The Founder Series is a column by and about Utah founders and how they got to where they are today. Click here to read past articles in the series.

At the age of 17, I moved to St. George, Utah with my oldest child, Mariah—who was three weeks old—to get away from a bad situation with her father. I am one of 12 kids. Growing up, we moved around the country from coast to coast a lot. I call St. George home, and this is the longest I’ve lived in one place.

By age 16, I moved out on my own. When I got pregnant, I was on a dark path. I dropped out of high school at the beginning of tenth grade and was suicidal at times. The youngest six kids in my family, including me, basically raised themselves. You don’t have a lot of direction when you’re raising yourself. I’d say my poor choices started at age 12 or 13. 

Getting pregnant with Mariah was a blessing in disguise. She was the direction I needed because I had none. I had no purpose, and having this beautiful baby girl was a wake-up call. I had never felt that kind of love before, so it was a truly life-changing gift. 

I had Mariah, then moved to St. George three weeks later to get away from her dad. We moved into my sister’s basement. I got a serving job at Ruby Tuesday until I met some girls who suggested I work with them at Bear Paw Café on Main Street. I started working at Bear Paw, and that’s where I met my husband at age 19. He was my prince charming. He told me, “Quit your job, and I’ll take care of you.” 

As a single mom, I had already lived this crazy life. I finally met this amazing older man, but little did I know, the relationship would become very toxic. I quit my job so he could take care of Mariah and me, then I got pregnant with my son at age 19. We got married when I was three or four months pregnant. Months later, I discovered my husband’s addiction to Oxycontin.

He was a drug addict, and I had no clue because he hid it so well. You know what comes with drugs—the lies, manipulation, gaslighting, and thinking you’re crazy. I stayed in that relationship for 11 years and we had three kids together. I thought to myself, “How is this my life?” I had four little kids, no job, and no education. I felt stuck like most women do in that situation. 

I left him 11, 12, or 13 times. He would manipulate me to come back every single time. Finally, it was the last straw. I called my mom and said, “ I’ve got to get out. It’s gotten so bad.” I realized that if I didn’t leave right then, my boys would turn into this man and I was going to regret it for the rest of my life. I had to go for my kids.

The unknown is so scary because you don’t know how you’re going to make it, especially when you don’t have an education. I made sure I got a serving job at a local restaurant, then I called my mom, who was working at Costco at the time. She was poor; therefore, asking her to leave her little apartment so she could split a house with my kids and me was a big deal. 

Luckily, we found a house, and it was the first one we looked at. We moved in together, and she’d watch my four little kids as I waited tables six nights a week. I was going through my divorce, living with my mom and kids—then my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. It was crazy because she was so healthy. She gave me my passion for health and fitness.

My mom raised all 12 of us kids really healthy, even though we were so poor. We didn’t have the best of everything, and it was hard to feed us a lot of times, but she always taught us about health. We never had sugar, white bread, or pop in the house—none of that. We always had cracked wheat, honey, and homemade wheat bread. 

She truly impacted us with her focus on natural remedies. If we had a sore throat, my mom would give us cayenne and honey and lemon, or she’d give us apple cider vinegar. It was cool to be raised like that because most people aren’t raised with the knowledge of health and natural remedies, so I love how my mother taught us kids so much. 

My mother’s cancer progressed quickly, so she moved into my sister’s home so she could care for her as I took care of my four kids. I never received child support from my ex, so it was super scary to get my own townhome, but it was brand new and really nice. It was $1,150 a month, and I had only been paying $775 with my mom. The new place was a $400 jump, which was nerve-wracking. When you’re serving tables, you’re not getting a lot of income. I was on welfare just to get food stamps for my kids. It was scary, but I did it.

