Eat Fresco gives meals to Tampa Bay’s most vulnerable families during coronavirus crisis

A local company is doing something good by donating pre-prepared meals to some of the most vulnerable families. Eat Fresco is donating hundreds of meals to families in need through charity organizations that provide shelter.

Tampa based Eat Fresco has expanded into Publix stores

At the end of July, the Tampa-based prepared foods company launched its products in 21 Publix stores.

The stores — in Tampa, Lakeland and surrounding areas — will sell Eat Fresco’s fresh, prepared meals such as the salmon dish, Caribbean Style Jerk Chicken and Cuban Inspired Pork Loin.

Eat Fresco, started in 2014 by Rob and Tracy Povolny, was already in 50 stores in Florida, but the Publix addition represents a big step forward for the company.

Easy, healthy meals in no time

The days of the Swanson TV-dinner is long gone. Eat Fresco offers fully-cooked microwaveable meals that are fresh, healthy and made right here in our area. Eat Fresco is in 70 retail stores throughout Florida including select Publix grocery stores in Tampa. Co-founder Tracy Povolny joined Great Day Live to talk about her growing company.

Healthy, convenient prepared meals are crafted in Tampa

This local factor is key to Fresco Foods, a young business that operates the Eat Fresco brand of meals that are sold at stores like Winn-Dixie, Earth Fare, Rollin’ Oats in St. Petersburg and more. Husband and wife Robert and Tracy Povolny launched the company in February 2015 and spent the next two years raising capital to open the industrial kitchen/office space in March 2017. As I sit down to talk with them about the company after a tour of the space, they keep repeating words like “clean,” “local,” “real food” — buzz words of our current food moment.

Food entrepreneur takes prepared meals to market

Ever dream that your grandpa’s signature hot sauce might be your recipe for success? While starting any business is no easy task, becoming a food entrepreneur is a special challenge. Find out what makes a food-based venture cook with lessons from some of our most recent Tampa Bay startups.

Eat Fresco featured on WFLA News Channel 8

Fresco Foods featured on News Channel 8. “The meals are made daily in Oldsmar and vacuumed fresh for a 15-day shelf life. Eat Fresco is available in more than a dozen stores across Tampa Bay from major grocery chains like Winn Dixie to boutique stores like Nutrition Smart Natural Organic Grocery and Vitamins (Gayle Guyardo). “They are hormone free, antibiotic free, no preservatives. All of the meals are made with the finest ingredients,” said founder Rob Povolny.

Big grocery chain adds Tampa prepared meals startup as official vendor

Four months after launching, Eat Fresco — a Tampa startup that produces and sells premium prepared meals— has landed its first major supermarket account.

Beginning June 22, Eat Fresco’s product line of seven vacuum-sealed meals will be available in six Winn-Dixie stores — five in the chain’s corporate backyard of Jacksonville, and one on Swann Avenue in South Tampa.

Former food industry exec launches Eat Fresco, an ambitious prepared-meals concept

Rob Povolny had a choice to make: pick up stakes in Tampa and transfer to Chicago to keep his job as sales director for a food ingredients company, or take a severance package.

He chose the latter, partly because it was February, but more so because he had an idea simmering – to offer prepared meals that were several cuts above the standard fare, packaged entrees using fresh, locally sourced foods.