We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josephine Giesen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Josephine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

Mark Cuban once said, “wherever there is change and whenever there is uncertainty, there is opportunity.” This quote resonated with me when I moved to the USA with my family after spending two years in London and a lifetime in Lebanon. I knew that I had to take advantage of this unique moment before it passed me by. As humans, we tend to take the path of coping when adapting to change. But I was determined to do more than that- I wanted to thrive.

The American Dream is still alive, and I recognized that I had an opportunity that many people would give anything for. In August 2017, I made the decision to start my own company. I embraced the uncertainty and took a leap of faith.

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

I moved with Jonathan and CJ, my husband and son, from Beirut to London after his company got selected by the UK Tech Hub for an accelerator program for high-growth startups in the Middle East. After two years of entrepreneurship programs in London, which I attended, we decided that it was time to settle down and choose one country. Given the state of the Lebanese economy at the time, we realized that it would be better to move to a place with more stability, which is how we decided on Dallas in the summer of 2017. Jonathan is originally from the Park Cities.

I was born and raised in Lebanon, surrounded by a big family. We lived in a village near the coast; my family had to move there and live with my grandparents during the war. Mealtime was always a crucial component of our days, especially dinner. Every evening, my mother would call us to the table by saying, “Les enfants, à table!” which means “kids, at the table. That was a precious time to catch up on our days and to have real, genuine, and fun conversations at the dinner table. This is À Table’s primary mission, bringing the family to the dinner table. My grandfather had a vast garden, and most of our food was from this garden. This is where I draw a lot of inspiration for À Table’s locally sourced meals and knowing where your food is coming from. I want to provide families with clean, fresh foods while focusing on the convenience of an already-prepared dish. Taking away from the time that goes into preparing a nourishing meal for your family gives you more time to sit down and be present.

À Table has weekly rotating menus of dishes that utilize the best seasonal ingredients available. Our dishes consist of organic, locally sourced foods, mainly, pasture-raised chicken from Windy Meadows Family Farm, pasture-raised egg from Cedar Ridge Farm, and grass-fed beef from 2S Ranch and Burgundy Local; this allow À Table to deliver meals that taste wonderful and are healthy for every family member. Our menus include a variety of meals from different cuisines and customer-favorite dishes like Fettuccine Bolognese with its low-carb variation made with spaghetti squash instead of pasta and Chicken Cordon Bleu with broccoli potato mash. We offer meals in individual and family sizes.

À Table is fully digital. Customers can order on our website at www.atable.kitchen for delivery the following week. Our website has gift cards available for purchase as well! We pride ourselves with an exceptional attention to detail operation and outstanding customer service. We love our growing customer segment of seniors who need the convenience of healthy meals delivered to their homes, and we make sure we help them as much as we can, from placing their orders to making the delivery to their homes as easy as possible. Our Chefs have solid backgrounds in the culinary industry. Jenny Hajduk was the Executive of Neiman Marcus. Carolanne Treadwell is a CIA graduate and a former employee of Michelin-star restaurants in New York like Ai Fiori and Wd~50. Bennet Brown was Bonton Farm’s sous chef, then the lead line cook at Sachet.

Can you open up about how you managed the initial funding?

When I recognized that dinner time was almost impossible because of our busy life in Dallas, I began inviting mothers from my son’s kindergarten class to brunches at my home to discuss the issue and explore potential solutions. After a few months of these focus groups, I hosted a party where I proposed an opportunity for small-scale investments to launch the concept. I secured my initial seed capital from families who have since become great friends and enthusiastic advocates for À Table. Looking back, I believe this approach was the best way to secure my initial capital, as it also served as a powerful marketing strategy. These early supporters became the foundation of our growth, mainly through word of mouth.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I seek out stories of failure and learn from them rather than focusing solely on stories of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.atable.kitchen
• Instagram: @atable.kitchen
• Facebook: À table.Kitchen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/%C3%A0table/