My first fitness show

Around the time I moved out on my own, I was also preparing for my first fitness show, which I was so terrified of. I had major stage fright, but I wanted to do it for myself and face the fear. I’ve noticed along this journey of Fed Up that I’m constantly facing my fears. There’s something amazing about getting through that fear because if I had never chosen to face my fear and step on that stage, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

Me doing that first fitness show is how Fed Up started. That’s when I learned about macronutrients (macros)—proteins, carbs, and fats. Once I dialed in my macros, I got shredded. People started to see the change in my body. That’s when I was approached by a friend who said, “Hey, Linzie, can you feed me whatever you’re doing?” and I said, “Sure.” 

It was 2014, and I was serving tables six nights a week. On the side, I was feeding these two guys who wanted healthy food. It was so basic back then: hard-boiled eggs in a baggie and tuna fish, rice, shrimp, chicken, and veggies—none of the fun foods and treats I do now because I’ve had eight years to evolve. The guys got amazing results. 

I remember delivering meals to one of the guys, and his wife said to me, “I can never do this because I love my soda pop and sugar cookies.” Well, she saw his results and said, “I want to do this.” I started prepping for her, and she had wonderful results. She lived in Little Valley, a lovely community where everyone was close. Suddenly, I started getting all these calls, and it grew organically by word of mouth because so many people were getting incredible results. Within six months, I quit my serving job because my meal-prepping was taking over.  

I loved waking up every morning, creating new dishes, and helping people. I’d get texts like, “Linzie, I’m down 10 pounds,” “I have more self-confidence,” and, “I can finally fit in my jeans again.” I thought, “Whoa, this is wild, I can’t believe this is happening, and it’s so exciting,” but I was scared to death. I am a high school dropout—imagine all the mind games that came from not having much self-confidence and from being in a toxic marriage. 

I thought, “Who do I think I am to be able to do this?” but actually, I did know what I was doing, and people needed it. A lot of people are brought up eating unhealthy food. They aren’t raised with that knowledge, but it came very naturally to me.

Preparing healthy meals was a lot of fun for me, and people really needed it. Even though it was very difficult with all the mental obstacles to go through—the fear of the unknown and the fear of failing—I just kept going and meeting the right people along the way.

On meeting Dave

I met Dave Allred, who was one of my clients in the very beginning. He realized, “This girl knows nothing about business, and she needs some help.” Dave helped me set up an S corporation. He helped me learn profit margins, which I knew nothing about. He asked me what my overhead was like, and I knew none of those business terms. 

I just knew I loved it, and he’d send me motivational quotes in the morning, such as, “Face your fear and do it anyway.” At the time, I didn’t have anybody on my team to say, “You got this.” Dave was that guy until I met my Aaron Jeffery a few months later. Aaron has been my #1 supporter ever since.

Aaron has been the one to push me out of my comfort zone. He’s always encouraged me and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. It is very important to have somebody like that in your life. He’s the most soft-spoken, gentle human being, and bringing that into my home and having my kids see that has been a blessing. 

I was so fortunate to meet Aaron because it was such a switch for my kids—coming from yelling and angry chaos to this calm, stable human being who brought that calmness into our home and supported me. My kids watch how he treats me daily, so meeting Aaron was a big part of my success at Fed Up. Dave helped with the business side of things in the beginning, and we’re still best friends. His wife just opened up a Fed Up franchise in Daybreak. It all came full circle.

Preparing food in my small townhome

When I started preparing meals for my first two customers, I prepared food in my small townhome. I did this for a year and a half before I opened up my first location in 2015 on Bluff Street in St. George. Before opening my store, I had amassed six refrigerators in my townhouse (one in my laundry room, a commercial one in my garage, and one out back). Crockpots were everywhere, and I only had one oven. 

I was working seven days a week, and on Wednesday, I would go shopping at Costco. Finally, Aaron said, “Linzie, you have to get a store, or we can’t grow. We’re maxed out.” It was time to get a business name and a business license.

Finding a store was frightening because I was going to be in the public eye. I prefer being in the background, but when you open a store, that’s a big deal, and it costs money. The great thing is that I saved so much money. I’ve never gotten a business loan for any of my stores. 

