Raw Eddy’s
“You just have to keep showing up. For yourself, for your business, for your people. Even on the hard days - especially on the hard days.” At just twenty-three years old, Kaitlyn Maestas opened the doors to Raw Eddy’s, a bright and cheerful storefront tucked into a historic downtown Salt Lake City building. Inside, one will find vegan, gluten-free, plant-based superfood protein snacks that taste like joy in bite-size form.
But Raw Eddy’s is more than a snack brand. It is a deeply personal mission. A love letter to food, to healing, to mental health, and to the people we have lost. The name “Eddy’s” is a tribute to Kaitlyn’s uncle Eddy, who died in a car crash at seventeen, and to Albert, an uncle who died by suicide when Kaitlyn was a child. Both shaped the why behind everything she has built.
Though she never really knew them, Kaitlyn felt a strong bond with Eddy and Albert. Both had struggled with mental health issues, and neither of their deaths were ever discussed at home. “There was so much silence. I think I carried them with me. Raw Eddy’s is one way I’ve tried to give them a voice - and maybe help someone else who feels alone.”
Kaitlyn was born and raised in Salt Lake City, the youngest of five half-siblings, essentially growing up as an only child. Her parents, though hardworking, were rarely home, and fast food was a staple in their household. She suffered from persistent stomach aches and, later, emotional struggles. “I had this really unhealthy relationship with food,” she admitted. “I thought I had to restrict it to stay healthy. It was all processed, and I didn’t know better.”
Everything began to change in 2015, during Kaitlyn’s sophomore year of high school, when she was accepted into Real Food Rising, an urban organic farming program that would shape the rest of her life. “It was the first time I understood what food really was,” she said. As part of the program, she worked a 1.5-acre farm plot, learning to weed, care for animals, pick produce, and prepare meals using ingredients she helped grow. The program delivered food to local pantries and shelters, and cooked meals for those in need. “It opened my world. I learned that food could nourish, could heal, could bring people together.” She also formed deep friendships and felt, for the first time, what it meant to be part of a mission-driven community. “It breaks my heart that the program no longer exists in Salt Lake. It changed the trajectory of my life.”
In 2016, Kaitlyn joined a summer entrepreneurship program at The Ideal Factory where she first heard the word "entrepreneur." “I had no idea what it meant at the time. Now, it’s my whole life.” Each participant was given an envelope with an unknown amount of cash and challenged to develop a business idea from scratch. Kaitlyn and her peers chose to create a kids' art program and organized a pop-up event. They learned to cold call businesses, write proposals, and fundraise. The summer ended with HUMAN, a community arts festival that spotlighted homeless youth. When the team finally opened the envelope, it only had $5.00 in it, but they had raised over $500 on their own. “I realized I was capable of more than I ever imagined,” she said. "That program gave me a sense of direction."
That same year, Kaitlyn was hired at Water Fusions, a holistic wellness center in Sugar House. There, her knowledge expanded beyond organic produce into herbal medicine, adaptogens, and nutrient testing. “I learned about how things like amino acids and gut health impact dopamine production. I know those words sound complicated. Basically, though, it was the science behind why food makes you feel good or bad.” She began packing her own lunches every day, crafting colorful, whole-food meals even though her mom had no time to help. “She told me, 'Go for it. I trust you.' That was all I needed.”
Kaitlyn started rock climbing in 2016 at a local gym with friends, but her high metabolism left her constantly hungry. “I needed fuel. Everything on the shelves was expensive, filled with sugar, or made me feel worse.” She began experimenting with her own snacks, using oats, peanut butter, and nuts. At first, they were just for her. Then she brought them to work, where a regular customer noticed and encouraged her to sell them. “For three months, I tweaked the recipe every week based on feedback. Then I made labels, printed ingredients, and put them in the fridge at Water Fusions. We sold thirty bags a month for two years.”
In 2017, Kaitlyn enrolled at the University of Utah, majoring in business with a minor in nutrition. Between the academic pressure, the crowds, and the emotional weight of a breakup with her longtime boyfriend, she hit a wall. “I didn’t have the tools to cope. It was too much.” Her mentor from Water Fusions encouraged her to leave. “He told me, ‘School will always be there. What makes you happy now?’ That gave me permission to follow my gut.”
In 2019, Kaitlyn enrolled at Park City Culinary Institute. There, she found her footing. The program taught her foundational techniques - how to season properly, balance flavors, and plate dishes beautifully. She learned the difference between herbs and spices, how to build sauces, and how to develop her own flavor profile. “I wanted to make food that was pretty but also made you feel good.” Her final dish, a roasted chicken with chili and hominy, was named best in class. “It gave me confidence. I finally felt like I knew what I was doing.”
After graduation, Kaitlyn returned to Water Fusions, first helping in the kitchen and then being promoted to manager. “That job taught me so much - how to lead a team, schedule staff, track inventory, run a POS system. I became more organized, more grounded, more capable.”
