Angie Nelson of Liam's: Navigating Food Allergies and Safe Meals

Discover how Angie's personal experience with her son Liam's food allergies led to the creation of Liam's, a brand offering frozen allergen-free meals. In this episode of The New Pantry, Angie shares the challenges of finding safe food options, the importance of community support and her vision for making allergy-friendly food accessible to all. 

Transcript

Jillian (00:14)
Hi Angie. Hello, welcome to the new pantry.

Angie Nelson (00:15)
Hello there.

Thank you so much for having me today.

Jillian (00:21)
I'm so happy you're here and I'm so excited to talk about Liam's because your brand and your mission speaks very closely to my heart as a mother of a child who has food allergies.

Angie Nelson (00:36)
Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here and I'm just grateful for this community and people like yourself who are so passionate about this and doing big things. So it's fun to be here today.

Jillian (00:47)
to kick things off. Do you want to share a little bit about Liam's?

Angie Nelson (00:51)
absolutely. So a little bit of background. I'm a mom to two boys. My oldest son Liam is nine and my youngest son Jack is seven. And when Liam was just six months old, I found out he had multiple food allergies. And it was a diagnosis that really rocked my world and ⁓ changed everything for me as somebody who loved to eat, loved to cook.

know, life kind of revolved around food for me. I mean, as funny as it sounds. changing our lifestyle was a really big eye-opening experience for me. you know, walking the aisles and seeing all of the snacks that were safe for Liam was like such a lifesaver. And then just exploring like the dairy aisle and there was 15 different kinds of milk, but I was like, well, why aren't there any meal solutions?

you know, where's the easy button? I'm burnt out. I'm cooking everything from scratch all the time. Or I need something quick and on the go. Or I've got a babysitter coming over. What are they going to feed him? And I was like, there's nothing like it on the market. So I was venting to my husband and to my father-in-law and they're like, why don't you do something about it? Like start something. And I'm like, what? You know, I don't even know where to begin here, but fast forward a few years and we launched Liam's. are a ⁓

brand that does single serve entrees that are completely free of the top nine allergens and were also gluten free.

Jillian (02:25)
That's incredible. understanding that Liam had a food allergy, how did that change your view on food?

Angie Nelson (02:33)
Yeah, I I feel like food used to be just like the reason for gathering, you know, every event and party was just focused on the food. And I feel like it shifted my perspective more on like the memories and the moments together versus the food. you know, I can't keep Liam in a bubble at the end of the day, he's going to be in the real world and he's going to be left out time and time again.

But when he's under my roof, I want him to feel like he's a part of the family. want him to feel like we're all eating the same things together. So I've really shifted the focus and trying to figure out, what can I make for my family for dinner that we can all enjoy together that's safe? ⁓ So just really looking at food differently in that perspective. But like I said, at the end of the day, can't like...

Keep him in a bubble and make sure everywhere he goes, everything is safe. That's just not reality. But under our roof, I want him to always feel the comfort of.

Jillian (03:37)
I love that.

You said something about him feeling left out and I don't know if there's enough conversation about that in the food industry with 113 children navigating food allergies.

Angie Nelson (03:47)
Yeah.

And I think that's why I'm so passionate about making sure Liam feels, you know, ⁓ included at home because so often everywhere he goes, he's not included, sadly. And ⁓ I think there just needs to be more education on food allergies. I get so frustrated when I'm trying to order him food at a stand. Like we were just at the state fair and it's like, you're checking on the allergens and they're like, well, we're gluten free. And you're like,

Gluten is not the same as a peanut tree nut egg allergy, you know. So it's just, think there's a lot of work to be done ⁓ from an education standpoint because yeah, if you're not, you know, dealing with it every day, you just don't understand. And what frustrates me is it's a true disability. Like this isn't a choice. This isn't, you know, a recommendation from a doctor. This is life or death. Like this particular ingredient could kill him. And so it's,

terrifying when you're trying to navigate that and people don't understand. It's hard to trust others and let your guard down because at the end of the day you feel like no one's fighting as hard as you are to keep your child safe.

Jillian (05:03)
Absolutely. What do you think needs to happen to help bring awareness to the industry?

