Messay Hall loves cooking. In fact, she is so passionate about the field that, despite some initial fear, she founded her own business—not just an ordinary one but based on an unexpected demand for the homemade egg rolls she brought into her workplace several years ago. “They sold out in 30 minutes,” she said in a recent interview. At the time, Messay had moved to Arizona from her hometowns of Windsor and Norwich to “try something new.” But six years later, finding new inspiration through her relationship with God, she returned to the Upper Valley with her two daughters and reunited her passion as a cook and an entrepreneur. She met her current husband, Marvin Mentor, and together they founded Munchie-Rollz.

Customers can choose from 10 different egg rolls in nontraditional flavors, all made from scratch with fresh ingredients. Most popular are the chicken and avocado and steak and cheese rolls. They also offer vegetarian options such as a veggie burger egg roll as well as an array of side dishes, including homemade mac and cheese. The couple works out of their Windsor home kitchen, where they methodically cut up vegetables, assemble the rolls by hand, and fry them eight at a time in two cast-iron pans of oil on their four-burner stove. The rolls are then delivered to such local stores as Dan & Whit’s, 12% Solution, Singleton’s General Store, the Woodstock Farmers’ Market, and the Ascutney Market. The couple plans to add at least four more stores, expanding their reach to Hartland, Springfield, and White River Junction. They also intend to bring their food to the frozen aisle and to move out of their home kitchen and into a larger space.

Munchie-Rollz offers curbside pickup and some delivery options. Menus can be viewed on their Facebook page, and orders can be placed by calling (802) 738-9022.

GreaterUpperValley.com: We understand you learned to cook in the Windsor Mansion Inn kitchen and attended college at Johnson & Wales University, where you studied hospitality management. How did this help you to establish your own cooking business?

Munchie-Rollz: What has helped me learn to cook is being a mother and, as such, cooking dinners and trying new recipes in addition to working at Let’s Do Lunch restaurant in Wilder, Vermont, before it shut down during COVID-19. They let me do my own way of cooking for customers, and seeing the love, that made me want to try more. Now I do it for my own business. My husband and I also cooked for a lot of restaurants in Boston, like Hibachi and Cheesecake Factory.

 

GreaterUpperValley.com: Starting and maintaining a new capital venture can be challenging. What is your formula for overcoming any obstacles in doing so?

Munchie-Rollz: What helps us move forward in this business is that my husband and I work together. He’s an excellent chef and great worker. And we want nothing else but to make people happy and to create new styles of food from around the world.

 

GreaterUpperValley.com: What is your fascination with egg rolls? Why do you think they are so popular?

Munchie-Rollz: I love egg rolls because you can put anything in them, and they’re fun to eat. I wanted to start new styles, not just like the Chinese variety that most people know. By staying away from that version, we were able to develop a new school or line of egg rolls. People can’t stop eating them. It’s amazing!

 

GreaterUpperValley.com: What’s your most popular egg roll?

Munchie-Rollz: I would say the most popular right now is our chicken avocado egg roll. Customers also love our steak and cheese and Ethiopian breakfast rolls. There are many others, of course, but I think these are the favorites. It just depends on the person.

 

GreaterUpperValley.com: To what do you attribute the success of your new business so far?

Munchie-Rollz: Our faith in God and hard work for sure, in addition to the love of this community.

 

GreaterUpperValley.com: How are orders handled? How do customers retrieve their orders? Do you deliver?

Munchie-Rollz: For now, customers can find us in markets in Lebanon, Woodstock, and Norwich. We also do wholesale with Jake’s Market and Deli in Enfield, New Hampshire, and Springfield, Vermont; Woodstock Farmers’ Market in Woodstock, Vermont; Dan & Whit’s in Norwich, Vermont; Singleton’s General Store in Proctorville, Vermont; and 12% Solution in Cornish, New Hampshire. We also cater. We hope maybe in the winter we’ll be able to deliver and offer curbside.

 

GreaterUpperValley.com: What days and hours are you open? Can customers contact you via email as well as phone?

Munchie-Rollz: We are not open for people to come to us, but if they want us to cater, we are open Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 7 pm. They can find us on Facebook at Munchie-Rollz, email [email protected], or call (802) 738-9022 to place an order.