Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Susan Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Susan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later
This is actually a question that I think of often and a hard one to answer. The concept for my space had been slowly growing for a few years, more as a dream, a hope, never truly thought it would ever come to fruition. It all happened very fast, I use to have a small Smart Jar Company out of my home, I prepared meals in a jar that were picked up at a Gym I was a trainer at, a building next door came open, so I went and just asked questions about the space, well somehow 3 months later construction began, November 2019, with the opening date of March 2020, yes you read that right, the Month the world shut down. So obviously we did not open, we sat and we.waited, full of unknown and uncertainty, for the day we could take this beautiful space and this small dream in my head and make it all a reality. That day came July 2020, we opened the doors and we have been fighting against things that you never imagined having to go up against. So would I have started earlier, as far as if I knew this would happen yes of course, but who could of know, but I am not sure we would have succeeded had we opened earlier(I say we, because my husband, quit his job of running bars and restaurants to follow my dream and help me open the doors), I was a mom of 3, I worked part time as a trainer, nutrition consultant and a chef of my my jar company, I still had lots of availability to run my kids around, maintain a home and my husband worked all the time, so I needed to be home, I was needed at home, had I opened earlier I am not sure all of my heart would have been in it, all of my time would have always been torn between mother and business owner, so I am happy I waited to open, when my kids were self sufficient, when they could understand why I was gone all the time, when they could see that the hard work, and following your dreams was all worth it. They could look at me and say wow, that is my mother and any dream is possible. So again, no I do not think I should have opened earlier. What about later, again what a hard question to answer, had I known, a pandemic and horrible inflation would be the challenges I would have faced, then I guess I would say later definitely would be better lol, but I also think that the reason we are still here and thriving is because of the challenges we have faced, we have held on, fought hard, learned to pivot and expand our concept to grow our business and to stay relevant in a world that is hard to survive in as a restaurant or small business.
So to sum it up, I believe when we started was the path I was suppose to be on, it has taught me so much, and mostly to just stop, take a deep breath and realize just how lucky I am to still be here living my dream, taking chances and that many people to not have that chance.
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?
Who am I , a mother, wife, business owner, and a chef. I am the owner and chef of Plan Shop Live Kitchen in maryville Il, an honest eats restaurant that is all about teaching people that healthy food is flavorful and satisfying. It is not about restrictions. Restrictions leads to failure, but balance will always lead to success. My journey to food was a long drawn out road that had many side streets that I kept turning onto, trying to figure out where it was I belonged. My love of food began when I was in my late 30’s, when my love of all things food became more and
I took a leap of faith and decided to go to culinary school in St. Louis Mo at Le’cole culinaire. I thrived in school and enjoyed every minute of it, but after graduation I was unsure of exactly where or what my path would be as far as cooking. My kids were still young at the time and working late nights in a kitchen just seemed impossible to my family and I, so for years I mainly was just the chef to my family lol.
My real journey with food began years later when, at my highest weight, I joined a boxing cardio gym, I needed to find myself, feel good about myself, and I fell in love with the whole process and as I lost weight I found myself always pushing others, encouraging them in their own journey, but during this I struggled to hit my goal and realized that it was the food I was eating was keeping me from getting to where I wanted to be. So I became a personal trainer, got certified in sports nutrition and found my real food passion, I loved food too much to give it up, I hated diets, they work for a moment, but you always fall off and it is a big vicious circle. I set out to change how people viewed health food, I learned how to take food I loved, but made it healthier, and most importantly delicious. Through this process I reached my goal and lost 60lbs.
Next up how to teach others, I found my helping them understand food helped them change their mindset as to how to eat, but the common theme was always, “I understand the process but how do I find time to follow it,” so Smart Jars were born. A mason jar meal plan that my clients could order each week and pick up at the gym I was working at. Meals were salads, soups, and individual meals all in a jar, loaded with the perfect balance of healthy carbs, fats and proteins that made them feel satisfied, and fueled them throughout the day, and most importantly they got to eat foods they loved that was not just good for them but also tasted delicious.
We associated health food with bland and boring, I wanted to show people how wrong that thought process is.
Smart Jars were the stepping stone to where I am now, the business did great, but I new I wanted more, that I wanted to provide a place people could come in and grab a meal to go, or a place to gather with friends for lunch , that was fresh, filling, tasty and left them feeling energized enough to get through a day, not weighed down with fake processed foods. I wanted to redefine not just healthy foods, but also redefine “fast food”, why can’t healthy food be accessible and quick service.
Plan Shop Live Kitchen is just that, a small quaint place, that many call a hidden gem, a place you can come and gather for lunch, or order online and have ready for pick up. Plan Shop Live, what is with the name, I get asked that often, Well it is my journey, my EAT PRAY LOVE, It stems from how I got to where I am, I PLANed for what I wanted for my health, to loose weight and feel good, I SHOPped for how to do that, I found a gym, a place I fit in that encouraged me to reach my goal, my plan, and most of all we only have this one life so LIVE it, love it, embrace it, learn balance, enjoy the burger, the cocktail the piece of cake, but do it in moderation. We all have different plans, we shop for what fits for us, but we all have to live it for ourselves.
