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Nourished Folks owner Riah Durick. Photo furnished
Riah Durick had always dreamed of opening a small café where she could serve wholesome, good food and bring people together, but ultimately, it was the life-changing experience of parenthood that gave birth to her unique community-based culinary business, Nourished Folks.
“Like many new parents, I started thinking about my purpose and what I was doing with my life,” Durick said, adding that her “interesting childbirth experience” opened her eyes to the challenges many women face during and after childbirth. Durick soon trained to become a birth doula, wanting to improve the childbirth experience for other families. Adding cooking to the services offered was a natural extension.
“At the same time, I knew that being on call all the time and dropping everything at any time to attend a birth wasn’t great for my family life,” Durick continued. She naturally began to transition her focus toward cooking, and in 2019 started Nourished Folks, with subscription meal services designed for new parents at the original core of her business. Initially operating out of borrowed commercial kitchens, she began planning a brick-and-mortar location that would serve as both a work space and a gathering space, and in November 2020 she opened the café in Greyline Station, a a mixed-use community hub designed to support small businesses. She chose the location for several reasons, including the freedom and flexibility it offered. But what she has most valued since moving in is the community surrounding Greyline Station.
“Community is such an overused word, but there’s really no other way to describe how great it is to know the people who own every single place in there – to see them and share our struggles but also celebrate how many new people still come in the door every day,” Durick said.
Durick has found herself, like many others, struggling with the uncertainties of operating a small business during the pandemic. Refocusing on her mission, with subscriptions at the core, has helped her escape from “COVID survival mode” and has helped her business grow. While it started with childbirth clients, the business has evolved into feeding cancer patients or dropping food on porches of people who have COVID.
Durick’s vision for the space, which is comfortable and homey, has helped the café become a popular destination for a diverse clientele base. But it’s also her vision for the food – and for how we care for ourselves and others – that keeps people coming back.
“I want to make eating really good food accessible for more people, and I am also very much trying to flip the script on how we take care of each other and how we show up for people,” Durick said. “Life can be hard.”
“My one-sentence slogan for Nourished Folks is ‘Feed Your People,’” Durick concluded, “and that includes yourself.”