Business Spotlight: Cibo Meals

We love supporting local businesses by sharing about the services and products they offer as well as the stories of why the business got started. Today we are spotlighting local business Cibo Meals. For those that attended the Zero Waste Home event a couple weeks ago, Cibo Meals is a great way to get delicious meals delivered in a low waste way.

Here’s our interview with owner Emily Green:

How did you get involved in this business?

Ciao! I am the owner and creator of Cibo Meals, and I love what my small, local business has grown into since I started it in 2016. I’ve always loved to cook and to travel, and I wanted a way to bring these two passions together. I also wanted a way to be more involved in the amazing communities in the Metro-Denver area. As a longtime vegetarian, I felt there was a need for more internationally-inspired, wholesome vegetarian meals that are freshly cooked and ready to eat without a lot of preparation. Hence, the start of Cibo Meals.

Before starting Cibo Meals, I was an Interior Designer in New York and in Denver, which was a career that lent itself perfectly to the creative and detail-oriented nature of cooking. In early 2016 I left that career behind to pursue a life-long dream of living in Italy and learning the Italian language, and after three months in Lucca, Tuscany, I returned to Denver with a renewed dream to start a business that brought together my two loves, cooking good, clean food and traveling the world. ~Buon Cibo!

What drew you to open a business on this side of town?

I am Colorado native and have lived in NW Denver for over 9 years. I have become very active in the various communities west of Denver and really love the vibe, the accessibility, and the support that people show towards my small local business.

How does the ordering and delivery process work?

Great question! Here’s the breakdown:

• Thursday – We send out an email with two new meal options for the upcoming week, as well as posting them to our website, www.cibomeals.com. You can place your order any time after the new meal options are released, and you can order as many jars as often as you want.
• Sundays – You will receive a reminder-to-order email so you don’t miss out.
• Mondays – Please order and pay online by 10:00 a.m. so we can shop for your ingredients fresh that day and be ready to cook up your order.
• Tuesday between 3:00-7:00 p.m. – We deliver right to your doorstep (home or business). Your meals are prepared, cooked, and jarred fresh at Rocky Mountain Commissary in Arvada, CO earlier that day.
• The next time you order from Cibo Meals, just leave your rinsed jars in a bag where we can grab them when we make your new delivery…easy, right?
• Dishes are prepared vegetarian and protein recommendations are always included in case you want to add this to your meal yourself.

What makes your business unique?

Because we use glass Mason jars for our packaging that we are able to reclaim and sanitize after each use, our environmental impact is very low, which is so important in this time of plastic overload. Our meals are really creative, using ingredients that are often sourced locally from Farmer’s Markets, urban gardens, and the like. Supporting other small businesses is just as important to me as having our communities support, so that we call thrive!

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.