Angie Nelson (05:11)
Yeah, think stricter labeling laws, think, especially in the food service industry, there's a lot of work to be done. I think if every vendor selling food had to disclaim their ingredients, mean, so often I walk up at a sporting event, you walk up and you're like, are the hot dog buns safe? And they're like, I don't know, we threw away the packaging. And you're like,

Wait, what? Like you can't even provide the ingredients to me? And so it's just like constant disappointment and you're walking away from something and it's like, my child just needs to eat. Like this is a basic necessity in life. So I think just different laws need to be passed and just the transparency of ingredients. I'm not, you know, trying to find someone's secret family recipe. I just want to know, is it going to kill my child if he eats it?

I think with that, you know, I'm excited about like the progress we've made. ⁓ you look at a company like Menu Trinfo who does the certified free from the top nine allergen certification. And I think, you know, the more we can create more transparency around, ⁓ the process in which items are being made and making sure that there is that logo on a packaging that we can all recognize and.

like breathe a little bit and be like, okay, yes, this is safe. I think right now with allergens, you you see so many different messages like peanut free or school friendly and there's just inconsistencies and I think we just need to have more of a standardization. You know, you look at there's non-GMO labels, there's gluten free labels, but where are the allergen labels and how do those come into play?

Jillian (07:04)
your point about the food service side of things I definitely can empathize with that where I'll walk into a bakery and just ask like it can I have a muffin? What is can you just tell me what's in the muffin? They just want to make sure there aren't any nuts in my case I'm looking for something that's free of nuts and you know, they're saying we don't we don't know we can't tell you we don't we we can't tell you what's in the

We you know just better not to eat anything at all, I'm just like well. What do I feed my my child?

Angie Nelson (07:28)
Yeah, it's...

It's mind boggling really. I mean,

it's, don't know. I think we're going to look back at some point and be like, remember those days. And I hope that's the case. And I think, again, I think this community is really amazing and there's a lot of people working really hard to change things out there. But again, I think it comes down to education and you know, whenever someone asks about Liam's allergies, I'm

I'm more than okay with explaining and educating them because I think the more we have those conversations, the more people are gonna empathize and understand and make sure that kids like him aren't left out.

Jillian (08:12)
And you chose to double down on frozen family meals. Can you tell me more about that decision

Angie Nelson (08:17)
Yeah, so you know what's wild is that we actually, I didn't tell you this at the beginning of our interview, but we launched as a meal kit delivery service. So think HelloFresh, Blue Apron, but completely free of the top nine allergens. And that really was around the principle of me talking about how I wanted to sit together down at the table as a family and eat.

a meal that we can all enjoy and eat safely. And ⁓ I also love to cook, but I was like, I was burnt out from finding recipes. I was tired of trying to find ingredients that were safe for specific recipes I was making. So ⁓ anyway, I partnered with a chef that previously had experience at Mayo Clinic running the specialty care diet programs, and then also worked at like Michelin star restaurants and catering. So he's got a whole.

plethora of experience, but he came up and we together, we came up with some recipes while mostly him, I'm going to give him all the credit, but I might've been like, hey, we need a pasta recipe or we need this. And so he came up with these amazing recipes that were top nine free. We'd send the ingredients to our customers. We were shipping to about 12 different states, ⁓ but it was a really challenging business. And I think the hardest part for me,

was having people reaching out from the East Coast and the West Coast like, when are you shipping here? This is life-changing. I need this product. And it was like, I can't even get a box to arrive to Colorado in time. you know, product was spoiling and shipping was expensive and just the expense of refreshing our menu regularly and the photo shoots that went with it. So it was a challenging model and

that's when we decided, you know, we need to make some changes here and what better than pivoting to frozen single serve entrees. And the reason being is that can be more accessible in grocery stores. The shelf life is a little bit longer than, you know, something fresh. So that gave us a little bit more flexibility, but I felt like it also hit my mission. you know, as my kids have gotten older, I've really truly realized the grind at dinnertime and the shuffling.

of getting kids to sports and activities and I knew that people have less time to cook in the kitchen so frozen just really made sense.

Jillian (10:47)
That makes a lot of sense. And I may have talked to you about this in the past offline, but it could be an option to even bring to a certain event potentially as well too.

Angie Nelson (10:59)
Yeah, yeah, and we've actually,

we've experienced that. Liam's been to a couple of weddings and I'm not going to bother the bride with, you know, last minute questions of is it safe, is it not. So I always bring it as a backup and, you know, I might talk to someone working at the wedding to see if the food is safe, but if I'm not comfortable, we just heat up one of those meals and he's got to...

full dinner and he can feel included in the celebration, which is really nice. But yeah, they're great to have on hand for, like I said, babysitter or grandparents or just anywhere on the go where you're just not sure what's going to be available.

