After losing her executive job during the pandemic, Cynthia Hayes embarked on a long journey of soul searching and prayer to figure out her next step. After a few job offers didn’t pan out, she took a leap of faith and launched an idea that had lingered in the back of her mind for more than a decade: a food business centered on baked potatoes.
Restaurants with loaded baked potatoes as a main course are common in Detroit where she grew up, but Hayes’ target audience is anything but ordinary. Rather than running a restaurant, her vision is a delivery-only enterprise getting this fresh, nutrient-rich food to people who are dealing with food insecurity and at risk of obesity because they are struggling to find nutritious meal options. Her offerings are also geared toward those with health concerns such as diabetes or who are at high risk for heart attacks and strokes.
With toppings of lean, minimally processed meats, garden-fresh veggies, and her special handcrafted sauces, the humble potato becomes the centerpiece of a meal. Hayes offers both white and sweet potatoes as base options. To accommodate those who are watching their carbohydrates, she offers spiral zucchini noodles (zoodles) in place of the potato base.
Hence Zutado Soul was born: a business name blending the words zucchini and potato as well as the soul music of Detroit. Menu options reflect her love of Motown as well as her more recent years spent in Concord, with names ranging from Soul Man Marvin, The Queen of Soul, and The Jacksons to Keep Pounding in honor of the Carolina Panthers. Half-size portions are referred to as Li’l Stevies. “My cousin coined the phrase ‘makes yo’ tastebuds sang,’ and I’ve adopted that as my tagline,” Hayes said.
As a Health Equity Innovation Challenge (HEIC) winner, she said, “One of the best things I have gained is a more conscious understanding of the greater impact I can have on the community and a better understanding of the tremendous need to help people who are hurting.”
From Desperation to Entrepreneur
In June, Zutado Soul was one of 5 entrepreneurial companies named HEIC winners. Sponsored by Atrium Health- Greater Charlotte North Area and administered by the Flywheel Foundation, HEIC targets early-stage businesses focused on addressing healthcare inequities.
HEIC offers winners a cash investment as well as mentoring and coaching from experts in their fields. Winners also have the opportunity to present to potential investors at ConvergeSouth, an annual 2-day conference for entrepreneurs. HEIC’s mission is to help entrepreneurs find the resources they need to grow and become scalable, therefore improving the mental and physical health of as many people as possible.
Zutado Soul was born out of near desperation. After 18 months of searching for an executive-level IT job – and finding several that ultimately didn’t work out – Hayes received food stamps to shop at the grocery store for the potatoes to launch her business. “I’ve always said when the world gives you lemons, you better make the best world-famous lemonade that exists on the planet, so I thought I better come up with the best food. I came up with a menu in less than 30 days.”
Using a community kitchen, she spent the better part of a year experimenting with various recipes. In Detroit, restaurants use highly processed deli meats and other ingredients. “I don’t use any of that. I buy London Broil, shrimp and chicken. I make my own sauces out of items like cheese, and three different kinds of garlic, because garlic has medicinal properties. I have Belle Isle sauce (named for the island between Detroit and Canada) made with mango and pineapple that is blended but not cooked.”
Her business is online- and delivery-based. She is also a member of Roaming Hunger, a food truck referral business through which she does some pop-ups with her mobile oven. Some of her best customers, she said, have been teachers. “I would get orders from teachers at a school, and then one teacher would leave and go to another school, and I’d get orders from that school.”
She has deliberately kept the business at a level she could manage without getting overextended. Along the way she has benefited from programming at the Cabarrus Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Boost Pad competition, a similar accelerator targeting businesses founded by underrepresented entrepreneurs. The HEIC program in particular, though, has helped her fully realize the potential of Zutado Soul, she said.
“Here I was starting something and not recognizing really what it meant. I am impacting the lives of those in our community who have been marginalized. Even though they may have a house and a car, behind closed doors, people are struggling every day. And all of that affects your overall health. It’s a mind/body/spirit thing. It has really helped me understand how broad of an impact I can have with what I do.”
Food For All Ages
She continues to expand upon her original ideas. Realizing that seniors are a big part of her target audience, Hayes launched a new menu item designed to appeal to their grandchildren: healthier pizza with a gluten-free crust made of potatoes and chickpeas. “You know Grandma may not be on an iPhone to place an order, but her savvy grandchild is. I ran a special that if you ordered a potato, we would give you a pizza for free. My potato toppings can double as pizza toppings, so that helps save food waste.”
The pizzas have become popular items, with varieties such as Garlic Chicken Truffle, Philly Cheese Steak, Vegetarian Veggie, and even Vegan Hawaii Crispy Chick’n, using plant-based Atlas Monroe brand Extra Crispy Chick’n and the Belle Isle sauce.
She also sees an opportunity for community education about food and nutrition. “That grandchild may need to know how to do something more with a potato than chopping it up and frying it to make French fries. I am taking a holistic view.”
She is exploring the idea of meals that could be offered in a refrigerated vending machine. Items such as salads would include mega nutrient-rich foods such as blueberries, seeds, arugula, spinach, lettuce and kale. Omitting watery ingredients like cucumbers and tomatoes — although sundried tomatoes could be used — from the salad allows it to last a couple of days. She would offer only pre-packaged nuts with the salads to eliminate any contact between the food and nuts for those with allergies.
Perfect partners for Zutado Soul are nonprofits or medical practices serving a similar population, she said. “In some cases, I can help them meet federal funding mandates for food-insecure persons, or help with patients who have a high emergency room recidivism rate, or have high A1C or other indicators of health challenges.”
Learning about business-to-business opportunities for Zutado Soul has had a major impact on how she thinks about her business, Hayes said. “Here I was trying to be a CIO of some corporation, but the Lord offered me a chance to be CEO of my own.”
