Today we’d like to introduce you to Koela Grimes.
Koela, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Back in 2020, I found out I was pre-diabetic. I didn’t want to be on medication for the rest of my life, so I knew I needed to make some serious changes. I had been following Dr Sebi and his journey for a while. Dr Sebi was able to reverse his diabetes by changing his eating habits to a plant-based diet. I decided to give it a try. I was amazed that it actually worked. From March 2020 until October 2020, my A1C went from 11.9 to 6.7 without medication. My doctor was so shocked that my A1C kept lowering every visit. She stopped prescribing me medication and told me to keep doing what I was doing because it was working. I then went on to doing pop-up shops to inform people how you can eat good and eat healthy at the same time. Eventually, the opportunity came to open a vegan restaurant, and the rest is history!!!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the beginning of going vegan, it was a bit of a struggle. It was hard to give up a few dishes I was so used to. I didn’t want to just go cold turkey because there was a great chance I wouldn’t give those foods up. I started incorporating 1 to 2 vegan meals a week, then 3 to 4 meals a week. Eventually, I was able to do all 7 days. That’s when I knew I could become completely vegan.
We’ve been impressed with Conveniently Vegan, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am the owner of Conveniently Vegan. We are plant-based restaurant specializing in catering, meal prep, and Sunday Brunch!!! We were Cleveland’s FIRST All You Can Eat Brunch, which recently changed to a Take Out Brunch every 1st & 3rd Sunday. Conveniently Vegan is known for our Philly cheesteak egg rolls. They have been a hit since we first opened 1 yr. ago and remains the top seller. The thing that sets us apart from other restaurants I believe is the love that we put into our food. I genuinely love to cook. I love to get people’s reactions when they taste my food, especially my vegan food. I haven’t always been vegan, but I have always been known to cook up a good meal lol. My grandmother, Elouise Smith, made sure we all knew how to cook and cook well! That foundation helped pave the way for my passion, which is cooking. I am most proud of the customer service we provide and our quality of food. We are still very new, but we are known for good food, and that makes me proud!!! We offer catering for all events, and we offer weekly meal prep. We have an exclusive menu for meal prepping that you won’t find on our regular menu, and our customers love it.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Wow, it’s so many to choose from! I would say I was about 14, and my sister was teaching me how to drive. We had to go to church that day, probably for vacation bible school, I can’t remember, lol. My sister says, “I’m gonna let you drive to church.” We were at my grandmother’s house which was right down the street from the church. My grandmother had an old school station wagon, it was HUGE lol. So, we’re heading to church; everything is going good… In turn into the church parking lot, attempting to park the car… I’m driving slowly into the parking space, about to switch gears. I’m not sure what exactly I did, but I ended up crashing straight into the building. I jumped out, scared for my life, lol. We checked to make sure things were ok, and when they were, we busted out laughing. Thankfully, the cars back then were made of steel! We acted like nothing happened and went to service. Sorry, Big Ma 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Convenientlyvegancle
- Facebook: Conveniently Vegan
Image Credits
Triumph Magazine