Jillian (11:36)
and now you're in over 500 stores. Congratulations!

Angie Nelson (11:39)
We are and growing.

Thank you. Yes. It's been a wild ride.

And what's really cool, like this day and age is being able to get that instant feedback from people and

when people learn about us and then they go find it and they're telling us how much they love the meals and how life-changing it is for them. And I'm truly so grateful. It's honestly what keeps me going is the positive feedback.

Jillian (12:08)
That's very exciting. Has there been a moment or a sound bite that you really has stuck with you from some of the customers that you've served?

Angie Nelson (12:18)
It's the words life-changing and just the thank yous. And, you know, I actually posted a Mother's Day reel just about the challenges of what it's like being a food allergy mom and the amount of comments I got of people just saying like, thank you, like this hits hard and I can relate and it just validates we're not alone. And again,

It's mind boggling why there aren't more options to me. Like, this is crazy. I really step back and think we're the only top nine allergen free frozen meal that exists, like I'm like, where's the competition? Like, why isn't this a thing? There's people that are looking for this. And yeah, that's been really, really rewarding to know that we're helping people.

Jillian (13:11)
It's so admirable. Thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. ⁓

Angie Nelson (13:13)
⁓ thank you. Well, same to you, Jillian.

mean, nicer bars are amazing, and I'm just so excited about them to be in schools. And I just I can't wait to watch you guys grow as well.

Jillian (13:27)
Thank you. Thank you. appreciate it. think, but my opinion is I think a lot of times profits are put over people, unfortunately, and that when you go to that question of, know, why isn't there more options available? That's what I keep coming back to is that it's just being run from a numbers perspective, unfortunately,

And that there has not been many companies to date who have doubled down on wanting to serve that community.

Angie Nelson (13:56)
I think you bring up such a good point and that is one thing that scares me. mean daily is how do we get our velocity up? How do we sell more? Like just getting into the store is, you know, a challenge in itself, but the real work begins once you're on the shelf and how do you keep people interested and continue to buy it and try it? So that is, it's hard. It is a numbers game and at the end of the day the store wants to be the most profitable they can be, but

I am energized by some of the, I think Target is trying. I think they're trying to do a better job with being allergy friendly. I don't know if you've been in stores lately, but they have a kiosk at the front of the store with made good bars on it, but it's calling out the top nine free. ⁓ They recently did a curated online story and we were linked, which was really exciting, but I think there's tons of work to be done. And again, I think

You can go into a store and maybe find a gluten-free section, but it's like, you know, I think we need to focus too on the allergens, the other allergens, the top nine. So there's work to be done, but I'm, I'm hopeful.

Jillian (15:09)
How do you protect your own well-being while you're navigating it all, like building liams, continuing to grow liams? ⁓ What do you do for yourself?

Angie Nelson (15:18)
my gosh. I mean, I firmly believe you can't pour from an empty cup. So I do prioritize exercise. That's like number one for me. I have to make time for that every day. ⁓ More mentally than anything. ⁓ So I'm big into that. Just, yeah, taking care of yourself, but realizing that some weeks are going to be, you're going to be a really good mom. Other weeks, you're going to be a good wife.

Other weeks you're going to be a great employee or CEO. I don't really believe in balance. I think there's not enough time in the day to balance everything. And I think if you live with that expectation of knowing that it ebbs and flows and showing up where you can and just doing what you can at the moment, I think that's the best advice I could give for anybody.

Jillian (16:13)
For a new mom who's discovering for the first time that she has a child with food allergies, what advice would you ⁓ give to her or any other parent or guardian of a child with allergies?

Angie Nelson (16:25)
Yeah,

I mean, I definitely empathize with them. I think when you first get that diagnosis, you feel like you're alone and it's scary. I think, you know, letting them know that it is going to be OK, ⁓ just encouraging them to read every label and get creative in the kitchen, but also surrounding yourself with people that understand or want to learn more. think.

