What began as a professional athlete’s desire to eat healthful and a do-it-yourself attitude has combined with a family interest in the restaurant business to offer locals a convenient meal-to-go option.
It was a twisting, turning road that brought Talon Fincher and his mother, Shawna Fincher, to open Meal Team Six at the intersection of First Street and Blanco Boulevard in Bloomfield. A prime location for passing oil field workers and high school students, Meal Team Six hopes to cater to those markets as well as to professional athletes who are counting macro-nutrients.
“We specialize in meal prep. We do premade meals, mainly healthy, and people can come in, dine in or take it to go. We are trying to make something convenient,” Fincher said. In addition to meals such as Philly cheesesteak (sourced from a New York provider), Cajun sausage bowls, fish bowls of tilapia, salmon or shrimp, he sometimes prepares different chicken dishes. “I’m trying to bring in a few different meals every week or so, but we do have our base options. Our bestseller is the Philly cheesesteak.”
Each meal notes the macro-nutrients.
This convenient spot also offers a coffee bar, bakery items, burritos, wraps and salads. Also making a debut on the menu is a $5 lunch meal special for the local hungry Bobcats.
Fincher’s interest in food began when as a motorcycle racer, he worked with trainers and several nutritionists. When he himself became a personal trainer in Tucson, he started coming up with his own recipes, calculating macros for the meals (calories, protein, carbohydrates, sugar). Around this time he and his brother, bought and operated a Chicago-style restaurant.
“We have that background; we are very strict on how we eat,” Fincher said. Their personal training clients began wanting to eat healthy but didn’t want to keep track of macros themselves, and they asked Fincher if they could put meals together since they owned a restaurant.
“So we would put together simple healthy meals-to-go for our clients, then our regular restaurant customers caught on to it and asked if they could buy them.” Soon this meal-to-go option became so popular they couldn’t keep the fridge stocked, and Meal Team Six was born in Tucson.
And then COVID-19 hit.
“We kind of had to shut the door on everything, and I didn’t want to live in Tucson. I didn’t know how bad COVID was, so I packed up and came home.” Later in 2020, he and his mother began talking and said, “Hey, let’s open Meal Team Six here and see what happens,” he said.
They cooked meals-to go-out of a food trailer for about two years, supplying meals to athletes Fincher met through working as a personal trainer. As it became more popular, they started looking for a retail location, and their site in Bloomfield became available.
“This originated as just a healthy option for athletes, but now it’s for just anybody that loves food,” Talon said. Not to mention those that enjoy the convenience of grabbing a meal-to-go for lunch or dinner. Fincher also has clients that will order a week or month of meals at a time and freeze them.
Meal Team Six is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, find Meal Team Six on Facebook.
