In April 2024, Ellen Tenaw opened Primal Plates, her own fast food restaurant in Monroe. Instead of burgers and fries, though, Tenaw sends customers out the door with fresh meals and baked goods made by her and her staff.

The Monroe News sat down with Tenaw to talk about her journey from personal trainer to restaurateur and how she was inspired to make it easier for her customers to eat healthier.

Where does the name come from?It started when I first began meal prepping years ago. I was a personal trainer, and so “plates” was like a play off of a plate, like a 45-pound plate for working out, and also a plate of food. So, it started out as food that was designed for athletes. And “primal” being, you know, primal. Eating real food. When we used to just eat real food, without all the additives and without all the chemicals and artificial things.

What led from being a personal trainer to opening Primal Plates?So, when I was a personal trainer, I had clients that had a hard time following a diet, and that’s how it all started. I was always prepping my own food, so I had it with me in a little container, not quite like (the ones at the restaurant), not as nice, but I had my food already done. And there was one woman, Vicki, she said, “Well, why don’t you just cook for me?” And that’s literally how it started, and it went from there.

So, when I realized that people who were trying to get healthy, or whatever their goal was, were having a hard time with food, I just kind of took it upon myself to try to help. And, again, it was just a hobby then. America wants to eat healthier. We know we need to eat healthier, we know we need to do it, but we’re also busy, so that’s how it translated from doing this on just a very small scale, to this. It just grew from word-of-mouth.

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When did you decide to open Primal Plates?I decided to get a brick-and-mortar about two or three years ago. I really wanted to do it, but it just didn’t work out, I couldn’t find a location. But once I found this place, I knew this is where it needs to be. So, I started from there. It’s been a big project, but it’s been worth every minute.

How long have you wanted to open a restaurant?Since my kids were little. I have teenagers now, and I’d say when my oldest was about seven or eight, I knew I wanted to do something with food. It just has kind of grown from a hobby to this.

Is it because you like cooking?I love cooking. I learned a lot from my mom, who does a lot of the baking right here at our bakery counter. She’s self-taught, her mom taught her, my mom taught me. My mom has a little bit more training; we sent her for a week, once, out to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in New York, so that was pretty cool. She’s got a lot of stuff under her belt, and that’s just kind of where I picked it up from, but I’ve been cooking ever since I was little. I’ve already passed it down to my kids. I think it’s an art that we’ve lost over the years, so (we’re) holding on to that.

Why is everything to go?We have a lot of sit-down restaurants that I think are great right here in downtown Monroe, but we didn’t really have anything grab-and-go, so I wanted to kind of play off the, “It’s already done, come in and get it.” It’s quick, it’s easy, and it eliminates the thought process through the week for a lot of people. You know, we want to stay on track, we want to eat healthy, but it’s a lot of time, it’s a lot of thought process, and I just take that out of it — make it easy.

What have your customers said they like most about Primal Plates?What they are telling me they like is the ease of it. They can walk in, and they know they can walk out with a full meal to bring home. It just makes it easier for them, whether it’s somebody coming from an office; a lot of people come in on Tuesday around lunchtime, and they’ll stock up and they’ll put it in their office fridge. So, it gives them a little bit of a break throughout the day to where they don’t have to run out, or stand in a line at a restaurant, or go and sit down if they don’t have that long of a lunch break. Drive throughs are long and there’s traffic. It’s just the ease of it; it’s a convenience, but it’s also like a treat.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Primal Eats Q&A: Monroe’s fresh eatery