By the end of 2019, Kaitlyn decided to step into the restaurant world and joined Table X, a fine dining restaurant in Salt Lake City known for its five-course tasting menus and hyperlocal ingredients. “That kitchen taught me discipline,” she said. “Everything was from scratch. They grew food in their own garden out back. I learned to plate with precision, to respect ingredients, to think about every part of the dish.” The attention to detail - the preserving, fermenting, and reusing - left a lasting impact. “It shaped the way I cook even now. I learned how to make food thoughtful.”
Then COVID-19 hit. Service jobs disappeared overnight, and Kaitlyn pivoted. She launched Raw Eddy’s as a formal business in 2020, bootstrapping it with savings, pandemic grants, and her mom’s kitchen. "We made every single bite by hand - just me and my mom. She let me take over the kitchen and store product in her living room."
Around that time, Kaitlyn was offered a private chef role with a local couple who loved her food. It was flexible, creative, and consistent - something she could do while building Raw Eddy’s on the side. She spent the next two-and-a-half years juggling both. Meanwhile, she received her first wholesale order from Red Moose Cafe in 2021, after at least twenty rejections. “I cried when I got that check. It gave me the push to keep going.”
In 2023, at just twenty-two years old, she began selling at local farmers markets on the weekends, introducing more people to the brand. “It was all happening at once. And I just kept showing up.”
Kaitlyn secured a lease in 2023 after months of back-and-forth with city-owned property managers. It was for a historic building dating back to the 1800s. Just 1,000 square feet, the space had seen many uses over the decades although it retained a sturdy sense of character. Kaitlyn had passed it often and always felt drawn to it. “I just had this feeling about the space,” she said. “I could see myself there, even when it was empty and dark.” When she got the keys, she planned a surprise for the woman who had stood by her side through it all - packing orders, storing product in her living room, helping roll every bite. “I brought my mom in, gave her the key, and she just started crying. It felt like a full-circle moment.”
Inside, the walls were dark gray and black, the room closed off and somber. Kaitlyn immediately envisioned what she would come to call the “dopamine space.” With help from her friend Lindsay - a local designer she had met years earlier - and her mom’s steady hand, they painted the walls orange and pink, adding smiley-faced pillows, and a sherbet orange couch. Every item was chosen with intention and designed to move for workshops and events. “My mom and I painted that whole checkerboard wall ourselves,” Kaitlyn said. “We did it all together.”
It became a joyful expression of everything Raw Eddy’s stood for - an extension of the brand’s energy and values. “We always called them our happy snacks,” Kaitlyn said. “Now we had a happy space to match. I wanted people to feel happy the moment they walked in. The snacks support dopamine, and so should the space.”
The bites themselves are designed to nourish and uplift. Adaptogens, maca, makuna pruriens (a natural dopamine supporter), quality protein, and low-sugar ingredients are all part of the formula. They are vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and made for people with dietary restrictions, but just as enjoyable for anyone. “The idea is to feed your body and your brain. To create something indulgent that actually makes you feel good.”
Kaitlyn sells four core flavors (peanut butter chocolate, chocolate chip cookie, fudge brownie, and peppermint white chocolate) along with seasonal offerings. The cookies, originally suggested by fellow food entrepreneurs at Square Kitchen, have become a surprise hit. “So many people have told me, ‘This is the first cookie I can eat that doesn’t make me feel sick.’ That means everything.”
Raw Eddy’s can now be found in nearly two dozen retailers, and Kaitlyn has hosted pop-up markets, birthday events, and monthly wellness workshops in the shop. Sound baths, yoga, charm-making, and donation-based classes for the Huntsman Mental Health Foundation all reflect the brand’s deeper mission.
Throughout her journey - from Real Food Rising to Water Fusions, to culinary school, private chef work, and full-scale production - Kaitlyn has faced personal challenges with mental health, body image, and difficult relationships. “Running a business is lonely. There are high highs and really low lows. However, I want to be transparent. This is a business built around mental health. So, I have to speak openly about mine too.”
Even in her busiest moments, Kaitlyn returns to the simple belief that sparked Raw Eddy’s in the first place: that food can be a tool for connection. “When you share a snack with someone, you are breaking bread. You’re breaking a barrier. It is less intimidating than saying, ‘Let’s talk about our feelings.’ It opens the door.”
Kaitlyn has seen firsthand how a sample at the farmers market can turn into a meaningful conversation. How a cookie can build trust. “There’s something powerful about being cared for with food. I really believe this is one way we can help people who are struggling mentally.”
And even as she works toward national expansion, redesigns packaging, and dreams of scaling into grocery stores, Kaitlyn’s mission remains deeply personal. Every bite is a nod to the boys who never got to grow up. Every workshop, every sample, every conversation is a way to speak the words that were never said out loud in her family home. “We’re all just human, trying our best. If Raw Eddy’s can be one small way to make someone feel better, then it’s worth everything.”
