Owner - Chef to Go Catering
Fit Lifestyle Meals
After working in restaurants for 17 years in nearly every capacity in both front of the house and the kitchen, an injury and time off of work made me reevaluate what I wanted to do in the next phase of my life and I came across the Personal Chef industry with the USPCA. My passion was always in the entrepreneurial side of building a business and in 1997, I started one of the first Personal Chef businesses in the Seattle, WA area. In 1998, I helped to co-found the first chapter of the USPCA, the Puget Sound Chapter and the future chapters were based on our model with websites for local marketing. In 2000 our local chapter was awarded the Best Chapter award. In 2001 my husband converted part of our home into a commercial kitchen and we began meal delivery. In 2003, I joined Personal Chefs Network and continued to grow my business as a Meal Delivery service. In 2007, I was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year for that association. After 5 years, we expanded the commercial kitchen and I then had the room and refrigeration to begin offering catering which is the area that I really enjoy, especially working with brides and helping them create their most memorable day.
In 2009, Bill Furr asked me to help him start Personal Chefs Cooperative as it was clear that there was a group of chefs for whom the privately owned trade associations no longer met the needs for established Personal Chef businesses and other food based businesses that had evolved from that industry. All of the other professional culinary associations were non-profit and member run and somehow the Personal Chef industry skipped that model.
In 2011, I was awarded the Bride's Choice award by Wedding Wire which means that Chef to Go ranks in the top 5% of Caterers in the nation. This year has had a huge growth in my catering side of the business and its where I will continue to concentrate my efforts for Chef to Go with bringing on my son Adam as my business partner.
Currently the project I am working on is a new type of meal delivery service with another chef Karin Baron. Our backgrounds work well together in creating Fit Lifestyle Meals that will target people who are athletes or those trying to lose weight and get healthier. The meals are nutritionally analyzed and portion controlled and I have been eating this way and lost weight recently using this program, so I know that it will help lots of busy people out there. I look forward to the challenge of building this new business that will be launching this week! We plan to make eating healthy easier in the greater Seattle area!
I enjoy networking locally and nationally with other chefs. I've always had the spirit of sharing ideas and helping each other vs. being in competition with each other. I think that mentality is key in the level of satisfaction I get every day in my business and in my life and I look forward to the challenges that are ahead.
