When Tim Boissy turned into a vegan as a teen, family meals at his carnivorous household proved challenging.

   "I would hang with my mom in the kitchen as a kid," Boissy said. "There weren't a whole lot of options so you're forced to eat steamed rice and veggies all the time. Or learn."

   So now he's giving people the opportunity to get the vegan cuisine - which is more extreme than vegetarianism because it allows no animal products - that he had trouble coming up with in his youth. He and his brother, Dan, own the delivery service Vegin' Out. The company is based in Los Angeles and has two full-time employees.

   Tim Boissy started the business 10 years ago when he moved here from Florida: Dan was already living here as an aspiring musician. They started small, cooking from their apartment stove and hanging flyers at Whole Foods and yoga studios advertising their delivery service.

   "It was 50-cent spaghetti and one-dollar jars of spaghetti sauce for a while." Tim Boissy said. "Back in those days, we had about 10 orders a week."

   Over time, they got more serious.

    "We moved out of the apartment kitchen into a professional kitchen and hired fulltime employees," Tim Boissy said. "Once we made online ordering available, it really made a huge difference."

   Freya Dinshah, vice president of the American Vegan Society, said Vegin' Out's success exemplifies the continuing boom in the health food industry.

    "Busy people can really make use of this service," she said. "There's a growing demand."

    Now with nearly 100 orders a week, Tim, 40, comes up with the recipes, while Dan, 30, handles marketing. But everyone on the four-person team must wear multiple hats, including hairnets.
  
    Over time they've expanded their repertoire, with exotic foods such as the protein-heavy South American grain Quinoa, and Tempe, a smoky fermented tofu. The team delivers in Los Angeles and ships across Southern California. Vegin' Out has also seen the clientele extend to pregnant and new moms, people with heart conditions, and fans of healthy food.
  
    "I’ve had customers who fry up some fish and use the Vegin’ Out dishes as their vegetables,” Tim Boissy said.
 
  One challenge has been catering to clients’ conflicting dietary needs, it was difficult to formulate a low-carb vegan menu. But he does cater to people’s emotional relationship with their food.
  
  “I believe food is a very personal thing for people,” Tim Boissy said. “My philosophy is that in this country people are used to comfort food. They love mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, butter. I try to keep that in mind and give things that kind of heartiness.”
  

Next on the menu, the Boissys plan to launch a vegan cookie line called Mary Sue’s Cookies, inspired by the treats his mom used to bake for holidays.