Rachel and Barni Alejandro whip up sexy and healthy dishes
Sisters and founders of the Sexy Chef, rachel Alejandro and Barni Rennebeck, find the perfect recipe for fitness and success
T he Alejandro sisters seem like complete opposites of each other: with Barni being a low-key preschool teacher and Rachel being a well-known singer and TV personality. But put them together, and one person's businesss-avviness and the other's talent in cooking were all it took to create the widely successful Sexy Chef, a food venture that provides healthy eating programs and delivers customized food straight to the home.
SMALL STEP
Rachel was always traveling to the U.S. back in 2004 and knowing that her sister is fond of cooking, she would send her healthy cookbooks. Barni would then cook for her, making low-fat pastas and burritos. Rachel loved her creations and encouraged her to enroll in a culinary school. "At that point, I asked her what is something that she loves to do so much that she wouldn't [mind not getting] paid for it. She told me she loves to cook, and so I said, 'Do it!'" At that time, the South Beach Diet, an eating program that follows a low-fat, low-carb diet, was getting popular in the Philippines. Some of the ingredients needed for the diet, however, were not available locally. This was how Rachel got the idea of starting a company that provides food using a local menu while still adhering to the guidelines and principles of the South Beach diet. She says, "From that idea, I thought, let's improve on it. Gawin natin
talagang masarap ‘yung food. So we had to come up with our own line of desserts — you have to keep it balanced; you have to keep it interesting. From that time, from the limited menu, now we have a full month's worth of South Beach Diet meals, for one entire month. And it really varies: Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Greek, name the cuisine, we have it."
Starting a healthy food business meant more for Barni as it signaled a new direction in her career and a change in her lifestyle. She used to be a sickly person who was not conscious about the kind of food that she ate. "I was also 20 pounds overweight at that time," Barni recalls. "I lost the 20 pounds in eight months, just eating fresh food. I wasn't even counting
I live in Eastwood. That's why we don't have to leave because the mall is just 10 steps away. Everything is there like the movie theater, the shops that I like. And the place is dog-friendly. I love where I live, it's very convenient!
- Barni
calories or really cutting down or anything like that. I just really changed my eating habits and I lost all the weight. That's when I started dressing up super sexy! That's why it became the Sexy Chef!"
HEALTH CRAZE
Pretty soon the business grew because of word-ofmouth, and gained a huge celebrity clientelé. A few years later, they became the food partner of Gold's Gym for three years, where they opened kiosks or "health bars." Rachel says, "The healthy meal delivery has really taken off, we have a lot of clients in homes and offices around Metro Manila. So that has really increased the market from just the people dieting, to people who just want to have, you know, healthy meals." Barni adds, "We didn't over-expand or anything like that. We just started from my lola's kitchen… and next thing you know, the clientele got bigger and bigger. It really helped that Rachel is a celebrity, so we got featured in newspapers and magazines. It was different when you just cook for family and friends and when you'd cook for a business. But Rachel really believed in me and she said, you know let's add! Let's add more equipment! So everything grew from there."
The unstoppable duo also work with power food coach Nadine Tengco, a nutritionist of Sexy Solutions and the TV show “Biggest Loser Philippines.” From what they started in their grandmother's kitchen, the two didn't expect that they'd still be doing the same thing, only this time it's much bigger and much more rewarding. Rachel shares, "The most nakakakilig part is maybe the fact that so many of our celebrities practically rely on us. And of course it's so nice when people come up to you and say: 'I used to be this big.' We have clients like that. We feel like we were a part of that." Barni proudly says, "I love being able to help people lose weight because I knew how my life changed when I lost the 20 pounds. And it's not just the weight, but being healthy again, like not being sick. We helped Regine Velasquez lose so much weight after having been overweight for quite some time, she's so sexy now! Now she's able to wear all these gorgeous clothes for her concerts. That's really rewarding."
SUPER SIBLINGS
As for their upcoming projects, Rachel is still doing her first love, which is singing, and is set to have an exciting concert with Geneva Cruz and Cris Villonco. She is also traveling and performing all around the country. Barni, on the other hand, being a wife and mom herself, is trying to create healthy recipes and meals for kids. And when these two put their minds into what they love doing, there's no telling what they'll be able to come up with next!