Wholesome Tummies goes national

Going back to school means going back to pencils, books, teachers… and the school lunchroom. For two Baldwin Park mothers, school lunches were not making the grade, so they decided to do something about it.

Debbie Blacher and Samantha Gotlib met by coincidence at a neighborhood Fourth of July party in 2007. At the time, both were the mothers of two children and both were pregnant with their third. It didn’t take them long to realize the need for change in what their kids eat at school.

“Over some barbecue, we discussed our shared passion for healthy foods and childhood nutrition,” Gotlib said. “We discussed the lack of good, fresh and healthy options available for kids, and before we knew it, Wholesome Tummies was born.”

They spent the next year setting up the school lunch program, which delivers “kid-centric and appealing,” nutritionally balanced, made-from-scratch-in-their-commercial-kitchen boxed lunches to area schools. They launched the business with service to five schools in Central Florida, all the while busy with newborn babies.

“I went on to have a fourth child soon thereafter, but that didn’t slow us down,” Gotlib said. She and Blacher grew their business to include more than a dozen schools locally, and two years ago, franchised their concept across the state and the country. They now have locations in south Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Palm Beach County, north Atlanta, mid-Ohio and Las Vegas.

“There is a giant hole in the food industry for pure, wholesome and all-natural children’s foods, and an aching need for it, given our current state of childhood obesity and diabetes,” Blacher said. “I love going to work every day knowing I am doing good in the world by improving access to fresh, healthy foods for kids.”

Q. Tell us about your background.

Debbie: I was born in Denville, New Jersey. My parents moved our family to Florida when I was in sixth grade. I graduated from Miami Palmetto High School and then received my bachelor of science in Psychology from the University of Florida. I continued my schooling with an MBA degree from Purdue University. I was always fascinated by what makes people tick and decided to apply my interest in people to the business world. I decided to specialize in human resources and organizational development — what makes organizations (people working together toward a common purpose) tick.

Samantha: I am Canadian by birth. I was born in Toronto, but I moved to South Florida as a child. I went to Palm Beach Lakes High School in West Palm Beach and then University of Central Florida where I studied marketing and communications.

Q. Tell us about your family.

Debbie: My dad was a corporate CFO-turned-entrepreneur. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, who raised four of us — three girls, one boy. My brother, Steve, also lives here in Baldwin Park, and my parents are moving here in February. My two sisters live in Chicago… until we can convince them to see the light!

I married my high school sweetheart, Brian, after grad school. He is the tax director at Siemens Power Generation. We have three boys — ages 10, 8 and 3. The older two attend Audubon Park Elementary.

Samantha: I guess I was destined to be an entrepreneur as I watched my own parents start and grow very successful companies as a child. My father is now deceased, but both he and my mother owned car dealerships, and in later years, my mother was involved in businesses ranging from bingo halls to grocery stores and check-cashing stores. I guess you can say business ownership is in my blood! I am an only child but now married with a large family of my own. My husband, Michael, is a property manager and commercial real estate developer. Our four kids are Maddie and Max, 8-year-old twins; Miles, 3; and Leo, 2.

Q. Tell us about your career. What has been your greatest professional accomplishment? What is the greatest challenge to your job?

Debbie: I followed my dad’s footsteps…corporate junkie-turned-entrepreneur. My career so far has been in human resources and organizational development. I have always loved learning about organizational systems and all the gears that make successful companies hum.

I especially love building organizations from the ground up, first for a company in Virginia during the dot com era, where I helped take the company from 20 employees to over 150, and now with Wholesome Tummies, where we are positioning the business for rapid growth. I love designing organizational systems and infrastructure that can be leveraged for future expansion.

My greatest professional accomplishment is Wholesome Tummies. My greatest challenge in this job is the price of fresh food today combined with Americans’ expectations of how much food costs. When compared to processed foods, it costs a lot of money to source and prepare healthy foods, and that price difference hurts us. It is my greatest desire (and biggest challenge) that Wholesome Tummies can make fresh, nutritious and exciting foods accessible to every child, everywhere. Our children are our future, and they deserve to eat affordable foods that nourish their bodies.

