About Us
Food With a Conscience
Compassionate Kitchen began when Jessica was pregnant with our daughter. We were thinking about the kind of world she would inherit and what responsibility we had in shaping it. Food felt like the most immediate place to begin.
With Jessica’s background in environmental science, law, and food policy - and years spent organizing communities around healthier, more just food systems - we knew we couldn’t cut corners. We committed to using certified organic ingredients and to holding ourselves to clear, transparent standards. We’ve pursued vegan certification and invested in environmentally responsible packaging, even when it significantly increases our costs, because those choices reflect who we are, not just what we sell. Because this isn’t just a product line. It’s a reflection of how we live and what we believe.
We’re a family-run company. In the beginning, we thought big - broad distribution, wide reach - but when we found our community in Asheville, we brought it closer to home. We focus on sourcing and producing as locally as possible, building relationships face to face, and growing in a way that strengthens the place we live.
We believe strong companies are built on conscience.
Food with a conscience.
Care over convenience.
Integrity baked in.
We’re building the kind of company we hope our daughter grows up seeing as the norm- one where responsibility isn’t optional, community matters, and doing the right thing isn’t negotiable.
Meet Jon & Jessica
Hi, we’re Jessica and Jon Crane - the husband-and-wife team behind Compassionate Kitchen. We’re both deeply rooted in the Southeast. Jessica was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, and Jon spent most of his childhood there before life carried us in a few different directions. After years of living and working in various parts of the country, we found ourselves drawn back to the mountains of Western North Carolina - the place that has always felt a bit like home.
Our journey began with a simple but powerful belief: food should be kind - kind to animals, kind to the planet, and kind to the people gathered around the table. Over the years, as we cooked, baked, and through learning and education, we began to see how deeply food connects to everything - our health, our communities, and the world our children will inherit. We kept coming back to one question: why should anyone feel like they’re “missing out” just because they choose plant-based?
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Comfort food is emotional. It holds memory and craving and tradition. And we believe no one should have to harm an animal to experience that warmth. There are so many good, healthy, truly scrumptious alternatives - flaky biscuits, tender cakes, warm pancakes - made entirely from plants. So, our mission became beautifully simple: recreate the foods we grew up loving, just a little healthier, a little kinder, and always rooted in compassion.