A cottage on Airport Boulevard near the Loop in Mobile has a new occupant after sitting empty since Little House Midtown closed earlier this year. The space now belongs to Balance, a made-to-order meal delivery business built around Paleo and vegetarian gourmet cooking.
Balance isn’t a restaurant, at least not yet. Instead, it operates as a meal planning and delivery service that has quietly been serving customers for roughly five months, starting out of a small kitchen on Government Street before settling into its new permanent home at the corner storefront.
The husband-and-wife team behind the business, Liz Garza and John Smith, had been searching for the right location for months, checking out spaces up and down Airport Boulevard without finding anything that fit their budget. When the Little House space came open and a for-rent sign appeared, they moved fast, touring the building with its owners and signing a lease the very next day.
Smith, who also runs a separate business operating assisted living facilities, and Garza split the workload of planning menus and managing orders, while two full-time chefs handle food preparation alongside a dedicated delivery driver. Customers can have meals brought straight to their homes or offices for an extra fee, or pick them up at no charge from several fitness studios and gyms scattered across Mobile and Baldwin counties, including locations in Daphne and Spanish Fort, in addition to the storefront itself.
The Paleo approach at the center of Balance’s menu emphasizes whole, minimally processed ingredients: locally sourced proteins, organic produce, and dishes free of gluten, grains, dairy and legumes. Garza has said the philosophy grew out of her own family’s history with obesity-related illness, and that she views real food as something closer to medicine than simply fuel.
Recent menu offerings have included dishes like herb-seasoned eggs with cauliflower grits for breakfast, a bacon-and-onion burger served on a pancake-style bun with roasted potatoes for lunch, and shrimp scampi paired with roasted spaghetti squash for dinner. Customers choose from several meal plans or order individual items a la carte, selecting breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, juices or smoothies for the days they want, with everything arriving in labeled, microwave-safe, recyclable packaging.
Garza said she’s aiming for a grand opening in mid-September, once renovations to the interior are complete. Plans call for a retail display area selling house-made condiments like mayonnaise and salad dressing, a lounge area with television and WiFi for customers, and a grab-and-go cooler section for quick pickups.
Garza believes the concept fills a gap in the local food scene, arguing that finding genuinely fresh, healthy options has historically been difficult around Mobile and Baldwin counties, and that the timing and location feel right for the business to grow.