Hidden Gems: Meet Soraya Medina of Salud Eats

Today we’d like to introduce you to Soraya Medina.

Hi Soraya, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We’re a husband and wife team. Daniel and I started selling our desserts online back home in New York after I graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education. It was mainly co-workers, friends, and family that bought from us. Soon we realized that starting a small business in New York would be very expensive and oversaturated. So we decided to visit our friends who had just moved to Arizona and instantly fell in love. We saw how the community supported small businesses and realized that there is more access to help for small business owners. We ended up moving across the country to Arizona, leaving everyone and everything we knew to follow our dreams. It was very hard in the beginning; actually, it still is, but the difference now is we have more experience and know what not to do. We started baking from home, and then 4 years later, we moved to our commercial kitchen. We now supply coffee shops around the valley. We have a small café attached to our commercial kitchen, you can find our organic desserts online, and you can also find us at Uptown Farmers Market on Saturdays. We’ve come a long way, a lot of sweat, tears, burns, and sleepless nights but we’re still here. We’re excited for the new year because we will be at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, and we’re also one of the suppliers for the Super Bowl LVII. We’re also working on a new project that hopefully will be launched at the end of this year. We’ll offer our brownie, scone, and hot chocolate dry mix infused with hemp. It’s a healthy product that is ready to bake at home.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been fairly smooth?
It hasn’t been a smooth ride. In the beginning, when we were getting busier, it was challenging to bake at home with just one kitchen aide mixer. Moving to the commercial kitchen helped solve that problem. Then as we were getting busier, we needed more help, my husband and I couldn’t do everything, so we decided to hire someone. The most difficult struggle was the Covid-19 pandemic—many of our coffee shops and restaurants were closed and never re-opened. We lost about 80% of our revenue at the pandemic’s beginning, and we still haven’t fully recovered from it. In the end, there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Si se puede mi gente! We never gave up on our dreams, and neither should you, especially if you sacrificed so much to get where you are.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Salud Eats?
We’re a manufacturing bakery in Tempe, Arizona, that bakes organic desserts with gluten-free and vegan options. We bake from scratch with a lot of love, passion, and seasonal local ingredients. Our first goal is to educate the masses that they can have healthier desserts without sacrificing taste. We don’t use preservatives, GMOs, bleached flour, or sugar. We’re known for our famous Vegan Banana Nut Bread, Black Bean Brownie, and buttery Scones.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We would love our new followers and customers to visit our hidden café. It’s called the Hideaway Café in Tempe, Arizona. We offer hot coffee, cold brew, smoothies, house drinks, sandwiches, and delicious desserts.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saludeats.com
• Instagram: SaludEats
• Facebook: SaludEats