Food for Thought
A few years ago, I was out of work for an extended period of time, so I explored cooking to satiate my need to be creative. I had always enjoyed cooking, but was not really good at it. It all started with the quest for pesto. As with everything I do, I set out to make the best possible pesto with my own unique spin on it. It was very successful and soon I decided to try my hand at making pesto pizzas with it. That was hugely successful, as well. I even did two pizza parties for some of my friends, which I really enjoyed, and people at the parties really enjoyed my pizzas. I also made hors d'oeuvres for a movie night at my friend Jamie's house once. I used my red pesto recipe mixed with cream cheese for that.
From pesto, I branched out into other Italian cooking, initially starting out with dishes that included pesto and then moving on to others that did not. After I had a pretty decent lineup of Italian dishes, I decided to try my hand at Thai cooking. My Thai cooking is very narrow, because I focus on Pad Thai, but it's really good. I make a few other things which are also good. Next, I decided to try my hand at curries. I started out with packets bought at the store, then started adding my own ingredients to off the shelf curry powders and finally made my own curry powder which I think is pretty good. Now I make three pretty good chicken curries that my family seem to love. Next I moved on to Tex-Mex. I need to start cooking again so I can experiment with many other styles.
Anyway, while I was in the quest for the best possible pesto, I had a dream of opening a restaurant. That faded away gradually; so gradually, that I do not even remember it happening. Yesterday I went to Acemart, which is located just up Webb Chapel from where I live. The dream came flooding back to me, as I was surrounded by restaurant equipment, supplies and place settings. All of the kitchen gadgets and doohickeys made my heart beat faster. The large vats and stock pots made me smile, as I fondled them in awe of their size and machining.
Last night, I was chatting with my new friend Stacie, who was telling me about business her family is starting. I brought up catering as one of the things she could do, because it kind of fit in with their business plan, which put a seed in my head that decided to bloom into a full thought this morning. I've spent the past few hours looking into what's involved in opening a catering business. It appears to be a much better Idea than opening a restaurant, as the initial investment and capital involved are much smaller and the chance of success is greater. So many restaurants, both good and bad, fail in the first year. Catering can start out as small as one wants it to start out. It can be done part time with very little investment.
Yeah, so this is dancing around in my head now. I suppose it could lead to great things and financial independence, at some point if I decide to pursue it. I may look into getting employment with a caterer to see how the business is run from the inside and base my decision on that. There is so much to ponder.
From pesto, I branched out into other Italian cooking, initially starting out with dishes that included pesto and then moving on to others that did not. After I had a pretty decent lineup of Italian dishes, I decided to try my hand at Thai cooking. My Thai cooking is very narrow, because I focus on Pad Thai, but it's really good. I make a few other things which are also good. Next, I decided to try my hand at curries. I started out with packets bought at the store, then started adding my own ingredients to off the shelf curry powders and finally made my own curry powder which I think is pretty good. Now I make three pretty good chicken curries that my family seem to love. Next I moved on to Tex-Mex. I need to start cooking again so I can experiment with many other styles.
Anyway, while I was in the quest for the best possible pesto, I had a dream of opening a restaurant. That faded away gradually; so gradually, that I do not even remember it happening. Yesterday I went to Acemart, which is located just up Webb Chapel from where I live. The dream came flooding back to me, as I was surrounded by restaurant equipment, supplies and place settings. All of the kitchen gadgets and doohickeys made my heart beat faster. The large vats and stock pots made me smile, as I fondled them in awe of their size and machining.
Last night, I was chatting with my new friend Stacie, who was telling me about business her family is starting. I brought up catering as one of the things she could do, because it kind of fit in with their business plan, which put a seed in my head that decided to bloom into a full thought this morning. I've spent the past few hours looking into what's involved in opening a catering business. It appears to be a much better Idea than opening a restaurant, as the initial investment and capital involved are much smaller and the chance of success is greater. So many restaurants, both good and bad, fail in the first year. Catering can start out as small as one wants it to start out. It can be done part time with very little investment.
Yeah, so this is dancing around in my head now. I suppose it could lead to great things and financial independence, at some point if I decide to pursue it. I may look into getting employment with a caterer to see how the business is run from the inside and base my decision on that. There is so much to ponder.