Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tim Armstrong. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tim, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

The bottom line with being a business owner is that no matter what, you are responsible for everything at the end of the day. In the days leading up to the pandemic, we were in our 4th season and really hitting our stride. It was only myself and Patrick at the time, my sous chef from a previous life in South Carolina who had been with me 3 years there and had been with me for about a year and a half here in South Florida. We struggled to find qualified help and we had various people come in and out as a third set of hands whenever we could. In February of 2020, we were doing multiple parties every weekend, and on the last day of the month, we had 2, one of which was for the 2020 World Series winning Washington Nationals after they got back together for spring training.

And then the parties literally stopped overnight. But the craziest part was we were about to really crank it up.

Our meal delivery went up 90% from one week to the next, but out staffing stayed the same…just Patrick and I.
During this time, not only did we cook and package all of the food, but between the two of us, we also did all of the shopping, prep and dishes, along with the deliveries. We went from 35-40 clients getting 2 deliveries a week to 70 getting 2 deliveries, so not only did we need kitchen help, but we needed delivery help as well.

Because of the sheer volume of work, our days instantly became long and during the 2nd week of this, it caught up to us. We met at the kitchen, which I forgot to mention was 40 minutes from my house, at 9 am on Tuesday to continue with our prep and plate all of the food for Wednesday’s deliveries and the list was endless. By the time we got everything done and in the delivery bags, it was after 2 am, and we usually met at my house to start the delivery process, so we decided to just go ahead and make the deliveries.

That hurt, but not as much as the following week when we ended up doing the same thing on Sunday, getting there at 9, working until almost 3 am, then getting in the car and making the deliveries. Except this time, it was worse because we had to shop and get back into the kitchen to start working on Monday for Tuesday’s deliveries and to start the prep for Tuesday’s packaging. So after about an hour and half’s worth of sleep, because the deliveries took us about 2 1/2 hours each, we were back in the kitchen for about a 12 hour day. That was probably one of our shortest days back then and we paid for it because wouldn’t you know it, we got stuck again on Tuesday and had to work overnight, this time not finishing until almost 4 am, 40 minutes from our delivery area. Not ideal is an understatement.

You can believe we vowed to never let that happen again and to do everything in our power to ensure it didn’t happen again. But if it did, as the business owner, I know I would be right back there doing it again.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I stepped in my first commercial kitchen the summer before my 14th birthday and although it took a few years, I realized that if people are indeed born to do one thing on earth, cooking is my thing for sure. Although I spent almost 30 years in restaurants, operating my own meal prep & catering company allows me to offer all things to all people. Whether it’s a chicken parmesan on our rotating monthly menu with weekly specials or a seven course dinner with wine pairings, The Hybrid Chef has something to offer everyone. We offer a personalized meal service that allows you and your family to get exactly what you want, as opposed to just what we have on the menu. I have spent my career around fine dining, working in some of the best restaurants on the east coast, which allows me to take all of that experience and use it no matter what the dish is that I am preparing.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My business actually started more as a stopgap between jobs and then the night before I was to start my new position, I called the person that offered me the job and told him that I apologized profusely, but I just had to follow my heart and stick with the small business that I had messed around with for the previous 2 months. Because it wasn’t really in the cards, I had almost no funding whatsoever. I spent about $1000 of my own money buying some simple cooking equipment to go with what I had accumulated over the years, and then built my business 1 week at a time. If I thought I might sell 7 lbs worth of chicken, that’s what I bought. And if it turned out I sold 8, back to the store I went. Though not the most efficient model, it allowed me to grow the business piece by piece and get the things I needed when I needed them.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth. In the very beginning, social media played a big part in my growth. People like telling people what they were doing and I had a few clients that engaged heavily in social media and they had large followings. By them trying my product ‘by accident’ then telling others, word quickly got out and our first surge in business happened. The Mom groups of facebook in our local community has probably been the single biggest source of business. It is a sight that only allows moms and does not allow any advertising, only referrals and word of mouth.

Contact Info:

• Website: thehybridchef.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thehybridchef
• Facebook: facebook.com/thehybridchef