I wanted to develop a menu that is a healthy play on all the comfort foods we love, to introduce you to new unique flavors and show you that food made with real ingredients, from scratch, built with fresh spices and herbs all done with portion control and the perfect balance of healthy carbs, proteins and fats is what healthy food really is and can be.
I love to create flavors from all over the world, to introduce my customers to flavor combinations that they may never think will work but do. We sell smash style burgers with unique flavors on our 7 grain buns made by a local 100 year old bakery Krutas, that are made just for us, grilled cheeses, we are adored for our jalapeño popper grilled cheese, unique sandwiches, pitas and wraps as well as a large Salad menu that will satisfy anyones needs. Our side dishes have a fun unique spin and we have endless choices as well as daily specials that keep every customer happy and satisfied
We have grown so much in the past 2 years, we have added a bar at our place that focuses on crafted fresh cocktails(balance remember) and started offering private events, showers, and dinner parties in our space during our off days as well as began creating fun pop-up holiday events as well.
My favorite place in my home is the kitchen, and nothing brings me more joy then when my kitchen is full of people, talking, eating, and laughing, so how lucky am I that I now have this large kitchen that I get to fill with people everyday, that are doing just that, I get to share what I love with so many people,
How lucky am I?
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Honesty, Consistency and Passion is what I feel are reasons we have built a good reputation in our market and community.
So many places that I call my favorite as far as restaurants always has come down to consistency, in the quality and flavor of the meals as well as consistency in the staffing and overall experience in that restaurant. I always knew that no matter what the consistency of product, the speed at which it comes out of the kitchen and the overall welcoming experience that my customers had was always the same each time.
Honesty, todays restaurant world is going through so many changes, especially in the products, pricing delivery fees etc, and as things change and prices go up we have to put some of those cost onto our customers and I am always honest when they ask me why prices have gone up, and I feel my customers are always happy that I take the time to explain it to them
Passion, this is my favorite part of what I get to does walking around and talking to the tables and customers waiting for their meals, speaking to them about what why I love my job, I hear it so often from people that they love seeing how much what I do makes me happy, and that is so important to me, I want them to feel the excitement of what I do when they are at my place and most of all I want them to taste that passion with each bite.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
This whole journey of opening Plan Shop Live Kitchen, the last 2 years is my story of resilience. We opened Plan Shop Live with 35 thousand dollars, not bank loan, just hopes, dreams, penny pinching and belief that we could make it work, and we did it, we made it work, we got the doors open, it just happened to open during the worse possible time, a Pandemic that shut the world down and brought fear to us all, fear to go out, to live our lives.
Restaurants took such a hit during this time, and we had to learn how to pivot and make things work. You start a restaurant with a plan, that plan is what makes you thrive and grow, well that all went out the window, so what do you do, your hold your head high and you figure it out, I mean you have to right?, this is your dream, your livelihood. So we did just that, we pushed curbside pickup, we luckily were set up for a grab and go style place where food is presented in to go boxes, so that was already factored in from day one, next up it was just finding ways to reach people to make them feel comfortable and feel safe in our space. We pushed ahead and kept our heads or at least our noses above water. As the world opened up more we started to offer private rental of our space so you could socialize with a small group of people who you felt safe with, so you could feel a bit normal.
Times definitely were tough financially, because we were not open in 2019, we were not eligible for PPP money of any substantial amounts because it was all based on my Smart Jar Business(which was not a lucrative financial business as far as ppp money), so we survived on what we could, kept fighting and made it out of the pandemic restaurant disaster. We were resilient.
Then Inflation it, and wow, I always say as far as the business side of it, I would take Covid over inflation, covid allowed you to at least find ways to make money and make it work, even though it was hard as hard can be, but inflation, that has just taking the wind out of the sail for many, the business is thriving and growing and expanding, but it is very difficult to make money when the cost of products are so extremely high, I would say most products are up 30 to 60% if not more, then you tack on delivery fees, gas, increase in electric, paper products, and the rising cost of minimum wage and you can forget making any real profit off of food. Plus the customers are in the same boat in their own lives, which means you have to cut somewhere and dining out defiantly becomes the first things to go.
Again, we keep fighting, we have cut corners wherever we can and being mindful of food cost and labor cost, constantly looking at prices and finding the best deals. it is exhausting but it is worth it. Our resilience is apparent to all of those that know us and it has paid off, we are in the beginning stages of opening a new expansion of our business, a Speakeasy Parlor , it will be a cocktail lounge with delicious hand crafted cocktails, beer, wine and small snacks and bites as well as gaming lounge in the back. Plan Shop Live Kitchen is a day time cafe, so this expansion is all about reaching that evening crowd.
Resilience is what our whole journey has been and we will keep fighting everyday
Contact Info:
- Website: planshoplive.com
- Instagram: Planshoplive
- Facebook: planshoplive
Image Credits
June Hallowell Photography