Can a Seventh-Day Adventist run a food business and be successful? Jeremy shares how he pulled it off.

Bite Size Talks 2017

<p>Can a Seventh-Day Adventist run a food business and be successful? Jeremy shares how he pulled it off.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

ASI Pacific Union

Jeremy Williams

Running a Food Business as a Seventh-Day Adventist


My name is Jeremy, and my wife and I, we opened Vegan Corner back in 2009. And we're out of Colton, California. For those of you who don't know where that is, that's near Loma Linda. So when we opened Vegan Corner back in 2009, we weren't doing any vegan or healthy dishes or anything in that direction whatsoever. We were actually serving pepperoni and pork and dairy and you name it, everything that's not the healthiest.

That's not what we're doing today. So let me go back a little bit before we get to that point. Just so you know, I don't have a presentation or a slideshow or anything fancy, so I'm just gonna wing it. I didn't have time, It's been a busy, busy week for me. So just very little sleep.

So just bear with me. So I'm just going to give you a little history and where we got to, where we are now, who I am, who my wife is. And she can't be here today. Her name's Minda. She's at the restaurant right now.

So back in 2009, we opened up Vegan Corner, like I said. And we had no intentions of doing any type of health food or anything. We had a prior place before that where we did have some vegan options, and that's kind of where it started from. Now it's based out of Moreno Valley, California. But we weren't Christians.

There was no faith-based whatsoever. We were just making a profit. So that's what we did for a while. And our, back in, I'd say about a year after we opened, so maybe 2010, we started incorporating a vegan menu. And that started really gradually, really slow.

So we started adding a couple things here and there to the point where we got a full vegan menu going. I don't remember exactly how long it took to get that going, but It wasn't too long after that. So from there, we started doing pretty much everything we were doing non-vegan. We started doing it vegan. So we had 2 full menus eventually.

And it wasn't until, I'd say, around 2015 is when we went all vegan. And I had gotten to a point where I decided to go vegan myself, and that was back in, say 2014 I'd say. And the reason why I went vegan because I was just tired of feeling sick and tired so I Decided to make a change in my eating habits and not just my eating habits I mean I had a pretty bad habits across the board. I mean I was really bad you guys would be like oh but we'll just say I mean my diet consisted of you know waking up in the morning and smoking a few cigarettes and pounding back a few Monsters or Red Bulls and popping a couple pain pills and, you know, that was my breakfast. You know, that was.

So, basically that was for a while. And I got to a point where that obviously started, my life started going down pretty quickly. And my relationship was going down the drain. Everything was, the business. So we got to a point where I was finally at a point where I asked God into my life.

And I asked him to take control. And I relinquished my control. And he gave me victory over all the bad habits that I had. Yeah, so praise God for that. Thank him.

And so that's where we got to then, or where we are now, is because of that. And pretty much when I went vegan, the next step was to go vegan with a restaurant, right? Like, how are you going to be vegan and be, you know, wanting to teach health and wanting to get yourself healthier, but then serving everybody else this horrible stuff? So don't get me wrong, we're not the healthiest place at all. We're junk food vegans.

So you can still get, right. We're not, Oasis Cafe is much healthier than we are. But, and they have great food by the way. But my point is that we're like a transitional food. So where people can come, they can get some of the same stuff they're eating now, but a healthier version of it.

So rather than getting a hamburger with all the animal fat, all the disease in it, you guys know, it's a place where you can come and still get a good tasting burger without all that bad stuff in it or less bad stuff in it. And then from there, the idea definitely would be to transition into a healthier diet. And that's actually a direction that we would like to go with the restaurant is taking it to where we can offer some healthier options. I love what Oasis just did, by the way. They went all organic, and that's awesome.

I would love to do that. So a little bit about pretty much where we are right now is we're actually trying to do also a ministry through our business and that's the bigger picture here. I know this is about faith and food, right? So our purpose is is that we want to serve the Lord in everything we do. And when I gave my life to God, I decided to give myself wholly to him and everything I have, my business, everything.

So the direction we're going now is we want to do everything we do to glorify God. And that was the main reason we stopped serving animal products. We stopped serving meat as well. So, there's so many ways we can go with this. Right now, what we're trying to do is, like I said, the next step is to go pretty much get rid of the organics.

