Our Founder

Our founder

Sunny Ilyas, Founder/CEO, Vale Healthy Kitchen

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Sunny on the mic: podcasts and interviews

Where to next?

A curious human who traveled the world searching for flavor

Sunny tasted his way across the globe, and the flavors he found became the Vale menu: a mix of Mediterranean, Asian, Latin American and American.

He was headed to medical school, but fell in love with preventive health and nutrition instead. In 2014, at 21, he started cooking for his fraternity brothers. Vale grew from 20 meal plan clients to 500. Today, it serves Florida from 10 restaurant locations, feeding thousands of guests every day.

Bio

Sunny Ilyas serving at a Vale Healthy Kitchen line

Sunny Ilyas is an entrepreneur dedicated to creating meaningful connections through food, wellness, and experience. Born in 1991 and based in Miami, he is the Founder and CEO of Vale Healthy Kitchen.

He started cooking for his fraternity friends in college, at 21. In 2014, Vale began as a meal plan company under the Vale brand.

“I worked in restaurants growing up, and I noticed that a lot of these restaurants were hurting people’s health by just catering to taste buds, adding excess sugar, salt, and butter to a lot of dishes. People had no clue. In college, I became passionate about preventative health. I noticed that if people ate food that was focused on natural, fresh ingredients, seasonings, and herbs, and minimally used salt and sugar, their health would be much better.”

Sunny’s philosophy is straightforward: people don’t just want to eat well, they want to understand and trust where their food comes from. Guided by this belief, Vale focuses on quality, transparency, and care at every step.

Thejourney

12:31 AM: doing the construction and painting for our first restaurant myself.

012014

Where it all started

In college, at 21, Sunny started cooking for his fraternity friends in Tallahassee. In 2014, that work became a meal plan company under the Vale brand. In the beginning he worked overnight, out of a subleased sports bar kitchen. He built out and painted the first restaurant himself, often working late into the night.

Opening day: our first restaurant, Tallahassee, April 2016

02April 2016

From one kitchen to a restaurant

In April 2016, Vale opened its first restaurant in Collegetown, Tallahassee. What had started as a meal plan company became a place guests could walk in and eat.

Our first restaurant: Collegetown, Tallahassee

Opening in Jacksonville, 2018

032018

Growing beyond Tallahassee

After the first restaurant in Tallahassee, Vale began opening in other Florida cities. In 2018, Vale opened in Jacksonville.

Sunny Ilyas cutting the ribbon at a Vale Healthy Kitchen opening

Ribbon cutting at a new Vale opening

042022–2023

Brickell, Miami & Boca Raton

We came out of COVID roaring back. As Sunny fine-tuned the business, sales climbed and Vale opened in Brickell, Miami, and Boca Raton.

Store No. 10: Delray Beach, 2024

052024

Growing across Florida

Vale grew into South Florida, including Miami, and marked a milestone in 2024 with its 10th opening, in Delray Beach. Vale has made 10 openings since 2016; today nine kitchens are open: Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Brickell, Wynwood, Pinecrest, Jacksonville, Gainesville and Tampa, with another Tampa location coming soon.

Along the way, Sunny was named the 2017 Florida Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the 2018 Tallahassee Small Business of the Year, one of QSR’s 2021 Young Restaurant Leaders to Watch, and a 2024 South Florida Business Journal Power Leader in Hospitality.

Tallahassee Small Business of the Year, 2018

Sunny today, Miami

06Today

Why he keeps building

Every Vale location cooks with 100% extra virgin olive oil.

Vale is looking to scale more locations across Florida, then go after major metro markets outside the state by 2030. The team is hyper-focused on building its infrastructure in Florida, and on further developing the best, nutritious, and delicious food for guests.

The greatest wealth is health.

The Vale motto