We recently connected with Brian & Alisha Echols and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Brian & Alisha 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

Definitely sooner.

We had always known that we would be business owners. Both my spouse and I had completely different careers prior to starting our catering service. Our background ranged from Early Childhood Education to Flight Simulation. Entrepreneurship began from following God’s heart and having a passion to serve others. There’s a term that’s often used in the military when describing your time in whatever branch you choose and that word is SERVE!

For us, this is not just a word; it is the birthplace of who we are and how our business began. Before the journey of entrepreneurship, we were educators, technicians, and missionaries. In order to serve on various mission trips through a local church, we needed to fundraise. While brainstorming ideas that would stand out and attract funding, we landed on food, consequently, deciding to cook our way to our destination. Initially, selling individual plates was our go-to. Once we were fully funded, the orders continued to pour in. THAT was our “light bulb” moment; thus the inception of Echols Catering.

Though the light bulb went off, we were still hesitant to completely jump out into the world of entrepreneurship. We both maintained full-time jobs while believing that our business idea could be a good one. We wrestled with the idea for several more years before making the tough decision to go all in. We believe in divine timing and striking while the iron is hot, however, we had no clear direction of where we wanted the business to go. In 2021, we officially launched our business four years after that fundraising experience. If I could go back, I wouldn’t change much other than trusting that not only was Echols Catering a “good idea”, It was what we were called to do.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My wife and I are born and raised Memphis natives. We are parents to three amazing sons. Our family roots are deep. We are the perfect, imperfect family who loves to host barbecues and game nights for our family and friends, especially couples game nights. We love to travel and of course sample food at various restaurants, food trucks, and festivals! But most of all, we enjoy intentionally taking in all the memorable experiences that life has to offer. We are believers who love attending and being involved in the local church; which is where our venture into entrepreneurship began.

Echols Catering is a food, entertainment and service based establishment that focuses on high level client satisfaction. We are a black owned, family oriented, small business destined to make an impact in our community. We come from humbled beginnings servicing individual clients who have since grown to also providing food services to large companies and corporations. Echols Catering specializes in event catering including, but not limited to weddings, corporate meetings, and life celebrations such as birthdays, dinners, graduations, home going celebrations, and many other life events. These are amazing opportunities that we love to experience with our clients. In addition to food, we also obtain an ABC Permit to serve alcohol at various functions.

How has our journey been? Tough and very hands on, but educational and fun. Throughout our journey in full time entrepreneurship, we have encountered multiple “Pivot” moments in which we’ve had to rethink, reshape, and sometimes completely refresh our business brand and our approach to what we do. Having the privilege of providing a service to hundreds of clients we’ve learned that each one is different and requires a unique approach to accomplish the big idea for their event. From the blossoming bride planning her wedding day, to the CEO planning a weekend retreat for their employees to the 70 year old husband that wants to celebrate his 50th anniversary with an intimate dinner; each event requires a different level of catering with personal and professional essence.

What makes us unique is that we don’t have a specific menu or limit our clients to what they can have. Our approach is to be client-based, customer-specific. We allow our clients to present their vision and we expound upon that. We understand that the definition of the word cater means to provide the solution to the problem that the client has proposed.
At Echols Catering, we seek to go above and beyond for our clients, providing the experience they are desiring.
We don’t sell a product we sell an experience.

One thing that we are most proud of is the wide range of opportunities to give back. We started our business with the heart of servanthood and through willful deliberation we get to continue operating in that blessing. Currently, we serve a group of senior citizens once a month, providing an array of soulful and nutritional meals lead by warm smiles and bright faces. This life group, Salt and Light, is a biblical reference; Our Savior calls His disciples the “salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13) and the “light of the world” (v. 14), two substances that permeate and transform the food, or the darkness, in which they are found. Like salt and light, the church is to have a transformative effect on the surrounding society.

We absolutely love cooking for them, engaging with them, laughing and conversing with them. It is in those moments, when they voice their appreciation of our service, that we can truly reflect and convey to them, that it is us, who are blessed, by serving them. We are humble. We are motivated. We are Echols Catering.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In August and December 2022, we both endured hardship with full-time employment. We found ourselves in situations that could possibly be an impasse, and desperately needed to figure it out. We were “operating” as business owners, but not entrepreneurs. That means, although our business was official, we continued to treat it as a side hustle rather than a main source of income.

With those unexpected circumstances, we began to get more serious. In the bulk of 2023, we sought out pop-up events around our city. We registered for and attended small business workshops and seminars. We began to engage more on social media. We networked with other small businesses to gain partnerships AND to show support in their business ventures. We also participated in career fairs and speaking engagements at various schools, churches, and other non-profit organizations.

One year later, in August 2023, we launched a second business, Amplified Investments Corp. It is by the grace of God and the fact that He kept us and spurred us along that resilience and favor are now apart of our story.

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

Echols Catering began as a self funded business. We utilized the profits from our initial sells and money from our primary jobs to fund what was needed. Because we are service based and not specific-product based, we had to tap into research and creative resources for funding ourselves. Since then, we have learned about financial business systems and structures by attending workshops. We’ve applied for grants, small business loans, business lines of credit, and zero percent business credit cards which gives the opportunity to build relationships with banks. Also by simply learning to save money to accomplish our financial goals, we have been able to grow our financial portfolio for funding our small business.

There is a myriad of different ways to fund entrepreneurial ventures. For Echols Catering we found that a small business loan and Business line of credit was the best fit for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.echolscatering.com
• Instagram: echolscatering
• Facebook: Echols Catering
• Other: Google ; Echols Catering