Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Johnny De Lima, owner of Wenu, located in Burlington, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Our company is called Wenu (pronounced like Menu). A marketplace to connect food lovers with talented local home chefs and bakers selling authentic, small-batch, homemade food items. We view ourselves as B2B2C, with the sellers being our primary customer and the foodie being a shared customer. We know that if we take care of the sellers and empower them with all the necessary tools to set them up for success, that they will, in turn, be able to service the foodies in the best way possible.
Our passion for community building and human connection, as well as a deep understanding of marketplaces and food safety specifically, makes us prime to deliver a quality product to sellers who, in turn, deliver a quality product to local foodies. The impact on communities is incredible. Everyone wants to support local businesses, and you can't possibly support more locally than ordering a homemade meal from a Chef in your community. Also, because of our pre-ordering system, we are able to sustain a zero-food waste ecosystem as opposed to restaurants that do their best to manage between 5-10% food waste.
A home chef's low startup and overhead costs with a profit margin for food entrepreneurs that is 10x that of the traditional restaurant business model allows for sustainable, affordable, and healthy meal options to be curated locally within communities. If we couldn't tinker and start a business from home, then we wouldn't have Disney, Mattel, Harley Davidson, Apple, Amazon, the list goes on and on. Why is food different? Billions of UNtrained people cook every day for their loved ones at home, and nobody is dying. So surely a trained professional working within a standard operating procedure that we provide, should be able to deliver meals safely that are made with love that we associate with the term "homemade" food.
Wenu is the fertile sapling forest that will reseed the industry after the virtual forest fire that has taken place due to the pandemic. Our customers are passionate food lovers on both sides of the equation who crave human connection just as much as making or eating a good meal.
Tell us about yourself
At the core of all the businesses we run, including our restaurant cleaning business, obviously, is an extreme passion for cleanliness, transparency, and relationships. That's what got me into cleaning, and we now work with some of the largest restaurants in the country. When the pandemic hit, we lost about 90% of our restaurant cleaning business and had to lay off 110 people within a week. It was one of the saddest times of my life. Within the coming months, I noticed many of the kitchen staff that had been let go from various establishments we worked with started selling food on social media, be it Facebook or Instagram. It was intriguing. I wanted to support locals, and I love a good home-cooked meal. Still, the food safety professional in me just did not have enough information to make an informed purchase. At best, it was a stagnant picture of a dish with a price. We knew that if we could help some of the largest restaurants maintain food safety and cleanliness. At the same time, they do $20M+ annual revenue, then surely we could lend our knowledge and experience to a solo food entrepreneur selling cakes from their home, for example. Each and every day now, we meet new and incredible entrepreneurs looking to build their own food brand from the ground up. They are our WHY. The reason we get up in the morning. The reason we are dedicated to building this community and helping them share not only their passions and food but also their stories.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I'm very proud to be able to say that we are feeding over 100 families this holiday season with the help of our talented home chef army! This is so impactful on BOTH sides of the equation. Of course, it is hugely impactful for a family with food insecurities to have someone come to deliver them a homemade holiday meal, but it is also equally impactful on the Chef as well. It's easy for Chefs to forget the magic they bring to the table, pun intended, when they are working 14 hour days in a closed kitchen making someone else's menu items and never getting to interact with the people actually eating the food. So this year, we will make over 100 true human connections
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Work-Life balance. They say heaven holds a special place for the spouses of entrepreneurs, and I believe that. As a husband and father, I always need to balance work and life because if one falls, then so does the other. One of the keys to managing this is to delegate authority rather than tasks. This is far more empowering for everyone involved and builds strong teams with a foundation of trust. I'm grateful to have such a great core team in place that is versatile because of the authority entrusted in them rather then mere tasks delegated to them. Tasks create workers; authority creates leaders.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Do NOT start a business because you don't like working for a boss. This is the absolutely wrong reason. You will never have as many bosses as you will being a business owner. Every customer and employee is essentially your boss as opposed to having only one or two bosses to answer to when working for a company. When you run the company you must answer to EVERYONE. You must be accountable for all aspects.
- I'm sure we as humans don't have children, so we can raise them EXACTLY like we were raised. We always want to improve as we see fit. Business should be no different. Start a business to make it how you want it. There are some guidelines to follow, but for the most part, you create the world you want to see. Do not feel the need to follow the corporate world if that is not who you are. Be real. Be approachable. I'm not talking about putting a ping pong table in the board room and casual dress Fridays. I'm talking about fostering the real elements of who we are as humans and celebrating our diversities within your corporate culture. With this in mind, create your corporate culture well before you even create your company or product. Marriott started out as a root beer stand, but he had conviction on the "type" of business he wanted to run, and he knew what his core values were. From there, you can do/sell anything. Tip 2.5 then is always be ready to pivot but never pivot your values.
- Be willing to fail. That's from Brian Scudamore, the founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. You MUST be willing to fail. If you are too scared of failure, then you're not ready to dive in fully. The list of my failures could be a whole other article. It's true what they say. If you don't fail, then you will never learn. Get out there and just start doing. Done is always better than perfect.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Be kind. The shortest shortcut is always no shortcuts. If someone asks you a question and you have to refer them to someone else for the answer, then you should probably be tagging along. Treat your employees like they are your customers. They are. Take care of them, and they will take care of the rest of the customers.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://wenueat.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WenuEat/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wenueat/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndiwenu/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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