Meet Raechel Van Buskik

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Raechel Van Buskik a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Raechel, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

I didn’t start out confident—I earned it one uncomfortable rep at a time. I said yes to tiny catering gigs in Omaha with one product: deviled eggs. During COVID I doubled down, got disciplined, and built real systems—par levels, grams, SOPs. Confidence came from keeping promises to myself: open the doors, serve the guests, fix what broke, and show up again tomorrow.

Beating breast cancer while scaling the business and moving to Texas in the middle of it truly reset my baseline. After that, hard things felt manageable. If I could sit through chemo and still write training docs or negotiate a lease, or head straight into the restaurant to work a shift – I could handle a late delivery, a broken generator, or a tough investor call.

Then came the public tests: opening new locations, launching nationwide shipping, getting grilled on Shark Tank, and now franchising. Each step took me from “can I?” to “I did,” and that’s where self-esteem builds. I stopped tying my worth to outcomes and started measuring it by courage, preparation, and how fast I recover.

What actually helped:

* Reps over hype: show up, learn, refine, repeat.
* Data and discipline: weight-based recipes, clean inventory, clear SOP’s , facts calm fear.
* Resilience: cancer, supply chain chaos, shipping misses—do the next right thing.
* Team: hire great people, let them run.
* Owning the room: tell the story, ask for the sale, be fine with “no.”

My confidence is earned. Brick by brick, real life included. I do hard things, and I keep going.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m the founder of The Deviled Egg Co. We focus on one thing and do it really well: deviled eggs. That’s grown into made-to-order eggs, Deviled Egg Salads, All Yolk NO Joke Bagels, crave-able toppings, and our Eggceptional Bowls —fast, protein-forward food that actually tastes great.

What makes us different is how we treat eggs like a canvas. You’ll see classics next to bolder flavors. like hot honey chicken, Sriracha-bacon, creamy Caesar—built with clean ingredients and dialed-in recipes so it’s consistent whether you visit a store, catch our truck, or order a nationwide shipping kit. We’re female-founded, Texas-built, and big on practical: quick service, real protein, and food that holds up at work, at home, or on the go.

What’s new/next:

* Growing in DFW and prepping a franchise model for the right markets
* Pushing into airports to give travelers a clean, quick protein option
* Expanding our Eggceptional Protein Bowls and limited seasonal flavors
* Re-entering wholesale with products built for consistency and scale
* Streamlined catering packages and corporate gifting via our shipping kits

If you’re new to us, start with a Try-Them-All deviled egg platter or an Eggceptional Bowl . Simple ingredients, big flavor, and enough protein to keep you moving.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Here’s a polished personal-style response from you, Raechel — warm, motivational, and full of your trademark enthusiasm and creativity:

—

**Raechel Van Buskirk – Response**

Looking back, the three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey are *positivity*, *creative problem-solving*, and *enthusiasm*.

Positivity has been my compass. Whether it was peeling thousands of eggs at 2 a.m., rebuilding after a setback, or fighting through breast cancer, I’ve learned that mindset is everything. You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you show up. I made a decision early on that no matter how hard things got, I’d face challenges with humor, faith, and a little sparkle of optimism. It’s what kept me moving forward when the odds felt impossible.

Creative problem-solving has also been a constant theme in my story. From turning a no-kitchen bar into a deviled-egg buffet to figuring out how to ship a perishable product nationwide, every “problem” became an invitation to innovate. I think that’s what entrepreneurship really is — falling in love with the process of figuring things out. When something doesn’t go as planned, I ask myself, *“Okay, how do we make this fun and work anyway?”* That mindset has led to some of our best breakthroughs.

And finally, enthusiasm — I believe passion is contagious. When you love what you do, it radiates out of you and attracts the right people, opportunities, and energy. My team jokes that I can find an egg pun or a silver lining in anything — but that’s truly been my secret sauce. It keeps our culture lighthearted, our creativity flowing, and our customers coming back.

My advice to anyone early in their journey:

1. Protect your mindset. Surround yourself with people and environments that lift you up.
2. Stay curious. Don’t fear failure — it’s the tuition you pay for innovation.
3. Lead with enthusiasm. Energy is everything. If you believe in what you’re doing, others will too.

No matter where you start, those three traits — positivity, creativity, and enthusiasm — will carry you further than any business plan ever could.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

A book that has played a huge role in my development is *Who Not How* by Dan Sullivan. It completely reframed how I think about growth — both personally and professionally. As a founder, especially in the early stages, I felt like I had to do *everything* myself. I wore every hat: cook, marketer, bookkeeper, dishwasher, problem-solver-in-chief. But this book helped me understand that the real key to scaling — and to staying sane — isn’t figuring out *how* to do it all, but *who* can help you do it better.

That mindset shift has been monumental for me. It taught me to build with people, not just processes — to trust my team, empower them, and create space for others’ genius to shine. I realized that every time I find a “who,” I multiply what’s possible.

For someone like me — naturally creative, full of ideas, and constantly innovating — Who Not How reminded me that collaboration doesn’t dilute your vision; it amplifies it. It’s how The Deviled Egg Co. grew from one small rented kitchen into a national brand. I stopped asking, “How do I do this?” and started asking, “Who can help me make this extraordinary?”

That simple change in perspective changed everything.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @deviledeggco
• Facebook: @deviledeggco
• Linkedin: Raechel Van Buskirk
• Youtube: Deviledeggco
• Other: Tiktok Deviledeggcompany