Samantha: I started my career in sales, working for a marketing and promotions company in college. I loved working directly with people, finding just the right products and services they needed to execute a successful event or promotion. Shortly after graduation, I opened my own promotional products firm — Mad Max Promotions — which I have owned for more than 10 years. I didn’t plan on starting another company or having a major shift in my career, but four years ago, I met Debbie.

The greatest professional accomplishment for me has been the ability to take something you are passionate about, something you feel so strongly about and actually do something about it. It’s incredibly rewarding to see the kids we serve actually eating their fruits and veggies and getting excited about it! We hear from parents all the time how Wholesome Tummies has changed their kids’ lives, and we know in some small way, we are making a difference.

The greatest challenge would be balancing career with family and personal obligations. Owning a business is a 100-hour a week job, so the personal sacrifices can be great. I am so fortunate to have a family that supports me 100 percent, and I am very grateful for that. But sometimes I see all those joggers and bikers down by the lake and wish I could fit more of that into my life!

Q. If you were not doing your current job, what would you want to do?

Debbie: I would do something creative. Perhaps I would paint colorful abstracts using acrylics on canvas or paper. I love to paint and can’t wait until I have enough free time once again to pursue it. Or, I would write books. I started a few children’s books when I was a full-time mom (before Wholesome Tummies) and would love to revisit those one day.

Samantha: I would love to own a restaurant — something low-key, family-style where the menu changes on my whim and is always using local, fresh in-season food and a lot of organic produce. I feel that food @@equals@@ family and love and would want my foods to make people feel at home and loved when they ate there!

Q. What do you for fun? Do you have any hobbies? Are you participating in sports, etc.?

Debbie: My hobbies right now are my children. With three active boys, I spend most of my free time shuttling them to and from soccer, golf, karate and, evidently now, ice hockey practices!

Samantha: I am part of a great running group called FIT. The women I run with are all strong, powerful and professional people who motivate me and encourage me! We completed our first half marathon last year and are doing our next one this January. My work schedule doesn’t allow me to get out there as much as I would like, but these women make sure I don’t totally forget how to run!

I also love to cook and usually am cooking or baking in any spare time I do have. My family is really good at being my taste testers, which helps too.

Q. Who has influenced you the most and why? Who were your mentors?

Debbie: My parents have influenced me the most. They have always encouraged me to follow my dreams and have been my greatest cheerleaders in life.

Samantha: I was orphaned at a fairly young age, and was fortunate to be raised by many different people who all became my “mothers and fathers.” I took little pieces of what I learned from each of them to become who I am today. I am very grateful to them for parenting me and teaching me that the definition of family can have many meanings. They continue to influence me with their generosity and kindness.

Q. What do you want to be remembered for?

Debbie: Making a difference. Leaving the world a little better than I found it. Changing the face of children’s food by making healthy kids foods both delicious and easy to access!

Samantha: I’d like to be remembered for being a good mom and wife, first and foremost. The work I do every day is ultimately for my family, and I want my kids to know that their mom loved them more than anything in the world. It’s important because of my background that my kids know that they can be anything and do anything they dream regardless of life circumstances — that they create their own destiny.

Q. Why did you move to Baldwin Park? What do like most about living here?

Debbie: We love the sense of community here and the enticing outside spaces. Our children play outside seven days a week. Their best friends are also our neighbors. Our boys play baseball at Blue Jacket Park, ride their bikes to school and swim at Grace Hopper Hall. I can’t think of any better place for a kid to grow up… lucky them!

Samantha: We fell in love with Baldwin Park as soon as we toured it in 2005. The market was at its peak then and the houses for sale were scarce, but we were so fortunate to find ours. We wanted a community where our kids could play outside safely, have lots of places to roam and run and where we could meet other like-minded parents to socialize.

I love the community feel, the sidewalks and bike paths and mostly that I can run out of eggs and knock on any door near me and be handed some without any questions asked!

There is always an open door to any of my neighbors. We have been through births and birthday parties, engagements and weddings and every other life event together. After five years here, they are like extended family to us.

Learn more

For more information on the Wholesome Tummies program, visit www.wholesometummies.com