Valerie Zweig
Valerie Zweig is a chicken soup entrepreneur who co-founded Cookstix, Prescription Chicken, and Chix Soup Co. Based in Washington, DC, she turned a search for soup during illness into a thriving food business, creating instant chicken stock powders with bold flavors.
Valerie Zweig's Bio
Valerie Zweig is the co-founder and CEO of Cookstix, a Washington, DC-based food company that creates instant chicken stock powders in bold flavors like Chili-Cumin Lime. Cookstix emerged from Valerie's earlier venture, Prescription Chicken, which began when she couldn't find chicken soup delivery while sick with laryngitis and teamed up with her cousin Taryn Pellicone to launch a soup delivery service.
By training, Valerie is a physician assistant who practiced medicine for 15 years, including work in facial plastic reconstructive surgery. She also served as a professor in the Physician Assistant department at Utah Valley University, where she taught until January 2025, when she left academia to focus on food entrepreneurship full-time.
Together with Taryn, Valerie transformed a personal frustration, half-used cartons of soup languishing in the fridge, into a line of convenient, shelf-stable products. Cookstix, founded in 2025, represents their latest evolution: instant stock powders that bring restaurant-quality flavor to home cooks without the waste. The company has already expanded its distribution nationally, moving from local delivery to grocery stores and online channels.
Career Timeline
2010 — Began career as a Physician Assistant
Started practicing as a certified physician assistant, launching a 15-year medical career that included work in facial plastic reconstructive surgery.
2016 — Co-founded Prescription Chicken
Launched a chicken soup delivery service in Washington, DC with cousin Taryn Pellicone after Valerie's search for soup during illness; later expanded to national grocery stores.
2025 — Departed Utah Valley University faculty
Resigned from professor position in the Physician Assistant department to devote full attention to food entrepreneurship.
2025 — Launched Cookstix to market
Introduced instant chicken stock sticks as a sustainable alternative to boxed stock, debuting in mid-Atlantic Whole Foods and Amazon in June 2025.
