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Driven by the desire to sell fresh, healthy meals, Jamie shares that "no one had ever done what I was doing, so I didn't have anyone to look at or copy" as he worked out his business model. In a time when healthy meal delivery services like Nutrisystem required lengthy subscription packages, Jamie was seeking to create fresh and easy meal packs that could be purchased individually. "I brought a healthy prepared meal without a contract, without a subscription…that feature wasn't available at that time. Eat Clean Bro was like try this, if you like it, good, if you don't like it, then here's your money back," Jamie states matter-of-factly. It turns out that many people did like it, as evidenced by Jamie's skyrocketing sales. Working out of area restaurant Nonna's Cucina, Jamie says that in the beginning, "everything was a challenge. I was doing every single job that needed to be done. I was cooking, delivering, taking orders, doing all of that for years." Having to do everything himself is something Jamie now looks back on as "a gi and a curse"; while doing everything himself was difficult, the gi was it allowed him "to learn every aspect of the business." As Eat Clean Bro's popularity skyrocketed—bolstered by the backing of the Jersey Shore cast–Jamie moved his kitchen from Nonna's to South Gate Manor and finally, to his own headquarters in Eatontown in the summer of 2022. "It's so unbelievable because there is not a single person on the planet who thought I would do all of the business I ended up doing," he says. And for a while, things kept looking up for Jamie. Counting his "really happy marriage" as what he is most proud of, Jamie married his wife Kayla in 2015 and the future looked bright. "e company's great, I was doing great, until I got destroyed by COVID," he recounts. Citing factors outside of his control and governmental stipulations around food preparation during that time, Jamie shares that "I went from being a liquid multimillionaire to not being able to buy groceries." Suddenly finding himself in a place of real hardship, Jamie went into construction to keep his family housed and fed. "e construction during COVID was just brutal," shares Jamie, "but look, I didn't want to learn everything I learned, but I learned[...]everything I've been through happened for a reason and now, I'm picking up the pieces." While the setback took a toll on Jamie, he kept his indomitable spirit–one that he developed through years of wrestling VUENJ.COM 75

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