I'm sorry, not get rid of it, but implement it. Let me go back a little bit and kind of tell you a little bit about my background. Like I grew up in a somewhat of a Christian home a little bit and my wife she also had a little bit of a background. We actually both of our families had a, were Adventists, and but we when we met we didn't know anything about God at all whatsoever. I mean, as far as like our lives, we were just in the world completely and, you know, just trying to make a dollar, basically.

So, But when I gave my life to God, we both made a decision that we wanted to run our business to glorify God. And that's a... You know, I actually don't have a whole lot more to say, actually, right now, to be honest with you. It actually would be great to take any questions that anybody has to ask. Like I said, I'm just so tired right now.

I haven't had much sleep. And if anybody has any questions, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions. Does anybody have any questions that they want to ask? She said, where are we exactly located? Where is your restaurant located in Colton?

Right, so we're over off of downtown, north side of the 10 freeway. So we're on 299 West Olive Street. So in between Rancho Avenue and La Cadena. I don't know if you're familiar, about 7 blocks north of Valley Boulevard. Yeah.

Is this the same shopping center as State of Brunswick? No, it's about 7 blocks north of that. So State of Brunswick is on La Cadena and Valley. So if you were to go up La Cadena and then make a left on West Olive Street, we'd be right there on the right-hand side. The moment you pass over, the moment you pass over, there are train tracks.

Yes? I'm not sure if you answered this already, but I know that I visited the place before and you guys show Adventist literature and everything. It wasn't always there. So I guess what led you to that whole process of, you know, now that you are a food business, like from that process of you said before you weren't that you weren't as active in church, but then now you're putting like advertising, I guess, and witnessing at your business now. So how did you go through that process exactly?

Sure. Like I was saying earlier, like back in 2014 when I gave my life to God, I was dealing with a lot of bad habits and addictions and I decided to give my life to God and get in control completely. I just started studying. I mean, I started, I went home and I stayed home for a few weeks And I just kind of just detoxed off everything I was taking. I just cold turkeyed and stopped taking the narcotic pain pills.

I stopped taking the Monsters and the Red Bulls. And I started pretty much just studying and just praying. I read my Bible and I studied for just weeks at home. Actually, about 3 weeks, I think it was. I never stopped that part.

But that led to me accepting the Sabbath, actually, through that study. And like I said, I had a little bit of Adventist background going up, so I remember hearing a little this and that. I know I went to church on Saturdays when I was younger, but to me it was nothing. I never had that actual personal walk with God at all, so it didn't mean anything. But when I made the choice to decide that I wanted to follow God completely and wholeheartedly, that's when I started searching for...

I was searching for truth the whole time, and that's obviously what led me to this point. I had a really strong desire to know the truth, and I was going down every different direction you could think of, all the conspiracy theories, and watching all the YouTube stuff, and you name it. But that led me to a point where I was finally willing to give God a try, in a way of speaking. Before I had an idea, my mentality was, you know, if God, if the Bible's real and God's, you know, created me and everything else in this universe, and if that's true, then he should come down before me and I'll bow down and worship him. That was, you know, my cocky, you know, like, he-owed-me-something attitude.

And now I'm just so grateful that I, you know, that he even accepts my surrender, you know, and that's, thank him for that. Yeah, so pretty much after that, I accepted the Sabbath and moving forward. I think I was at, I think it was, you guys know Jeremiah Davis? Okay, I was at a Jeremiah Davis evangelistic series and he was talking about health reform and pretty much he went in depth on it and I was asking God and praying and I was like Lord what's what's the next step you know you want me to go you know I've given up this and I've done this and I just wanted to do the will of God that's all I wanted so I was asking well what's the next step well Then he started telling me that I should go vegan with the restaurant. And I'm like, OK, all right.

And so I started talking to my wife about it. And we were a little back and forth on that. And Eventually, we decided to go vegan with the restaurant. The next step from that was, well now, then I started studying more and more actually. Then I started reading Spirit of Prophecy.