You know, you'll always have people in your life that just don't get it or they just don't care. But you know, there's I have friends in my life that like, wow, I can't even tell you like the nice things they've done. Like I have a vivid memory of a girlfriend throwing a pool party and inviting like 50 people. I mean, it was like all of our friends and all their kids. And she made sure everything in the buffet was safe for Liam. And that was like the most like I'm going to like tear up just talking about it was so meaningful. But it's like

Surround yourself with people like that. There are good people out there that want to help and want to make your child feel safe and included. ⁓ And unfortunately there's people that don't get it and might ask questions and things that might insult you a little bit. Just let it go. Just know that they're going to be there and just keep on doing you. That's all you can do. Yeah. Look at me getting all emotional over here.

Jillian (17:49)
Yeah. I love

it. Oh, it means so much when someone is putting the effort to really support, you know, you and your child and make sure that they feel included. And because unfortunately it's not the, it's not always the norm, It's so meaningful because that's not always the standard right now, today, at least that I've experienced.

Angie Nelson (17:56)
Right.

Huh.

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Jillian (18:12)
If someone was trying Liam's for the first time, what would you recommend?

Angie Nelson (18:16)
you know, for the general population, I would say the tangy pulled pork is amazing. It's such a crowd pleaser, but like, you know, I think sometimes the quality of a meat once you microwave something frozen, like you're kind of like, but I mean, it's juicy, it's tender, it's delicious. It's definitely a crowd pleaser. But honestly, like we put a lot of like effort into making sure every meal

you know, was balanced and tasted great to anybody. And I think that's like a big part of our mission because so often when people learn of Liam's allergies, they make the face like, like, well, what can he actually eat? And so I really want to show people that there's a lot of food out there that, that you can eat even if it doesn't have the allergens. ⁓ but yeah, I think, I think the tangy pulled pork is a crowd favorite.

The chicken alfredo rotini, my younger son who doesn't have food allergies, he wants to eat that like once a week. It's like the cutest thing ever. ⁓ So that's a great one. That's a really good balance and kid friendly. But then there's more flavorful ones. Like I really like the Cajun chicken pasta. It's got like bell peppers in it and a creamy sauce and chicken. Really good there too. But they're all great. Of course everybody says that about their own products, but.

Jillian (19:36)
but delicious and you have such a range of options for people which is amazing. If people want to follow along on your journey or learn more about your products, where do you recommend that they find you?

Angie Nelson (19:49)
Yeah, so

our website is www.saferplate.com and that all stems back to our days of being Meal Kit, a meal kit company. So we were originally, we launched a Safer Plate and I don't think I said this, but when we shifted to frozen single-serve entrees, we had to be inspected by the USDA because we were preparing the meat in our kitchen now and they had to approve our packaging.

And at the 11th hour they said, ⁓ you can't say you're Safer Plate. And we're like, well, that's our brand. What do you mean? And they're like, well, that's implying that you're safer than any other USDA inspected product. And it was like, wait, what? So we had a moment where like, we have to change our name. Like, what are we going to do? And, you know, I always liked the name Safer Plate because I thought it, really like spoke to what we did and who we were. But then I sat back and I was like,

It's gotta be Liam's. Like he's our why, he's the reason. And then you walk the shelves of the grocery store and it's, there's people's names on like all kinds of products. You know, you've got Kevin's, you got Amy's, got Angie's Kelle-Korn, you got Jack's Pizza. Like it's everywhere. So Liam's made sense.

So that's where Safer Plate comes from on the website. Just full clarity, full transparency. So our operating facility is Safer Plate and our first brand is Liam's. And that's the single serve entrees. But yeah, if you want to follow us on social media, that would be great. Our handle is Liam's by Safer Plate.

Jillian (21:26)
And you are actually opening your own manufacturing facility.

Angie Nelson (21:30)
Yes, we are in the process of that. We're still working on finding the right building, ⁓ but we are in the early stages there. Hopefully we can be producing in a new facility by Q2, Q3 next year. So we've got a lot of work to do, but we're kind of busting at the seams right now in our current building.

Jillian (21:55)
Well, that's really exciting. Five years from now, what headline would you love to read about Liam's?

Angie Nelson (22:02)
gosh, hope it's like, Liam's is now nationwide from airlines to colleges to hospitals. I want to see it everywhere. you know, that's my mission is just making allergy friendly food more accessible.

Jillian (22:18)
It's beautiful. I'm such a fan. I'm such a fan of you, everything you're doing.

so excited to see you continue to grow and for Liam's to continue to grow. And this is the work that you're doing is so important and impacting so many lives. And I have a lot of respect for that. So thank you for being here

Angie Nelson (22:33)
Thank you so much. ⁓ thank you,

So, so great to connect with you.