I opened the location in St. George, then Draper in 2018, all with my own money. I opened Las Vegas in December 2021, and my daughter, Mariah, who has cooked with me in the kitchen since she was 14, runs that one. She ran Draper at 17 years old before moving to Vegas to run that location.

I worked in my kitchen for a total of three and a half years until I decided I couldn’t work like that and grow my business. Ken Porter, a customer of mine in 2016, gave me the book, “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber. I’m not a big reader, but I wanted to read it because it was all about entrepreneurship and how this pie lady ended up hating her job and her life because she never trusted anyone else to run the business. The book helped me understand the importance of trusting others to work in the business so I could focus on growing it. 

Fed Up’s business model is a macro base for men and women. We weigh all of our food because portion control is where we get results. We also have variety packs that are for individuals who want to select 8-12 meals and pick them all up at once, or people who want to get results and stay consistent can do a 4, 8, or 12-week program.

I never did family packs (we now call them variety packs) before Covid, but when the economy shifted, we shifted. Aaron and I came up with family packs, and now we had all these new customers we had never had before. We didn’t know how long we were going to do it, but we never stopped because people needed it. Covid was awesome for us because it created a new business within the business model we had, so family “variety” packs have been awesome.

Fed Up becomes a franchise

I own all of the Fed Ups that I opened, but I partnered with Ryan Laws, former CEO of Pro Image Sports, who is amazing. He specializes in the franchise space—he ran about 110 of them for 30 years. When Ryan heard my story, he had already been trying my food for a while, which I didn’t know because he lives in Salt Lake City. 

I remember Ryan sitting on my back porch, wanting to hear my story and what I do. He said one of the reasons a lot of franchises fail is because they don’t have a good story. He said, “Your story is inspiring, and so is your product.” He quit Pro Image Sports to help me franchise Fed Up.

What led to my decision to franchise? I realized there are so many other people that we could help. I couldn’t do any more on my own. I was maxed out with these stores. I realized, “Why not let other women open their own businesses?” It’s such a beautiful business, being able to give back to people who need help changing their habits, who want to feel better and want the convenience of having healthy food made for them.  

I didn’t do it just for women to create their own businesses and make a living for themselves and their families. Our goal is wide, so we’re helping more people get healthy and more women own businesses. We sell franchises to men too, of course, but we definitely want to empower women. Our main focus is to empower other women to open their own businesses and let them know that they are capable. If Linzie Clawson—who is a high school dropout with no education and came from a crazy life—can run a very successful business, you can, too. 

As my business grows, Linzie grows. It’s amazing to look back and see the example I’ve set for my children. Hearing from my children that I’m their hero and that I inspire them, knowing that I have changed their entire life with what I’ve created with Fed Up, has been the most rewarding thing for me. My kids watched their mom come from nothing and create this incredible business that is all about serving other people.

Even if you come from nothing, your circumstances do not define you. It’s what you do about it. Don’t play the victim. Make all those crazy hard times become your strengths—they’re preparing you for something in life. 

When you have an easy life, you don’t learn a lot. When life is super hard and discouraging, you can let it turn you into a badass if you want it to. If your mission is about serving others and doing more for people than you could ever do for yourself, you’re going to be successful. Don’t worry about the how. Just say, “I’m going to do it,” and it magically unfolds.

About Linzie Clawson

Linzie Clawson’s mother always stressed the importance of health to all of her 12 children. Now, as the founder of Fed Up Kitchen, Linzie understands why. Today, she gets to share her love and passion for healthy eating with so many others who want to be invested in their health and make a positive lifestyle change. When Linzie started Fed Up Kitchen, she didn’t know where it would go or how it would grow. Her first two customers were friends who wanted Linzie to make them some healthy meals. They both loved the program and saw amazing results. Friends and friends of friends began trying Linzie’s program, and she’s now opening the eighth location of Fed Up Kitchen.