BY ANDREW BAILEY
BG Independent News Correspondent
With his last $47 and a desire to feed his community, DeAnte Shivers started TriggaMeals out of his apartment in July 2016.
Now, the carryout restaurant resides in the kitchen of Ziggy’s on East Wooster Street, where Shivers has been able to further cement his place in the local food scene.
He started the restaurant to support his family during hard financial times, but four years later, Shivers has been able to help others as well, especially those who live meal-to-meal.
“I remember what it was like to be a college student and sometimes not knowing when my next meal would come, and now I’m in that position to help someone have that next meal so they won’t have to go hungry,” Shivers said.
Sometimes, he gives these meals away for free, which he estimates is about 10 to 15 a week. He always gives away at least one free meal a day though, with the philosophy of, “just feed the people, man.”
But Shivers has provided food for more than individuals, as he’s fed the masses too. Before COVID-19, Shivers would pass out free meals to students in the Jerome Library during finals week.
More recently, he’s provided food for Black Lives Matter protestors and started a pay-it-forward program, so people can pay for meals in advance to be given to those affected by COVID-19. He would then match the prices of the meals purchased, reaching a high of 100 free meals during one day.
“People need to eat and I’m the one cooking. And if that’s how I can be supportive of what’s going on in the community, then that’s my cause,” he said.
Shivers has also supported the community and provided opportunities on a larger scale in ways beyond filling their bellies.
In September 2018, he created the Sharon D. Shivers Memorial Scholarship with BGSU in memory of his late mother, to help students who have lost primary figures in their own lives. Currently, he is working on establishing a marketing internship with BGSU to “ease the burden of just trying to find one.”
TriggaMeals has provided growth for Shivers himself too, as he’s always looking to take the next step with a goal-driven business acumen.
This goal-driven mindset for growing his business comes in short-term plans, with the marketing internship, and long-term objectives, like opening a carryout restaurant aside from his location in Ziggy’s or starting a food truck to catch onto the current trend. He also hopes to start a regular delivery service for people who want to avoid the cold during the winter months.
A constant goal of his is to have food for people with various diets and dietary restrictions. His girlfriend, Rabia, has helped him in marketing and creating new meals, especially vegetarian options.
Owning a restaurant has provided Shivers with personal growth as well. The challenges come in many forms: marketing his business, creating new menu items and the daily duties of operation.
But it’s a challenge worth his time.
“I like that challenge,” he said. “It forces me to push myself to be creative. It’s something that I love to do, and I don’t think it’s ever gotten to a point where it’s too overwhelming.”
The business challenges he’s faced go back to his beginning days of cooking in his apartment, where he faced the creative roadblock of how to market a unique restaurant like his.
And his solution: Twitter. The medium through which he primarily takes orders and spreads the word about his food.
“Twitter played a huge part in making TriggaMeals what it is today,” Shivers said.
It’s how the opportunity to move to Ziggy’s came about too, when the owner saw the name on Twitter and reached out to learn more.
And it’s through Twitter that Shivers has been able to expand his services outside of Bowling Green. He’s catered events at Ohio State University, Kent State University and even cooked and donated meals to Dallas Cowboys defensive back Jourdain Lewis’ football camp.
Shivers has always considered TriggaMeals to be a hobby, not a job, but in October 2018 he had to shut down to take time for self-care.
After losing his mother during his senior year of college, he became depressed, and his family fell into financial hardship. But after focusing on his own mental health and his family, he decided to open up TriggaMeals, taking inspiration from his mother’s cooking, as well as his father and brother, who are both chefs in their own right.
But when he experienced another bout of depression, he knew cooking was not the solution.
“I tried to use cooking as a way to get my mind off everything. The business itself was so busy and I was burnt out with it. I wasn’t enjoying it how I normally would,” Shivers said. “I love to cook, but I needed a break, so I shut down for about a month, month and a half.”
Experiences like these have reinforced the importance of his own mental health, as he now will take the day off if he’s not feeling passionate about cooking.
“I think since then, I haven’t been so caught up in it. If there’s a day during the week when I don’t feel like cooking, I won’t come in,” he said. “If I force myself to get in here, I won’t enjoy it as much as I do. I tell myself, ‘you need to take time for yourself too.’”
Now that TriggaMeals has achieved the success it has from its rough beginnings and been a valuable part of community service, Shivers hopes people can take inspiration from it.
“You don’t have to have a lot to start what you want to start,” he said, referencing how he opened TriggaMeals with only $47. “You don’t want time to pass you by and you look up two years later and you still haven’t started anything because you felt the time wasn’t right. If you’ve got an idea in mind, just go for it.”
And money should never be the primary motivator. As long as the idea is there, the money and growth will follow suit, he said.
“When you get in a position to help people, help them. TriggaMeals is something I was blessed with, so I’m going to use my blessing to bless others.”
