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Dianna King is the brainchild behind Eat Unrestricted, a Georgia-based company that sells vegan cheese sauces with optional flavors, including original, rosemary, chipotle and garlic made from plant protein. The brand also offers mac-n-cheese kits, which King says is her favorite food.
“I grew up with a family that had mac-and-cheese contests to see who had the best mac-n-cheese,” says King, who said that when she transitioned to a become a vegan, the biggest inconvenience was finding a good, tasty mac-n-cheese.
King says sacrificing taste is an issue for people transitioning to a healthier plant-based diet. “That was something I realized early on,” she says. “It was very inconvenient. And I didn’t like the taste of some of these products on the market in 2017, so when I had the chance, I started ‘veganizing’ my favorite dish.”
This led King to make an allergen-friendly cheese sauce with vegetables, carrots and potatoes; the recipes are all her creations. Her siblings helped her taste, but it wasn’t easy. “Growing up in Atlanta, there was a bad rep for veganism and vegan cheese,” she says.
The Power of Plants
King is the oldest of seven siblings, which she says gave her a lot of responsibilities. “I had to learn how to manage people. There were a lot of kids around, so I had to learn how to communicate but at the same time not overstep boundaries.
“As a result, I developed more of an emotional quotient. I felt like my childhood helped develop my E.Q., which led me down my career path of becoming a project manager.”
King began her plant-based lifestyle choice in 2016 after her father was diagnosed with colon cancer. “When my father first noticed and got confirmation of the diagnosis, I started doing a lot of research to see exactly how to cure him,” she says.
“There was an article claiming that veganism and a plant-based diet help slow down the progression, and in some cases, even cure people of cancer. So, I showed this to my father, pushing him to try it. And the more he tried a plant-based diet, indeed, we saw a slowdown of progression.”
Her father incorporated more vegetables into his diet but unfortunately passed in 2017. While King says she’s unsure if fully becoming vegan would have saved her father, seeing real-time results solidified her decision to embrace the lifestyle more.
“I transitioned into veganism,” she says. “I’ve seen a significant change, and in some ways, improvements for my own health, so I encourage people to seriously look into incorporating a plant-based diet.”
Thinking of Eat Unrestricted’s Future
The Georgia native says her team consists of two or three people at a time. “We had to do extensive research because we use high-quality ingredients. I have a sensitive taste and [I] am picky about what I eat,” she admits.
“But through the first phase, it had to go through a proof test. But I don’t eat cheese, and I haven’t eaten cheese in almost seven years. So that’s when my siblings and significant other come into play. They still eat it, so they would have a more accurate assessment of whether the cheese I was making tasted like cheese or if it didn’t. Then we do surveys with our customers, and we get their feedback. It took me over three years to finalize a version we were happy with,” she says.
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King did all the research and testing while working and attending the Georgia Institute of Technology (G.I.T) for engineering full-time.
With a mission to deliver a good product that is good for people’s well-being too, it is important for the project manager to conduct recipe experiments and constant trial-and-error testing as well as review the responses she gets from her customers. The endless feedback cycle is why she switched packaging for her product.
“We went from a pouch to a glass jar because one of our customers expressed concern about our packaging and wanted it to be more eco-friendly,” King says. “So, we did some research and agreed that we should do a better job of making our packaging and marketing more eco-friendly. We’re happy and proud to say that our product comes in glass jars, which makes us feel good about putting it out there and how it won’t be part of the plastic issue. We don’t use added preservatives. Our packaging and most ingredients are American-made, specifically Georgia, so we’re Georgia-grown certified.”
King says the next obstacles were finding key partners and reaching out to potential clientele from the wholesale or direct-to-consumer sides before deciding on a different direction.
“We started online, and then wholesalers began contacting us. So now we have a wholesale partnership with Orchard Grocer in Manhattan, New York and Venice Beach, California, at PlantX Market.”
Even though Eat Unrestricted has been a work-in-progress for some years, King said it’s a relatively new name.
“We rebranded last year,” King says. “I was discussing with my mentors to see where the business was going. It’s costly just to get on shelves, especially with a lot of big chains; it can cost thousands of dollars. And not only that, but you have also got take into account margins that the stores want, logistics, and then there’s a delay as far as payment for the product and food service,” she shares about the process, adding it is usually 60-90 days before you get paid. This therefore requires companies to have enough capital to sustain themselves.
She continues, “Keeping that in mind and knowing that we didn’t want to stay small and plan on growing, I started looking into what happens once a company gets big; what are some examples of people that founded their company and are still part of the C-Suite? Unfortunately, there are not many women founders I can look up to that have launched a business and still are in the C-suite and look like me.
“I also discovered that many woman founders get removed from their C-Suite, even if they’re the CEO. This happened to By CHOLE. That’s why I rebranded; I didn’t want to have something with my name attached just in case something happens.”
Looking Ahead to What’s Next
King says Eat Unrestricted will do a soft launch on Amazon this year. She’s also getting her MBA at G.I.T. and still working full-time and thanks her mentors for lending their guidance on protecting her business.
“We have a lot of great exciting news coming up, but I can’t share it until everything’s set in stone. But we’re looking into getting into a big grocery chain. Here’s a hint: that chain’s logo has green in it.
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“We’re looking for investments and getting more mentors to help us become more informed about this industry. And we’re also working on growing our social media presence, building our community, nurturing it, and telling them about what we do. So, if you want to follow us on this, please do.”
Order Eat Unrestricted on the brand’s website, and as King encouraged, follow the company on TikTok and Instagram.
