Michelle Dudash’s love of food started at an early age. It began when she started working in restaurants at age 14 and eventually led her to complete training as a chef. She also studied to become a Registered Dietitian, which influenced her passion for creating healthy, functional food. As her career progressed, she found success in media with TV segments and cookbooks, using her background as a chef, and knowledge of proper nutrition, to build simple, clean recipes consumers all over the country could easily recreate in their kitchens at home.
One night in 2019, Michelle was making tacos for her children. They requested “tacos like at school,” so Michelle obliged and used a generic taco seasoning packet. She was taken aback at how easy it was to create a meal with this little packet – all she had to do was add water and cooked meat. Her pleasant surprise turned to shock when she flipped the packet over and read the laundry list of sugars, fillers, and mystery mix of ingredients included in this small collection of seasonings. There had to be a better way, a simpler way, to make delicious meals without all of the extra ingredients. That’s when the idea for Dash Dinners, which was later rebranded to Spicekick, came to Michelle.
Using dry forms of traditional ingredients, like garlic and onion, along with hand-sourced spice blends, Spicekick eliminates the need for extra steps and extra pans. All blends are gluten-free, dairy-free, and made with no added sugar, making it easy to create wholesome meals in minutes. Michelle drew from her most popular cookbook and TV recipes, creating spice blends for family-favorite dishes, then set up shop at a local farmers market. People bought packets that first week and, even better, kept coming back week after week asking for more. This demand led Michelle to secure her very first retail placement in a local butcher shop, building a foundation for continued retail expansion.
Last year, while attending a trade show, a Meijer store director met Michelle and tried Spicekick. They loved the product and encouraged her to connect with the Meijer Supplier Relationship Management team.
Thanks to that meeting, Spicekick’s Chili, Taco, and Sloppy Joe packets are now sold in all Meijer locations across Indiana – 44 and counting – a widespread launch that Michelle called a “wonderful surprise.”
As an ongoing supporter of regional vendors, Meijer is proud to partner with entrepreneurs like Michelle to offer shoppers unique, locally-sourced products. For local vendors like Michelle, working with Meijer means new growth opportunities – and a bright future for Spicekick.
“Meijer’s program is very unique, from my experience,” she said. “They are very hands-on, with regular calls and updates, and I get all of my questions answered. Their goal is to help build you up so you can be in more Meijer stores.”
You can find Spicekick on your next trip to an Indiana Meijer by looking for an “Indiana Favorites” endcap.