Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ellen Doerr, Founder of Chef Ellen, located in Sioux Falls, SD, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

My business is Chef Ellen, which started as an in-home Personal Chef service tailored towards specialty diet and allergy accommodations and blossomed into a storefront offering prepared meals for take and bake convenience, cooking class, meal planning, and more. Our customers are busy families and individuals from all walks of life. Some are brought through our doors because they received a diagnosis that requires them to change their eating habits, and others just don't have the time, energy, or desire to spend their free time in the kitchen. We tend to serve many who cannot easily find options in traditional restaurants, and we help out-of-town family members send meals to loved ones in times of need. It is the most rewarding job I have ever found in the restaurant industry.

Tell us about yourself

I am the 4th generation to be in the restaurant industry, though I was determined never to own a business myself (a declaration I made while in culinary school). My family runs steak houses, with a burger joint or two peppered in the family history. They believe in serving one thing and serving it well. Food has always been intertwined in the fabric of our family events and everyday lives. When I left culinary school, I had intended to work my way up the kitchen ranks but realized as life unfolded that having a marriage and kids was not easy to juggle with restaurant hours and demands. After trying (and failing) as a stay-at-home mom, I was at a loss. I loved the culinary world but did not see where my place could be. It was then my culinary school reached out, offering some additional culinary business courses for free for past graduates as long as we maintained a decent GPA. During those courses, I discovered the Personal Chef career and decided to explore it further. After months of research, it seemed like all signs were pointing me towards going into business for myself, and in January 2018, I took the leap. I started cooking in my clients' homes, meal prepping for several weeks, cooking for dinner parties, or teaching cooking lessons. From there, I found a caterer who let me rent his kitchen during his off-hours, and it was in November of 2019 that I started to find a place of my own for my budding business. January 2020, I signed a lease with high hopes and big dreams, only to have opening delays and COVID uncertainty. When the doors finally opened, it was a dream come true in one of the worst times to be opening a business, but for Chef Ellen, it worked. We added culinary classes to our prepared meals in 2021. We are still going strong and working every day on how we can better serve our community.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Opening a business during the peak of the COVID shutdowns and making it through to see the other side.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The evolving role I hold in my own business. There was a time when I was the sole Chef, now I have to focus more on working ON my business than IN my business, and there is definitely some mourning and adjustment that takes place.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Know what you do, and do it well. I am not a caterer or a restaurant, and I don't aspire to be those things. There are ways to have a diverse business without selling out the core of what your business does.
  2. Jump in. There will never be a point where you cross all the t's and dot all the i's. You just have to jump in and get the ball rolling at some point, and the rest will come together.
  3. Enjoy what you do. Not every day will be the best day, but when a customer sheds some tears of joy finding food they can enjoy that's good for them or sending meals to their family members who they can't hug in person, it's worth it.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

I always thought it took a certain type of person to open their own business. A type of person who was all the things I was not - creative, outgoing, fearless, self-confident - able to figure things out without instruction and easily able to sell any stranger on the merits of their ideas. On the other hand, I prefer reading the entire manual before putting anything together, and I can't stomach the thought of talking somebody into a service or product they don't need. In the end, that didn't matter. It doesn't take a certain kind of person except one who believes in their dream.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://chefellendoerr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/siouxfallschef
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siouxfallschef/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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