Exploring Life & Business with Brent Imbornoni of Brento Box

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brent Imbornoni.

Hi Brent, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Hi, my name is Brent Imbornoni and I’m the founder of Brento Box – a local meal prep company here in Phoenix Arizona. The story of how it all started begins back in 2013. I was at a bar in Scottsdale one night when a friend of mine and another bar patron got into an altercation. The guy pulled out a knife, my friend went to back up, slipped on spilled beer and ended up on the ground being stabbed. I stepped into help, pulled the guy off him and on top of me and I ended up getting stabbed in the eye. Both my friend and I survived the attack but I was left with a legally blind right eye after an unsuccessful retina reattachment. The years that followed I dealt with seven total surgeries, depression, anxiety and binge eating resulting in serious weight gain. Eventually, through learning to cook healthy and training at the gym, I lost the 50lbs I had gained and started to regain my physical and mental health. Going from being at rock bottom, to being happy and healthy, in large part thanks to better food choices and learning to cook healthy food was really life changing.

After a few years, my passion for healthy cooking, meal prepping, and exercise continued to grow. I decided to take these healthy recipes that helped change my life and share them with others, in hopes of being able to help others look and feel their best as well. It started as a “what if” idea in 2019. Then a side hustle out of my apartment in 2020 – selling meals to friends and family during the pandemic. Then, a legitimate business in the summer of 2021 when we moved into a shared commercial kitchen. Shortly thereafter, I hired Melanie Coon, who is now my Executive Chef and we got to work creating healthier versions of meals everyone enjoys. We now have an amazing team and last year in 2022 we produced and delivered over 20,000 meals.

I feel so grateful that I get to do something I truly love that I know makes a positive impact on the community.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would say the road has been smooth at times, but definitely bumpy at times as well. I’ve really enjoyed the challenge though. I think people always say starting a business is hard, which is true, but what they don’t tell you is that growing a business is even harder. The systems you used when you were small eventually just no longer work or take way too long and you’re forced to adapt. The team that worked when you were small no longer works when you grow and you’re forced to adapt and hire more people. I think the growing pains have been one of the biggest obstacles.

Another challenge for me has been delegation. When you’re just starting out as an entrepreneur or small business owner you wear ALL the hats. You do everything. But as your business grows, you can’t spread yourself too thin and be everywhere at once so delegating tasks is a must. However, I’m a bit of a perfectionist/control enthusiast as I think most small business owners are. You know how you do things, and what level of effort you put in and it can be scary to put your trust in someone else to do something “as well” as you would do it. But the more I’ve done it, the more I find that when you have clear procedures and systems and set people up to succeed good things happen.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Brento Box?
At Brento Box, we’re on a mission to provide healthy meal prep to the Phoenix community to help people from all walks of life look and feel their best. We take the guesswork out of your meal planning for the week. Enjoy fresh, healthy, and delicious meals delivered with a smile every Sunday.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We post a new menu on our website (getbrentobox.com) every Tuesday morning at 9 am, we take orders till 9 am Friday, cook everything fresh that weekend and deliver it to your doorstep Sunday afternoon. We offer 4 different entrees, a breakfast, a protein box, overnight oats, snacks, and cold-pressed juices. The menu changes every week so you’ll never get bored of what we have to offer!

You can follow us on Instagram @getbrentobox for all the latest and to follow along on this journey, this is still just the beginning! Hope to connect with you soon!

Contact Info:

• Website: getbrentobox.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/getbrentobox
• Facebook: Facebook.com/getbrentobox
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/brento-box-phoenix