Today, we’d like to introduce you to Hope Westall.
Hi Hope, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
149 days. 2189-ish miles. 115lbs. These were the numbers that fueled it all.
Back in 2016, I completed a southbound (SOBO) thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. It was a huge accomplishment, but there was one problem. My body hated me. Over those grueling and hard-fought miles, my body had burned through all my fat reserves and was turning for my muscles to power through to the finish line. My mind was strong, but my body was malnourished.
Fast forward to 2018, when I was gearing up for my PCT thru-hike and a summit bid of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I knew if I was going to do this again, something had to change. I had fully adopted a plant-based diet at this time and knew the difficulties of resupplying on trial or in other countries. So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I created my own meals with clean, healthy ingredients that I knew the origin of.
Truthfully, I never intended for this to be a business. For me, it was a means to an end. A solution to my own problem. However, after nearly 9 months of adventuring in 4 countries and thousands of miles hiked, I realized that I had created something special. Something that I had to share with the world.
Creating and growing this business is one of the most difficult challenges I have ever taken on, but truthfully, I could not be more excited to share these meals with the world! Food is life, and it fuels us every day. What we put in our bodies matters, and I am proud to offer an elevated standard of dehydrated meals.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am not sure I have ever met a fellow small business owner who would describe their journey as a “smooth road.” Owning a small business comes with challenges that are unpredictable and oftentimes difficult to solve.
For the past two years or so, we have felt the strain of inflation in the market, particularly with the ingredients that we source to produce our meals. As prices have increased on the backend, we have been able to maintain our prices for our customers and find ways to balance the cost change, but this is a challenge that will surely continue as time goes on.
We have also had major equipment failures that put us in a bind and nearly cost us major contracts at the last minute. We had to get creative and learn some hands-on engineering fixes to get the equipment back up and running in a pinch when the equipment manufacturers could not provide the fix quickly enough.
There have been many other challenges, but one thing I have learned over the past 4 years is to take a step back, take a breath, and make sure to keep things in perspective. Many times, the problems we face are not as bad as they seem, even though, at the moment, it can feel monumental. This is not to say that some are not incredibly costly or frustrating, but with the right attitude, things can be overcome.
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Alt Route Meals?
Alt Route Meals was launched in 2020 as the answer to the void in nutritious dehydrated meal options for those who take on the adventures of the world.
We have a variety of customers ranging from endurance athletes to flight attendants and everyone in between. Our meals are made for anyone who is looking for a delicious meal while they are on the move. The only thing needed to prepare our meals is boiling water.
One of the main things that we pride ourselves on is the high-quality ingredients that we use and the fact that we do not use any sort of preservatives in our meals, which is incredibly rare in the dehydrated meals industry. It sets us apart and puts us on an elevated standard in the world of dehydrated meals.
Another point of pride is what we do to give back to our outdoor spaces. As a company that operates mainly in the outdoor industry, we feel it is important to make an impact on our public lands. Our spin on the conservation and preservation of our public lands is to give back via public land clean-up projects.
Since we launched our More Than Meals initiative back in 2022, we have removed over 19,474 pounds of litter from public lands all across the southeastern United States. This has been an incredible way to give back to our outdoor spaces while connecting with our community.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some changes you expect to see over the next five to ten years?
Over the past 2 years, there seems to have been a bit of a downturn in the outdoor industry, in my opinion.
During the height of the pandemic, things were booming; people were spending more time outside than ever before, and people were pouring money into new hobbies. As people have returned to work, it seems as though things have slowed down or possibly rebounded to where they were pre-pandemic. It has been an interesting trend to evaluate since we launched in September 2020.
Moving forward, I believe that in the outdoor industry, we are going to see a shift affecting many of the brick-and-mortar retailers that we have shopped at over the years. I think that in 10 years, the primary outlets for purchasing outdoor gear and supplies will be online shopping platforms. Think Amazon, but outdoor-centric.
Pricing:
- Sampler Pack – $30
- Small Detour Bundle – from $45
- Forgot the Map Bundle – from $55
- Single Serving Meals – $9.95
- Double Serving Meals – $12.95
Contact Info:
- Website: https://altroutemeals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/altroutemeals/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AltRouteMeals
Image Credits
Braden Tuck and Kylie Lombardi
