November 2018 Enterprising Woman – Ingrid Rinck

INGRID RINCK, a self-made entrepreneur and CEO of Sensible Meals, has been helping people eat healthier and achieve their weight loss goals since 2014. A personal trainer for 20 years, Rinck found her passion for fitness at the early age of fifteen. Within a year after joining a fitness class, she found herself teaching the exact same class where her aptitude for physical health began. Today, Rinck owns the largest meal preparation company in the United States.

From humble beginnings, Ingrid was a single mother with two young children and a baby running a personal training business. During that time her 8-year-old son Rock was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. This diagnosis changed everything. Rinck began to meal prep for her son, focusing on nutrition and learning everything she could about enhancing health through food. She altered her family’s diet, and in the process she lost weight herself. Friends and clients noticed her results. “They saw my success with portion-controlled meals that I created for my son and wanted me to replicate the meals for them. And that’s how my business started,” she said.

As a single mother and businesswoman, some days she worked anywhere from 15 to 18 hours, prepping meals while trying to keep up with the influx of orders. Sensible Meals took off so quickly that it became bigger than she had anticipated. Seeking the counsel of her father, a former restaurant owner, she took his advice and opened a prep facility. Within a short time, her business began to grow and flourish even more. With the support of her father who helped with operations, Rinck had the opportunity to focus on her true passion — marketing her business and helping her clients achieve better health.

Rinck is enthusiastic about teaching people that weight loss and physical fitness are not impossible and are very attainable. “It’s about doing it right most of the time and having fun some of the time,” she said. “We give our clients some basic diet meals and built-in Louisiana cooking cheat meals so they don’t feel deprived, frustrated and quit. We keep it affordable and we offer live assistance 12 hours a day. I even do live chats on social media once a month.” The company’s packaged meals are freshly prepared and free of preservatives. Ingrid’s mantra has been “moderation, not deprivation.”

Through Sensible Meals, Rinck has created more than 1,200 jobs in the workforce with 98 percent of the employees being women. An astounding 95 percent of them are mothers, with 75 percent of those employees being single moms. “I was once a single mom on a limited income and I understand what it means to have support when you need it,” said Rinck. “People working for me believe in this business as much as I do. It’s important and I know they want to help me take care of my business, so I trust them.” Today, she finds innovative ways to help struggling families, whether it be through nonprofit organizations like the Red Cross, American Heart Association, Type 1 diabetes or other charitable organizations. Rinck’s philanthropy extends beyond big nonprofits, and overflows to the people of our community. Sensible Meals raised over a half a million dollars in donations in 2017 to benefit local families and Type 1 diabetes. “Average donations were anywhere between $1,500 to $15,000. For example, we may help a single mom pay for her first year of college or give a mother the funds to help pay for medical supplies that her child needs.” Rinck said. “I like to see where the money is going. The thing that is different about us is people don’t know how charitable we are.” From donating to Louisiana nonprofits as well as reaching out to people in need in our community, Rinck seeks to empower and inspire other women. “People don’t see everything that we do. We keep it private while helping women in their time of need and don’t put their struggles on display,” she said.

Without a college degree, Ingrid relied on her grit, hard work, and determination. “I’m proof that you don’t need a degree to have success. It would have been nice, but it didn’t happen for me,” she said. Her sons Rhett, Rock, and her daughter Georgie keep her motivated. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished especially since I built it myself. I didn’t always have the right tools, but I have genuine passion and love for what I do and the people I interact with. I hope that comes through. I want to show my kids that if you have passion and drive, you can do anything.”

Sensible Meals corporate office is located at 5150 LA-22 in Mandeville. To learn more,

visit eatsensiblemeals.com or follow @sensiblemeals on social media.