We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shanette Coad. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shanette below.

Shanette , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I am a pastry chef my husband is a culinarian, so it only made sense that our name would have the number two in it somehow. Our “them” song is It Takes 2 by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock lol. My husband was already doing private dinners and I’d help him prep and get squared away. After I graduated from culinary school everyone would ask if we were going into business for ourselves. So we decided to just go for it and became an LLC in 2020
I was skeptical, nervousness and doubt made me question if we’d make it as business owners. I knew I was a good chef but was I prepared for all that came with being an entrepreneur? There’s a lot of money needed upfront and taking out large loans was not in the plans for us. So we had to make due with what we had.
Word of mouth is what propellers us. We have a website that we’re working on but most of our clients are referred to us.
Just being in the kitchen with my husband is what I love most about what we do. We get to share and show our love for food and each other.

Shanette , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Brooklyn NY native and Air Force veteran. A wife and mom of 4 three boys and one girl. I am the pastry chef and co-owner of It Takes 2 Catering. I never imagined I’d be a chef. My passion had always been doing hair. I thought I’d be a stylist forever.
I’ve always been told I was creative so becoming a pastry chef just kind of fit. I went to the Culinary Institute of Charleston in 2016. My husband had graduated earlier that year and suggested I go as well. I’d assist him with a few cake designs and he thought I was actually good at it. I followed his lead and enrolled. Signed up for every class available and did pretty well. I graduated with two degrees one for baking and pastry as well as my culinary degree.
Being a caterer and private chef we strive to produce exceptional food, that taste great and have a beautiful appearance.
Our menus help those who really don’t know what kind of food they want, there’s variety with the overwhelming feeling. We do our best to be knowledgeable as well as receptive to new information regarding the food industry.
We don’t fall into just one category of cuisine, we offer more than soulful. But our food is definitely good for the soul. We enjoy venturing out with other styles of cuisines.
I most enjoy watching our children pick up on things and explore their own talents in the kitchen.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Well my business partner is my husband and we met at McDonald’s 17 yrs ago. LOL I tell the kids “Your dads 1st word to me were “Where are you going dressed like that?”” And he replies “NO, I 1st said welcome to McDonald’s!” I was headed to an amusement park and we stopped for gas and I went inside to get something to eat for the ride. I had on a bathing suit top and a tennis skirt, he swears it was my smile that caught his attention lol.
Even though he’s and amazing chef now back then he thought he was too cute to flip burgers so he worked the register.
Once we started dating he coked ALL the time so seeing him as a chef now it just fits!!
Before becoming a chef I was a cop and a hairstylist, but not at the same time.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I got out of the military I felt like I failed. I had a traumatic experience and it changed me. I now suffer with major depression, anxiety as well as borderline personality disorder, well that’s what the paper says.
A diagnosis I used to be so embarrassed about. It’s still very uncomfortable to admit and say out loud but it’s my life and making the best out of it, that’s literally all I can do.
Then I became a wife and mother and that a whole new world and suffering with mental health issues was hard. I was hard on myself because I couldn’t understand why I was the way i was.
I went to cosmetology in 2010 I was pregnant with our daughter and I made it through graduated and became licensed but the fear of not being good enough crept up and really held me down. So much so that I stopped doing hair professionally.
Helping my husband decorate cakes and cook for others essentially helped me cope and get back to being creative again and it was profitable. So I went to school and gave my all.
I was scared to be an entrepreneur, I was scared I’d fail at something everyone told me I was good at. I had so many what if’s floating through my head, some of them almost made me quit before I even got started. But I pushed through because all that I wanted to do wasn’t just for me. My husband loved and supported me, my kids deserved a great life and my entire family supported me, Friends encouraged me and the thought of letting them down didn’t sit well with me.
So giving up isn’t an option and over the last three years I’ve replayed different events and we’ve talked about how we could always make the next one better. My mom always said I ad a fighting spirit so I’m holding on to the fact that I know I can be great one day even if it doesn’t seem like it right now. If I’m allowed another 24 hours I have a chance.

Contact Info:

• Website: wwwittakes2catering.com