We recently connected with Archie Swanson and have shared our conversation below.

Archie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I have always loved to cook for family and friends. We have three adult Children and I prepared the food for all of their Confirmation, Graduation parties and even one of their weddings in our back yard. Six years ago the kids bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer for my Birthday. I remember when I opened it saying to them “You know, I think I can pour a Million dollars out of that mixing bowl” The first thing I made with it was A New York Style Cheesecake. It was delicious. It was so good I decided to see if I could sell them. The following weekend I made two cakes that I took to the local farmers market…I had a total of 16 slices that cost me $12.00 to make. I sold the slices for $5.00 each and paid $20 for the space. So I had $32.00 invested and made $80.00. I sat there 8 hours. So I the profit was $48.00 dollars..Yup $6.00 and hour…Which is less the minimum wage.
I decided the next week to I would try serving lunch instead of Cheesecake. I made tacos, Mexican rice, and beans. The market opened at 8.00 AM. So I also made 30 breakfast burritos. I brought along my Blackstone grill to keep the food hot. The burritos I sold for $3.00 ea. By 10.00 AM they were gone. We served 40 Taco lunches (2-Tacos, 4oz Rice, 4Oz Beans). So we had $20 for our space and$35.00 for the cost of the food. Total expenses were $55.00. Sales were $490.00…less expenses, the profit was $435.oo. I had a total of 10 hours invested. So I made $43.50 an hour. That night, I told my wife I should I should start Catering.
The first step I took was to make a list of everything I would need to make this a legitimate business. That list was essential. It gave me a road map to follow. I called the health department and they gave me the requirements for getting a catering licenses. Those requirements were then added to list I was working off from.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am 56 years old have been married 35 years. We have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. I work full time for a tele communications company and Cater on the weekends. Eventually I plan to transition to the Catering business full time. I have purchased a building they we are slowly remodeling into our Catering Kitchen. We rent a space to cook out of now at our local Farmers Market. We have been reinvesting the money we make into the building and purchasing equipment. When we first started, I was leaving a ton of money in Chaffing pans…I was so worried about running out of food for the event, so I always had a lot left over, This created two big issues…First, my profit suffered because of the excess food and second, when the client so all the left over food, they were left with an impression that I over charged them. I was literately throwing money away. The solution was to learn how to project how much food I would actually need. So I enrolled at the Culinary Arts Institute at Mott Community College in Flint Michigan. I graduated 2 years ago with a dual degree in Food Service Management and Culinary Arts. So for three years I worked full time, Carried a Full Load. at Mott Community College and Catered events on the week ends. So at a time when most people my age are considering retirement, I went back to school to learn how to better run and understand the business I was pursuing. The education made me a much better Chef and Manager

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When I made my “Start Up” list, I noted next to each item on the list if there were cost tied to that item. My list looked something like this Catering License= $425.00
Insurance Policy= $500.00
Serve Safe Certification= $50.00
Cost to form an LLC= $200.00

The start up cost was around $1200.00 before I could legally operate in the State Of Michigan. We used our Tax return the first year to pay for start up expenses
The biggest obstacle to getting my Catering license was the fact that they (The County Health Department) required Caters have a licensed and inspected kitchen that they would be working out of. My solution was the local Farmers market met their requirements and I was able to work out of their and am inspected twice a year. Again a list will keep you on track…As A Chef, I work off list constantly.

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We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We purchased our building three years ago. When I first approached bank about buying the property, they declined our loan request. The down payment they ask for was far more than we had. So it was A firm “NO”. I did not accept “NO” for answer, but rather looked at it as your NEXT OPPORTUNITY to come up with the financing I needed. I figured the Bank was not saying no to me but were saying no to the way I ask for it. So rephrased the question. I wanted to know how long I would need to own the building before I could refinance it? Or rather if I owned the building would they refinance it? The loan officer rolled his eyes at me..(Seriously, he did) gave me an audible sigh and said “Sure…but I do not see any bank doing this without 20% down.
So I went to the owner, offed him more than he was asking. But I would need a shot term Land Contract on a 1 year ballon. I offered a little money down and a few hundred a month. If I did not pay off the ballon, he could keep the all the money I gave him.
Six months after getting the Land Contract (The contract was register at the County Court House and at the tax accessors office, making me the legal owner and the contract holder as being in first lien position) I went back to the Bank.
The loan office met with me and told me that a land contract did not make me the owner…I showed him the tax documents that indicated I was and that he should check with his supervisor. He was gone 10 minutes, came back and said “Well…Apparently this IS a refi. We need an appraisal and a few dollars for closing costs”…..It was much less than the 20%…and something I could afford because it was not a purchase.
The Bank said NO at first because of how I ask. Make a list as to the reasons for your “NO” and try to figure out how to overcome them and look forward to your Next Opportunity to make your request a yes!

Contact Info:

• Website: Abswannycatering.com
• Facebook: AB Swanny Catering
• Other: E Mail- [email protected]