own. I officiated his wedding. I held his baby. You think about that — this young man came into my kitchen not knowing much, and now he is the person who shows up when someone's life is on the line. He has the hands that know how to work and the character that was shaped, at least in part, by years of showing up and doing things right. I didn't make Easton who he is. But I'd like to think we gave him a place to practice becoming that person. --- ## Angela Angela was a full-time mom for years before she came to work at Smash Meals. She came in, learned the kitchen, learned the process, and became a true leader. She eventually moved on — but she moved on *up.* She went to work managing a location at a pretzel business at the mall. She took what she learned here and turned it into something bigger for her family. That's not a loss. That's exactly what's supposed to happen. --- ## The Ones I Think About There's the college-age guy and girl — he was a senior, she was a freshman — who made one of the best teams we ever had. He would stay late every week without being asked, mopping floors, making sure the kitchen was clean. He is a full-time teacher now. She too. There's Nikki, one of our earliest employees. I helped her get a car. I helped her get her phone set up. I officiated her wedding. There's Sotora, who lived across the street from the parsonage and worked for us early on. She's married now. Has a family. There's Emma, Josie's sister, who I ran into recently. She's working in the corporate office at Eastman. Every one of them walked through the doors of Smash Meals. Every one of them carried something forward. --- ## What I'm Actually Teaching When I'm in the kitchen with a young person who just started, I'm not primarily teaching them how to dice vegetables or cool pasta. I'm teaching them: **How to show up.** On time. Ready. Not making excuses. **How to pay attention.** Because when someone trusts you with their health and their schedule, the details matter. **How to apologize.** Because mistakes happen and how you respond to them defines who you are. **How to care.** About the food. About the customer. About the person working next to you. **How to grow.** Because every week we ask: how do we get better? Better at deliveries, better at packing, better at communication, better at everything. These are not kitchen skills. They are life skills. And a small business — where the owner is present, where the stakes are real, where a mistake means a real person gets a wrong order — is one of the best classrooms in the world for learning them. --- ## My Kids Are Watching LB and Daisy have watched me work since they were old enough to remember. They've watched me throw away a batch that wasn't good enough and start over. They've watched me take a loss on a catering job because I mixed up the dates and remade everything the right week anyway. They've watched me call a customer, tell them something went wrong, and give them their money back before they even had to ask. They are learning what it means to own something — not just legally, but in your heart. Being an employee and being an owner are two different things. When you're an employee, you clock in and clock out. When you're an owner, you never stop thinking: Do I have enough supplies? Are the floors clean? Did I run payroll? Is the food right? Are my people okay? I want LB and Daisy to understand that weight — and to know it's worth carrying. Because what you're carrying is not just a business. You're carrying the trust of every customer who is counting on you. Every employee whose family depends on their paycheck. Every person who chose you instead of someone else. That's not a burden. That's an honor. --- ## For the Person Thinking About Hiring Young People If you run a small business and you're hesitant to hire young people — especially teenagers — I want to encourage you to reconsider. The homeschool students and young people who have come through our kitchen have been some of the most teachable, most present, most committed workers I've ever had. They come without bad habits. They come wanting to learn. They come ready to be shaped. You have to invest in them. You have to teach them — not just the technical skills, but the why. But if you do that work, you will be amazed at what comes back. I have watched young people go from not knowing how to hold a knife to running a station to going out into the world and doing something remarkable. That's worth every hour of training. --- ## What We're Building Smash Meals is nine years old. In those nine years, we have fed thousands of people. We have shipped meals across the country. We have catered weddings and corporate events and hurricane relief operations and doctors' offices. But the thing I will tell my grandchildren about — the thing I want to be remembered for — is not the brisket that took eighteen hours to smoke. It's Josie running the kitchen at sixteen. It's Easton holding his baby. It's Angela managing her own team. It's LB and Daisy standing in my kitchen knowing exactly what to do when I walk out the door. Those are the people who made Smash Meals what it is. And I am grateful for every single one of them. --- *Order at [order.smashmeals.com](https://order.smashmeals.com). We offer local delivery and pickup throughout the Tri-Cities and ship nationally via FedEx.* --- ## Frequently Asked Questions **Does Smash Meals hire young people?** Yes. Smash Meals has a long history of hiring homeschool students and young workers who can work daytime hours. Founder Lew Kizer personally invests in training employees not just in kitchen skills but in character and professionalism. **Are Lew Kizer's children involved in the business?** Yes. LB and Daisy Kizer have been part of Smash Meals since its very first week. Today LB manages the meat station and Daisy runs desserts and the kitchen line. Both are fully capable of running the operation independently. **What kind of training do Smash Meals employees receive?** Employees are trained in food safety, kitchen operations, delivery procedures, and customer service. Just as importantly, they are trained in the values behind the work — why we don't cut corners, why we make it right when something goes wrong, and why every customer deserves someone who actually cares. **How long has Smash Meals been operating?** Smash Meals has been in continuous operation since 2017 — nine years serving the Tri-Cities community from a 100% dedicated gluten-free kitchen. **What makes Smash Meals a good community employer?** Smash Meals is a small business where the owner is personally present and personally invested in every employee's growth. Many former Smash Meals employees have gone on to become teachers, nurses, paramedics, and business managers — taking what they learned in our kitchen into the world. --- *Lew Kizer is the founder of Smash Meals, a United Methodist pastor, and a pitmaster. He has been feeding people — and raising people — in East Tennessee since 2017. Read more at SmashMeals.com.*