Adapt and Overcome: Allison Poe’s Recipe for Resilience and Growth

May 1, 2025 by Daniel Castaneda

By: Sunnie Dawn Baker

Allison Poe has always followed her feet. She waits for the signs to appear and, once she recognizes them, she travels that path, and has never been steered wrong. Whether it is a story in a newspaper, a flyer she spotted in a shake shop, or a surprising opportunity that arose during the pandemic, Poe goes with the flow, seizing opportunities as they arise. This journey led her to start her own business, Poe Prepping, and she continues to grow, expand, and adapt it as the world around her evolves.

When Poe was in high school she read an article in the newspaper that said that the world needed more nurses. She took this as a sign and that’s what she did. She didn’t know what type of nurse she wanted to be until her last semester of school. While delivering a baby at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center (CNMC), she was a part of the team that had to revive the newborn and save her life. In that moment, she chose to become a labor and delivery nurse. Her decision led her to take a night shift position at that same hospital.

While Poe was working at CNMC, she had decided that she wanted to lose weight and get healthier. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is especially difficult on night shifts, when most available food options are unhealthy. She began prepping her own meals at home and bringing them to work with her. As she lost weight, coworkers noticed and began asking her questions. Word of mouth spread, and soon she was preparing meals for most of the night shift team. She cooked once a week, preparing about 200 meals at a time. She realized people both wanted and needed her service—and that it was time to grow.

Her first thought was to get a brick-and-mortar location, but commercial kitchen space was prohibitively expensive. Just like her paths into nursing and meal prep, a food truck opportunity came her way. When a friend put a food truck up for sale, she and her husband sold their camper to buy it. So now they had a food truck, and they had tasty, healthy food, but they didn’t really have much of a plan beyond that. Fate struck again when Poe spotted a flyer for The Big Pitch in a local shake shop—the pitch competition hosted by Grow Ada, then known as Ada Jobs Foundation. The deadline to apply had been pushed back a week. She submitted her application at the last minute and, to her surprise, won the competition. The next day, she and her husband opened for business.

Although Poe used her first-place prize money to cover licenses and permits, she found her experience with The Big Pitch more valuable than the check itself. With only one week to build her PowerPoint pitch presentation, she had to think deeply about how her business would operate and succeed. To prepare, she spoke with local business owners who guided her through issues like waste management, staffing, and purchasing. Poe says, “I had no clue about any of that. I probably learned more in that week than I had in the many months leading up to it.”

Since her win in 2019, Poe’s business has continued to grow and transform. In 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit, she and her husband Mark adopted the motto “adapt and overcome.” Despite the uncertainty and shifting regulations, Poe Prepping thrived and became even more successful. While indoor dining shut down, people turned to food trucks instead. Also, Poe added a second “meals on wheels” style truck to their business so they could do statewide door drop deliveries She left her nursing career and started working the food truck six days a week instead of just one. However, after the pandemic, people did not want as much meal prep because they wanted to be out of the house and around other people. So, Poe pivoted again, shifting her focus to catering parties and bringing the food truck to events.

While she still does meal prep, the food truck, and catering she has also added charcuterie and custom events, like paint parties, woodburning parties, and Beyblade tournaments, to her list of services. The path to Poe Prepping’s growth and success took many turns, but Allison Poe trusted the timing and seized each opportunity. Now, she not only runs her own business but also shows people that healthy food can taste good too.

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