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

Bria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

There are so many perks to being your own boss and running your own business. I love that I control my own schedule and how I can build my brand to my own vision. That said, there are also a lot of struggles and steep learning curves. I always knew I wanted to take the private chef career route out of culinary school, but I never imagined that I’d be where I am today. I developed this dream in Minnesota in 2015 with a friend of mine that I met while working at a restaurant during culinary school. We were both eager to follow our passion for cooking and create experiences for guests through our mutually shared vision. We quickly learned the legal side of running a business; figuring out the differences between an LLC and an S Corp, finding a certified kitchen to rent space out of, then applying to get health department certified are all extremely important steps to running a successful business. We realized over the next year that running a business isn’t all fun and games with creating menus and cooking meals. It consists of P & L reports, inventory, marketing, health codes, branding and so much more. At the time, neither of us could quit our full time positions in restaurants because we needed to make money to pay our bills, all while building this business on the side. Fast forward to 8 years later; I now live in Austin, Texas where I have been blessed to be able to fully commit myself to my private chef business and combine all of the skills and knowledge I’ve gained over many years. Once the pandemic hit, I had the time and opportunity to focus on my business and to build out my brand. I knew I didn’t want to bartend part-time forever to pay my bills, so now was my chance to make it work. Over the following year, I filed for an LLC in the state of Texas, and chose a customer relations management software to help me get my organization in order. I understood that having a website was essential towards building customer trust so I developed one from scratch (even though I had very little knowledge about it going in). After getting a good picture of my monthly sales, I set out to find a CPA team to help me get my finances in order and sort out my taxes.

Here is where my frustrations began; paying sales and income taxes is a very stressful process. Applying for tax ID numbers, establishing online profiles, and figuring out how to submit these payments was more complicated than I anticipated. I was shocked to discover during my first year that I was so far behind that it took over half of my business account to sort things out. Needless to say, I had a lot of questions for my accounting team; I’m one of those people that wants to learn how to do everything so I have a full understanding, but I also want to have a solid team that takes care of it for me. I was so frustrated and confused by the whole accounting process, and when I factored in all the overhead costs and losing my extra side income, I felt defeated in my endeavor of finally making it full time in my dream career. Within the first few months of 2022 I was scaling and adding more chefs to my team, but I was scrambling on the back end to run every single aspect of the business on my own. This is when I really questioned the worth of having my own business; keeping up with overhead, taxes, and increasing costs of living is daunting. I chose to be patient with myself and understand that I was still learning. I can’t be an expert in all arenas; I may not fully understand accounting, but I’m a professional in the kitchen and the service industry, and I’m also damn good with marketing and sales as well. My frustrations were just a bump in the road, and I had to give myself some grace in those moments and just be proud of myself for what I had already accomplished. I have a lot to learn and a ways to go, but I love what I do and I have a great team behind me. That in itself is an awesome accomplishment on its own.

Bria, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born and raised in Minnesota. I grew up in a family that ate dinner together every night, and all friends were welcome at our table. I went to the University of Minnesota for sports management and Spanish – choosing these two degrees because I had an interest in them, but not necessarily a passion. I worked as a server in restaurants from the age of 16 until I was 33 years old; I knew I enjoyed serving and bartending more than I ever would working in sports. When I was a junior in college, I told myself I didn’t want to “grow up” after I graduated and I really wanted to go to culinary school. I began looking into affordable programs, knowing that I still had a lot of undergrad student loans debt I had to deal with. A sous chef that I worked with suggested a community college program; he said it’d be cost effective and he also knew all of the chefs that taught there. I did some research and enrolled that fall; it only took me 3 semesters to finish my culinary degree, all while working 40-50 hours a week at a restaurant. Fresh out of culinary school, I took odd end jobs in the food industry to learn as much as I could in the field; I gained experience at a convention center bakery making plated desserts for 5000+ guest events, took a chef’s assistant role at a cooking class facility, worked in catering for wedding and large events, and of course spent time as a server and bartender in restaurants. Those roles only reinforced what I already felt; I love to connect with people through entertaining and providing unforgettable culinary flavors and experiences.

During the week, I provide meal preps for a handful of clients with heavy dietary restrictions. I curate custom meals based on their personal goals (helping them feel their best, health goals, etc). On the weekends, I provide private chef services for clients looking to entertain at their own spaces. I have a team of 3 professionally trained chefs that provide an intimate dining experience in the comfort of our clients homes. Similar to the meal prep, we create custom, tailored menus for each and every client according to their needs, all while incorporating seasonal and local ingredients. We cater to all events and occasions, from bachelorette weekends and birthdays to anniversary celebrations or vacationers looking for a one time treat. One thing that I feel sets us apart from others is the outgoing, fun nature of my team; our social personalities ultimately become a part of the dining experience. In a way, we become part of the night’s entertainment by sharing our passion for food with the guests. We always strive to provide a special feel to each meal, and we always become a part of the family by the time the experience is over.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding my business in the early days was just a matter of throwing a few hundred dollars here, and a few hundred dollars there to acquire the necessary licenses and marketing we needed to get started. Over the first few years of building the business any profit we made was reinvested into the business. This is why I wasn’t able to go full time for years of my private chef work; at first, I still had a full time job as a bartender which made enough money to pay my bills. Anything I made from my private chef work went into a business account that I allowed to grow untouched. In 2020, during the pandemic I realized I didn’t want to bartend forever and I really needed to take the leap. I had the money from the private chef work side hustle, I just needed the confidence in myself to build my brand. I took that money and really invested in myself. My mindset began to change once I started looking at expenses (accounting, marketing, software, etc) as investments in myself rather than just “spending.” That change in mentality was incredibly helpful because it made me more proactive in seeking ways to scale up and become more efficient with the business.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

I don’t have any specific stories, but I vividly remember how intimidating sales pitches were when I was starting out. Shortly after I moved to Austin in 2017, I took a role as the Catering Manager for Google in their downtown office, where I was in charge of creating and building a catering program. The company was aiming for rapid expansion, so I got a crash course on the management side of the industry (sales goals, marketing, etc). While I was able to quickly absorb most of the concepts, I absolutely dreaded the idea of doing a sales pitch. I remember how nervous I would get during the first few months of client meetings, and how hesitant I became trying to explain our products and services. It was almost full blown anxiety; I stuttered over my words and I had shaky hands, sweaty palms, and a racing heartbeat. It took a while, but it got so much easier after I built confidence in myself and my work. Later, when I transitioned to my own business full time, my sales pitch nervousness resurfaced in the early stages when I found myself stuttering with new potential clients. Going from pitching for a well established corporation to pitching on behalf of my startup was a bit scary at first. Thankfully, I took the skills I learned from Google and regained my footing in a short amount of time. These days it’s easier to communicate confidence to clients because I’m very proud of my company and my product. That confidence is the best and most direct way to build rapport, and things start to fall into place once that’s established. While I still don’t get excited about making sales pitches, it’s definitely gotten a lot easier and refined over the years and I’ll always jump on the chance to expand my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.acutabovedining.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acutabovepersonalchef/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bria-stifter-0821ba1a/
• Other: Google Business: A Cut Above Personal Chef Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@a_cutabovechefbri?lang=en

Image Credits
Personal Head shot Photo Credit : Lanza Manage Photography (Tiffany Heidle-Lanza)