One of the meals that comes with Nutre Meal Plans. Photo: Courtesy Nutre Meal Plans
PEABODY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The pandemic was a crushing drain on many restaurant businesses — the Perrina brothers provided the exception. The brothers, Angelo, Lucio Jr., and Valentino, are the owners and operators of Toscana Ristorante in Peabody. They first had the idea to make a meal plan business after helping their father eat healthy in 2017.
"My father had type two diabetes and really struggled with it, so out of our restaurants we started meal prepping him," said Valentino. That effort grew into Nutre Meal Plans, a company the brothers started just before the pandemic to sell healthy, pre-prepared meals that were as convenient as possible.
It's been a huge success, as people still wanted to eat healthy during the pandemic, but didn't have the appetite for in-person shopping.
"A lot of people didn't want to go into these huge grocery stores, so.. we had touch-less delivery, you didn't have to talk to anybody, you didn't have to meet anybody," he said.
The menus vary each week, and aren't away from only Italian, but from cuisines around the world.
As for keeping their father healthy, Valentino says it's working out well — but not without its challenges:
"The problem with him, he's old-school Italian, so it's hard to keep the pasta away," he said.
WBZ's Drew Mulholland (@DrewWBZ) has more:
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