In 2019, Laura Patrick BA’13 was a busy mom of three, holding down the fort at home while her husband, Chris, worked as the culinary director for Abacus, a fine dining restaurant in Dallas. The couple and their family were happy and healthy, but there was just one problem: The kids rarely saw Chris during the week.

“Once our oldest started school, unless I took her to the restaurant, she wouldn’t see him for five days,” Laura said. “She really only got to see him on Sunday for the full day. It was really hard.”

With Chris’ years of experience as a chef, the couple toyed with the idea of opening a restaurant or having him move to a different role in the service industry, but neither option offered a complete solution to their problem. Instead, the Patricks looked at the market for chef-prepared meals and discovered an opportunity to combine their skillsets and start their own business.

“We wanted to help people solve their dinner dilemma but not to the point where they actually had to cook their own food,” Laura said.

But before they jumped into making weekly meals, they needed to find a commercial space where Chris could cook and prepare the food each week. From his network of friends and colleagues in the restaurant industry, he reached out to Chef Sharon Van Meter, owner of the event space 3015 at Trinity Groves. Van Meter offered up the space’s kitchen, where orders could be prepped and fulfilled for the masses.

“She’s really been huge in supporting us from the very beginning,” Laura said. “Without her, I don’t really know where we’d be.”

In June of 2019, Laura and Chris created Bright Box Foods. Unlike standard meal kits, such as Blue Apron or Hello Fresh, the food provided by Bright Box Foods is already cooked and assembled for its customers. Each meal just needs to be reheated according to the provided instructions for a locally sourced dish that’s ready in minutes.

“Chris makes everything from scratch, even the sauces,” Laura said. “I think those tiny details and the extra time he puts into it really make a huge difference in the quality of our food and the quality of our service in general.”

Laura Patrick BA’13 (right) and her husband, Chris, are the founders of Bright Box Foods.

While Chris develops the menu, shops for food and prepares the meals, Laura handles the website she developed herself, as well as customer service, social media, marketing and the coordination of meal deliveries — all skills she developed through her emerging media and communications degree at UT Dallas.

“The classes that I took in regards to coding and digital design, those were really beneficial to me,” Laura said. “It familiarized me with back-end coding, which really helped when building our site.”

The timing of the couple’s decision to work together also benefited them, as the coronavirus pandemic hit not even a year into their new gig as entrepreneurs.

“I think if we would have opened a restaurant, we’d be in a much different place right now because of the pandemic,” Laura said. “With Bright Box Foods, we were able to keep operating through the shutdown. We were able to help people get their food when they were scared to go to the grocery store or restaurants. I’m super grateful that somehow, the universe really took care of us.”

Through the meal service, customers can go online and select items from a list of entrees, sides, soups, starters and sweets. Once they’ve selected the size and quantities of their items, they can check out and pick either delivery or pickup. Pickup and delivery days are Mondays and Thursdays, with order deadlines on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

“I’m grateful that we’re able to help families meal-plan for their entire week,” Laura said. “That’s so rewarding for us.”

The business’ menu stays the same throughout the year, minus five or six seasonal changes and a chef’s selection that changes weekly. Once orders are placed, Chris sources ingredients from farmers markets and grocery stores before preparing the meals before the delivery window opens.

“He works so efficiently,” Laura said. “We had never worked together, so seeing him actually work in the kitchen was mind-blowing to me.”

With the success they’ve seen so far, the couple plans to include monthly meal planning options, as well as pop-up dinners across the Metroplex.

“We have a vision to eventually have our own space we can work out of and have prepared foods. But for now, we’re just riding out this pandemic,” Laura said.

As for their work-life balance, the family of five is already seeing the benefits of life outside of the confines of a restaurant.

“It’s a complete 180,” Laura said. “He’s home way more, which is so helpful, especially with three kids. And for the first time in 10 years, we have Fridays and Saturdays off.”