Founder Spotlight: Riley Lelah of Riley’s
Meet Riley Lelah
Riley’s carries Riley Lelah’s name, and its flavor standard comes from her sister McKenna, a chef in Los Angeles whose salads always tasted like a restaurant order. Riley wanted those flavors at home without buying a long list of ingredients or throwing out half-used herbs a week later, and the company grew out of her struggle to find a dressing that was convenient and actually tasted good. Building it has turned a self-described huge introvert into a Mar Vista Farmers Market vendor offering samples to strangers, and friends who come to help have asked who this person is.
Company:
Riley’s Sauces, Marinades & Dressings
Riley’s is a line of chef-crafted sauces, marinades, and dressings made with simple ingredients and bold flavor. Each flavor is made to be versatile and used beyond salads as a marinade, dipping sauce, on sandwiches, with noodles, or however you like!
Location:
Los Angeles, CA
When did you launch the business?
May 2025
Startup Stage?
Bootstrapped
How did this business start?
Riley’s exists because it solves a problem I experienced myself. I struggled to find dressings that were both convenient and actually tasted really good without a long list of additives and ingredients I didn’t recognize. My sister McKenna is a chef in Los Angeles, and she always made salads and meals that tasted like something you’d order at a restaurant. The problem was that recreating those flavors at home meant buying a long list of ingredients, spending extra time making a sauce from scratch, and worst of all throwing away half-used bunches of herbs a week later that you promised yourself you wouldn’t waste.
What’s one thing you’re proudest of so far?
Probably being a vendor at the Mar Vista Farmers Market. We’re obviously so proud that we’ve grown Riley’s to 25 stores in just one year, but the farmers market is where we really get to connect with the people actually using our products.
Every time we’re there, we hear something that makes us feel like we’re doing exactly what we set out to do. Someone will tell us they’ve been waiting for us to come back, or a parent will tell us their kid loves the Thai Peanut so much they’ll just sit there dipping veggies into it. And then there are the people trying Riley’s for the first time who say, “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” Those moments mean so much to us.
They really keep us going and remind us why we started Riley’s in the first place. Seeing Riley’s make its way into people’s kitchens and become something they come back for is what makes me feel the proudest.
What’s been the most surprising or challenging part of building this business?
One of the most surprising and challenging parts of starting a company is how lonely it can feel at times. I think you have to be a little delusional to build something from scratch and have to believe in what you’re doing and keep putting yourself out there, even when you have doubts. At the same time, finding the startup community has been the best surprise. Everyone genuinely wants to see each other succeed and is so willing to share the hurdles they’ve faced and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
What do you bring to this community, and what are you hoping to find?
The dressing category has been dominated by legacy brands for a long time and has had next to no flavor innovation, and we’re excited to bring a fresh perspective to it. We’ve never really thought of Riley’s as just a dressing brand. From the beginning, we wanted to create really good, interesting flavors that people could use for more than just salads.
As founders, we also want to bring the same openness and support that we’ve been lucky enough to find in other people along the way. We’re still learning every day, but we’re always happy to share what’s worked for us, what hasn’t, and the lessons we’ve learned while building Riley’s from the ground up.
More than anything, we’re hoping to find people who believe there’s room for something new in this category and who value what we’re building. Whether that means other founders to learn from, retailers who understand the vision, or customers who have been looking for a product like Riley’s, we want to build relationships with people who are excited to grow alongside us.
What’s something people would be surprised to learn about you?
I’m actually a huge introvert and have always hated being in front of the camera or putting myself out there. When we started Riley’s, standing at a farmers market asking strangers if they wanted samples, doing trade shows, and pitching buyers was completely outside of my comfort zone. I’ve even had friends come help at the market and laugh asking, “Who is this person?” because they’ve never seen me so outgoing with people I don’t know.
Riley’s has pushed me so far outside of my comfort zone, and I’m really grateful for it. I’m no longer nearly as afraid of rejection or what someone might think or say, which is something I never expected to get out of starting this business.
Anything else you’d like to share?
One of our favorite things about Riley’s is hearing all the different ways people use it. Thai Peanut ends up on cold noodles, as a marinade for tofu or chicken, or a dipping sauce for spring rolls. Carrot Ginger is amazing as a salmon marinade, on poke bowls, or tossed into a Chinese chicken salad, and Green Goddess has made its way onto turkey sandwiches, into potato salad, and even as a chicken marinade. We love that people buy Riley’s thinking it’s a dressing and then realize how many different meals they can make with it. That versatility has always been such a big part of what we wanted Riley’s to be.
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