Bite Club SB was born from a shared desire to move food out of private kitchens and back into the heart of the community.
Founded by chefs Rachel Hunter and Isabella “Isa” Bourbon, the Santa Barbara-based meal delivery service blends thoughtful cooking, local sourcing, and a deeply held belief that food should feel nourishing in every sense of the word.
Before Bite Club, both women spent years working as private chefs, honing their skills behind closed doors.
For Bourbon, that chapter came with mixed emotions. She had built an impressive culinary repertoire cooking in ultra high net worth homes, but something was missing.
“I had acquired a serious arsenal of skills after years working in people’s homes,” Bourbon said. “However, I was lonely.
“The idea of feeding my community and working with other people sounded like a dream.”
After leaving her private chef role, Bourbon spent months reflecting on what she wanted next.
The answer appeared unexpectedly during a walk, when she ran into Hunter after years of knowing each other only peripherally.
Bourbon followed an instinct and asked if Hunter had ever thought about starting a meal delivery service.
“She said she had been thinking about it nonstop,” Bourbon recalled. “It felt like fate.
“Within three months we had built the bones of Bite Club. It’s been a dream worth building.”
Hunter remembers that meeting with the same sense of serendipity. The two had crossed paths professionally before, when Bourbon was running her bone broth business Wishbone and Hunter was managing a health shop chain that carried her product.
Chefs Rachel Hunter, left, and Isabella “Isa” Bourbon, founders of Bite Club SB, emphasize variety and satisfaction. “A meal is only healthy if it leaves you feeling cared for and emotionally grounded,” Hunter says. Credit: Bite Club SB photo 
From hearty lasagna to vibrant vegan soups, Bite Club SB’s rotating menu is designed to nourish area families with fresh, locally inspired flavors. Credit: Bite Club SB photo 
Each week’s Bite Club SB menu is shaped by conversations with local farmers, ensuring meals reflect what’s freshest — and thriving — in the fields right now. Credit: Bite Club SB photo 
For their delivery service, Bite Club SB founders Rachel Hunter and Isabella “Isa” Bourbon prepare seasonal meals using ingredients sourced from local farmers markets and Central Coast growers. Credit: Bite Club SB photo
They had never truly connected until that moment on the trail.
“Almost immediately, we realized we were both carrying the same idea,” Hunter said.
“We were thinking about food, community, and how to build something that felt intentional, local and nourishing.”
That shared vision became Bite Club SB, a meal delivery service rooted in Santa Barbara’s agricultural abundance and guided by care rather than convenience alone.
For Bourbon, sourcing ingredients begins at the farmers market, a place she treats with near reverence.
“Going to the farmers market is akin to church for me,” she said. “Watching the seasons change through the bounty available is glorious.”
As a Santa Barbara native, Bourbon has longstanding relationships with many local farmers, including Milliken Family Farms and Tutti Frutti Farms in Lompoc, Earthrine Farm in Ojai and John Givens Farm in Santa Barbara.
These relationships shape Bite Club’s menus week to week, informed not just by what looks good, but by conversations about weather, crop cycles, and what is thriving or struggling in the fields.
“These people have their hands in the earth,” Bourbon said. “They know so much. All of this informs the menu. Locally and seasonally is how we are meant to eat.”
Sustainability is another non-negotiable pillar of Bite Club. Beyond sourcing locally, Hunter and Bourbon have committed to running a service that is free of single-use plastics, opting instead for reusable and compostable packaging.
“Rachel and I both don’t want to leave a legacy of waste,” Bourbon explained. “It is an extra step and a higher cost we see as worth it.”
“I want Bite Club to be a bridge for connection, to ease people’s lives, to support community, and to nourish people’s bodies.”
Bite Club SB Co-founder and chef Isabella “Isa” Bourbon
The approach has come with challenges, from finding the right containers to managing the logistics of collecting reusables, but Bourbon sees it as a foundational ethic rather than a trend.
“It is part of the code of ethics Bite Club is built on,” she said. “We simply wouldn’t do it any other way.”
In the kitchen, Hunter leads with a nutrition philosophy shaped by her own lived experience.
After navigating years of disordered eating, she is intentional about rejecting restrictive diet culture while still offering meals that feel balanced and inclusive.
“At Bite Club, we reject the idea of good versus bad,” Hunter said. “Shame has no place at the dinner table.”
Rather than subscribing to trends, Bite Club menus emphasize variety and satisfaction. One night might feature a hearty local meat lasagna with a farmers market salad, while another offers a vegan Tom Kha soup with rice noodles and chili crisp oil.
The menu is largely gluten-free friendly, reflecting how both founders manage their own health without imposing rigid rules on others.
“A meal is only healthy if it leaves you feeling cared for and emotionally grounded,” Hunter said.
As someone who was able to try the food myself, the care and intention behind Bite Club is immediately apparent.
The ingredients are unmistakably fresh, the flavors are layered and thoughtful, and each dish feels both comforting and well considered.
The eco friendly packaging stood out as well, reinforcing the idea that sustainability is not an afterthought but an integral part of the experience.
That sense of care extends beyond the plate and into the customer experience. Bite Club offers options for individuals, couples and families, each designed to support a healthier relationship with mealtime.
For solo diners, the goal is to transform rushed dinners into moments of self care. For families, Bite Club aims to remove the tension between convenience and values, allowing parents to model a balanced, non-restrictive approach to food while still prioritizing quality and sustainability.
Community care also shows up through Bite Club’s ongoing commitment to addressing food insecurity. The company raises and donates monthly funds to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and 805 UndocuFund, ensuring their impact reaches beyond paying members.
“We can’t talk about feeding the community without acknowledging the entire community,” Hunter said.
Looking ahead, Bourbon is focused on quality over quantity. She describes a recent dinner at home, eating a Bite Club meal and imagining others across Santa Barbara doing the same.
“It felt as if we were all sitting down together,” she said. “I want Bite Club to be a bridge for connection, to ease people’s lives, to support community, and to nourish people’s bodies.”
Future ideas include breakfasts, pantry items, corporate lunches and member events, but the founders remain grounded in their original vision.
“What will not change is the quality of the experience,” Bourbon said. “We love what we do and we want Bite Club to be a reflection of that.”