I started studying the health message. I started studying the restaurant hygienic work. I started looking into that aspect of it and realizing like, hey, you know, maybe this is God's bigger plan for us to do something here to reach people and to not just, you know, feed them but feed their soul as well, feed their belly and their soul at the same time. So pretty much we started, I told my wife, I said, hey, you know what, we need to start getting literature in here, we need to start, you know. So since then, we've now, since 2000, this Last year, so it's been over a year now, actually about a year and a half, I believe, that we started doing all the literature.

We have a whole bunch of stuff all over our walls. It's free, we pay for that, and we invite people to take it as they feel. We don't shove it down their throat. It's there to take if they want to take it. And people do all the time.

I mean, we go through literature a lot, a lot. Matter of fact, my walls are empty right now, so I need to order some more. Yeah, praise God. So yeah, we started doing that. And we started doing Bible studies on Friday nights at the shop.

I started advertising that as well to our customers, to the public. And that was taking off for a little while. Then I kind of backed off on that a little bit. But now we're starting to do that normally like every other Friday. We have a little group of people we meet with.

And it's been really wonderful. We've had some great studies. And yeah, praise the Lord for that. So we really, I want to take it to the next step, but I don't know what that is yet. So, please keep us in your prayers as far as that goes.

I really, I really believe that this is definitely God's work and that this is a great way to reach people. And it doesn't have to be the healthiest. Like I said, I think it should eventually go that direction. But I mean, I must be honest. If most people that aren't in the church or that, you know, just your everyday person, you know, that's eating, you know, McDonald's and Burger King and, you know, Jack in the Box and all that, they're not gonna go and, you know, eat extremely healthy food.

It's not even palatable for them. They don't even enjoy the taste. They're addicted to the chemicals and the flavors that's in their food now. So to them it just tastes horrible. When I was eating that way, I mean, a nice, that was a great smoothie by the way, but a nice green smoothie to me tasted, you know, I was like, now it tastes great.

But, so my point to that is, is we're a place where you can come and you can get those things that you're eating now, but healthier, and you come in the door and you get a chance to read something, you get a chance to, you know, learn of God, you get a chance to learn of maybe something, maybe you're searching, and maybe something you see catches your attention. You're like, oh, hey, I always wondered about that. What's the Sabbath? What is that? You know, and that happens all the time.

And it's really a blessing to have an opportunity to let God or to be there and like and see how God works through people yeah so the question yes maybe I missed missed your earlier talk or whatever but I didn't hear how you got started in the restaurant business. Oh. You know, some of the other people, it sounded like their family was already involved or whatever. How did you get started? So, when I met my wife, she owned a pizza place in Moreno Valley.

And we ended up, I came in and we ended up doing, I was doing marketing for her. And so when we, back in, that was like early 2009, and that's where we met. And then from there, we ended up opening up where we are now today. But it was under Cheesy Pizza then. So we were, like I said, just a regular pizza place.

And then from there, after the whole process I kind of went through as far as us finding the Lord and going down every wrong direction, and Once we gave our lives to God, we also chose to get married. We weren't married at this time either. And we were living together, of course, and so we decided we want to make things, in every aspect of our lives, right. So again, praise the Lord. Amen.

And you guys all know Laura Williams. You ever heard of Laura Williams? You have. You have. You have.

Right, that's my little sister. And she had a huge impact, lots of prayers. And my whole family was praying the whole time and we wouldn't be there where we are today, I mean, without their prayers. So I want to thank them for that. So as far as where we're going from here, the Lord's brought us here, and is, I think that opening these types of restaurants up all over is something that could be done.

And I know Paul was talking about some great ways of doing that, and kind of like the basics as far as, you know, how to get something like that going. There's so many options. I mean, people in the church today, I mean, there's a huge health reform that needs to be done within our church. But as well, the interesting thing is that people that aren't in church, I mean, eating healthy is becoming the norm now. I mean, it's becoming extremely popular.

I mean, science completely supports it in fact, 100%. It's a great, it's a huge trend right now. So I think we need to definitely take advantage of that as well. And we need to start really educating ourselves and then really showing others that, You know, there's a lot of things we can do in our own lives, you know, to make a difference. And then just be an example.

And having little places like we have, for instance, and Oasis Cafe and so many others, you know, there's great, great, great things that the Lord can do through these kinds of places. To listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org.

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Running a Food Business as a Seventh-Day Adventist

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