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

Briana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

The biggest challenge to profitability in the food industry in my sphere of service (catering, cooking classes, and meal prep) is ever-changing food costs. A lot of consumers don’t understand how much food cost plays a role in their overall experience. For example when I do cooking classes its important to me to ensure I buy all the food the same day so its the absolute best, and freshest for my cooking students, this often means I cannot go through major suppliers like Shamrock, and Sysco foods I have to go to local suppliers like local grocery stores or places like restaurant depot, however this comes with another challenge of that I cannot buy in bulk to save money overall because my classes are usually only 20 max students and I just simply don’t need that much food to host a class. This causes me to have to buy the same foods my students would buy at their local grocer and I don’t get any discounts for being a business owner so i’m subject to the same markups & price changes as everyone else. Not long ago there was a national egg shortage and the price of eggs in some places went up to $9 for a 12 count. My pasta classes obviously use a lot of eggs (at least 36 eggs). This meant for each class I was spending nearly $30 just for eggs, not counting all the other food I had to buy. This caused me to have to temporarily stop pasta classes because I was losing money & basically working for free after the cost of food, supplies, and kitchen rental.

Briana, 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?

Im Chef Bria, I started cooking when I was 9 years old as a result of busy & tired parents. I was tired of eating tv dinners and wanted to teach myself how to cook on my own. That year my mom got me a kids cookbook and from there my passion sparked, but it wasn’t until I was 22 years old that I decided to make a business from my passion. I started in the non-profit sector teaching low income and immigrant youth how to cook from what they got at the food pantry in 2014 and now almost 10 years later my top 3 services are Catering, Private Chef Services, and Cooking Classes. I also recently started a weekly meal prep delivery service. I solve many problems for my clients but the biggest one I solve is saving them time. Cooking will always take time and all my services show them how to save time. I think what sets me apart from others is that I tend to be “budget based” many other caterers have minimums, and set pricing to where the customer doesn’t really have the variety they want, they just have to go with the most budget friendly option, but with me I can provide them variety that fits their budget, and I have very flexible payment plans/options. I am most proud of the fact I have built my business from the ground up working with local people & other businesses to grow my clientele which has gotten me very good reviews on facebook & google. My goal is to keep all my customers happy & to go above & beyond for them and I want them to know when they hire me they can be sure they are getting a professional, reliable provider that will ensure you have delicious food no matter which service you choose with me.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Like many other businesses I had to pivot during Covid. In Colorado most food related businesses were shut down or limited and for me as my business is mostly spawned from events I had no real catering opportunities, and hosting in person cooking classes were not allowed (those were my only 2 services at the time). I ended up having to move from Colorado to another state with family because I had no income to support staying in Colorado. In the new state I pivoted my business to offering convienient meal prep service and it boomed, but I was lacking the passion because I missed the direct interaction with people, and I also new this new state was only temporary so I didnt push myself with my business much during that time. Almost 2 years later I moved back to Colorado and relaunched my 2 main services and since then i’ve had a more profitable year than any of the years before.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Facebook is and may always be the best source of new clients for me because there’s so many free resources within facebook like Groups & Marketplace and of course having a business page but also using my personal page to promote. I definitely am grateful for Facebook having all these free tools and resources.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.briasitalianfusion.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/briasitalianfusion
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/briasitalianfusion
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@cookingwithchefbria3142
• Other: email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Katie Fletcher of Katie Fletcher Photography www.katiefletcherphoto.com [email protected] 303-475-7439