Redefine, a meal prep and delivery service, has opened a store on Route 58 in Riverhead.
Redefine, a Suffolk-based company, offers about 70 different meals, prepared and packaged in microwave and freezer-safe containers labeled with reheating instructions. Customers can shop for meals at Redefine stores or order meals for delivery four days a week through the company’s website.
The new Riverhead store is located at 1105-1111 Old Country Road (Route 58), in a recently renovated commercial building that for years housed the video rental chain Blockbuster.
Redefine was founded by childhood friends Matt Riss and Mark Ciaburri, who, while in college in 2016, had the idea “to start creating healthy, prepared meals for athletes,” Riss said in an interview. They partnered with Stony Brook University, where Riss was a student, to bring that concept to life.
In 2020, they opened their first Redefine store in Lake Grove — near their childhood homes in Holbrook — and have expanded across Nassau and Suffolk, with one location in Queens. The Riverhead store, which opened Sunday, is their 23rd.
What began as Riss and Ciaburri running the business out of Ciaburri’s parents’ home has grown into a company with 285 employees, Riss said. Redefine’s team now prepares roughly 10,000 meals per week in its Ronkonkoma kitchen for all of its stores, Riss said.
“The meals that Redefine designs are meals that you would recognize, but we do it in a healthier, prepared way,” Riss said. “For example, we only use avocado oil or olive oil for all of our options. We’re very conscious of what we’re putting into our meals — trying to avoid seeds oils at all costs.”
“The meals range from things like a buffalo chicken quesadilla to a chipotle steak bowl to a penne a la vodka with grilled chicken,” Riss added. “It’s all things that you’re used to eating, but just done in a healthier, more delicious way.”
Prepared meals are popular among people focused on physical fitness, largely because they make it easy to track nutrients and calories to meet specific diet goals.
However, Riss said Redefine also aims to appeal to people outside of the fitness community.
“We do it in a way where, yes, we can still appeal to the bodybuilder or the high-level athlete, but it also appeals to the family of four who’s just trying to eat something that’s more convenient, affordable and delicious,” he said.
Convenience is a major factor for many Redefine customers, Riss said. “I think when people look at it from an aspect of their whole week, it’s like, I can go to Redefine, buy 10 meals for around $100, or go to a grocery store, spend $120, and still have to prepare all my food,” he said.
“And when you combine the freshness of a product and the quality, I think that’s what people are starting to realize — and I think that’s why Redefine has been so successful,” he said.
Redefine plans to give back to Riverhead and will launch a community outreach campaign in the coming weeks to connect with local residents and businesses, Riss said.
“We always look to try to support the local community, the first responders and the local sports programs,” Riss said. “We kind of want Redefine to look to be a continuation of the community and help support it in any way we can.”
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