Rowena Scherer
Rowena Scherer is the Founder and CEO of eat2explore, an award-winning family cooking kit company that inspires cultural exploration through global cuisine. A chef, educator, and author, she created the kits to teach her children and families worldwide about world cultures and cooking skills.
Rowena Scherer's Bio
Rowena Scherer is the Founder and CEO of eat2explore, a New York-based subscription cooking kit company that turns mealtime into cultural exploration for families. With a culinary degree from The French Culinary Institute and an Executive MBA from NYU Stern, she built eat2explore to teach children about world cultures through food.
Before founding eat2explore, Rowena spent years as a financial executive on Wall Street. The spark came in spring 2016, during a cooking class in Koh Samui, Thailand, when her two children were nine and twelve. She realized the kids loved traveling and tasting new foods but could barely chop an onion. That gap became the mission.
Rowena launched eat2explore in January 2017 with a friends-and-family beta. The first six months were brutal — burned out, hauling ingredients through industrial kitchens. Summer 2017 brought a market shock: Blue Apron went public and fizzled; Amazon bought Whole Foods. Wall Street instincts told her to rethink the model. In late 2018, she relaunched as an experiential "explorer kit" focused on cultural discovery rather than just meal prep.
Today, eat2explore ships curated kits from a new country each month. In 2024, Rowena published "A Taste of the World: Celebrating Global Flavors (Cooking with Kids)," a cookbook that distills the eat2explore philosophy into a kitchen-friendly format.
Career Timeline
2010 — Earned culinary degree, The French Culinary Institute
Completed culinary training over weekends while building a finance career
2012 — Earned Executive MBA, NYU Stern at NYU Stern School of Business
Completed Executive MBA while working as a financial executive on Wall Street
2016 — Thailand cooking class sparks eat2explore idea
During a family trip to Koh Samui, realized her children loved traveling but could barely cook — the seed of eat2explore
2017 — Founded eat2explore
Launched with a friends-and-family beta in January; subscription cooking kit for families
2017 — Blue Apron IPO failure prompts business model rethink
Blue Apron's disappointing IPO and Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition forced a strategic pivot
2018 — Relaunched eat2explore as explorer kit
Rebuilt the business as an experiential cultural cooking kit focused on discovery rather than just meal prep
2019 — Featured in The Story Exchange
Profile highlighting eat2explore's mission to bring global cultures into family kitchens
2024 — Published 'A Taste of the World' cookbook
Released 'A Taste of the World: Celebrating Global Flavors (Cooking with Kids)' with Collective Book Studio
Episodes
Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon (December 2024)
Patreon co-founder Jack Conte joins Guy Raz on the Advice Line to help three founders navigate growth at inflection points. Zac Parsons wants to scale Honeymoon Coffee Company nationally without losing its local identity. Rowena Scherer needs to broaden Eat to Explore beyond kids without diluting the brand. Melissa Spitz looks to expand Adventures in Handwriting into schools with limited marketing resources. Jack's advice centers on speed of iteration, sub-branding for new audiences, and letting parent demand drive institutional adoption.
Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon
Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders about marketing and building community. First we meet Zac from Indiana, who’s looking to grow his coffee company with a subscription offering for newlyweds. Then Rowena from New York, who wants to expand her international cooking kits for kids to all ages. And Melissa from Florida, who’s hoping to break into schools with her handwriting program for preschoolers. Thank you to the founders of Honey Moon Coffee Co., Eat2Explore, and Adventures in Handwriting for being a part of our show. If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298. And be sure to listen to Patreon’s founding story as told by Jack and his co-founder Sam Yam on the show in 2021. Gilly Moon. You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
Related Companies
Eat to Explore
Eat2Explore creates family cooking kits that deliver cultural education through global cuisine. Each kit provides hard-to-find spices, sauces, and authentic recipes, turning mealtime into an educational adventure where families explore world cultures together from their kitchen.
1 episode
Eat2Explore
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1 episode