You imagine that working for Edinburgh’s Vittoria Group might have its pitfalls. Weight gain for one thing.
Leandro, 26 and Alberto Crolla, 29, are restaurant directors for this family business, which owns the capital’s popular Vittoria on the Bridge, Vittoria on the Walk, Taste of Italy, La Favorita, and Bertie’s. They variously offer pizza, ice-cream and fish and chips.
Presumably for the sake of all our post-lockdown waistlines, the brothers have branched out into their own healthy food prep business, Good Stuff.
“I’d put on a stone, but had a wedding coming up,” says Leandro. “I got a personal trainer and they told me to lose weight and eat healthily”.
When the younger Crolla brother couldn’t find the sort of meal prep business he liked the look of, he and his sibling created their own.
After recruiting nutritionist and chef, Manuel Giametti, they came up with 16 dishes, each of which is a main course that clocks in at under 600 calories. (And, of course, Leandro lost a bit of weight on this new regimen).
Their menu is cooked at their kitchen in Leith, with daily deliveries in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
It’s designed for those looking to “get a bit of routine back”, Leandro says.
They use biodegradable packaging, which is imprinted with a QR code, so you can discover your macro count (that’s protein, carbs and fat, for the non gym bunnies). Their meat comes from Campbells, fruit and vegetables from Mark Murphy and they offer drinks from companies including Edinburgh’s Roots.
The selection of 16 dishes include prawn red pesto pasta, harissa cod, Creole chicken rice bowl (“my favourite, because I love the rice and peas,” says Giametti), classic kedgeree and chicken pad Thai, with vegetarian and vegan options including halloumi and cauliflower rice, and “bbq-spiked jackfruit”. Prices start from £32 for a “meal bundle” of five.
They’re hoping to keep their offerings seasonal by swapping out a few dishes every couple of months, as well as adding low carb options.
Although they call it meal prep, all you have to do is stick your box in the microwave/oven.
Resist a second course of La Favorita pizza, and you’re one step closer to getting rid of the jelly belly.
