Ojai is California's retreat capital. The food should match the intention. Chef Ryan McLaughlin creates nourishing, intentional meals for yoga retreats, wellness gatherings, and private group experiences in the Ojai Valley.
Ojai has been California's wellness and retreat destination for generations. The valley's quality of light, silence, and land draws yoga teachers, healers, and facilitators from across the world. Retreat centers like Ritual Wellness and Balanced Rock, private estate rentals, and off-grid properties host hundreds of gatherings a year.
What most retreats get wrong is the food. Heavy catering, generic menus, or worse — participants left to fend for themselves. The quality of the meals shapes the quality of the container. Food that nourishes without dragging, energizes without stimulating, and complements the work being done — that's what retreat catering should do.
Chef Ryan builds retreat menus around the specific energy of your gathering: the dietary needs of the group, the arc of the schedule, and what Ojai Valley farms are producing that week. Nothing generic. Nothing processed. Food that earns the setting.
"Ojai attracts people doing serious work on themselves. The food in the container should take that seriously too."— Chef Ryan McLaughlin, Private Chef · Ojai
Share your dates, location, group size, dietary needs, and the type of gathering. I'll respond within 24 hours with availability and an initial sense of what the menus could look like.