We recently connected with Chef Nakia and have shared our conversation below.

Chef Nakia, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

In August of 2020, I launched chefate, and I love that I get to talk about food every day. Seeing my clients fall in love with cooking and creating delicious dishes they weren’t familiar with before motivates me every day. One of my favorite parts of chefate is providing culinary advice for at-home cooks so they can build confidence in their cooking skills. This confidence breeds creativity and more joy in the kitchen. We want our clients to have as many joyful experiences in the kitchen as possible and create bonding moments with family. We strive to give our clients back their time so they can enjoy food and pursue their hearts’ passions.

chefate is chef-guided grocery delivery. Our clients can choose chef-developed recipes from our cookbook to create their shopping lists and add on any other grocery staples desired. The grocery shopping is done by a chef and all groceries are delivered in reusable produce bags and shopping bags. The client does all of the food prep and cooking but if she has any questions along the way, we offer ‘phone a chefpro’ to get direct access to a chef. We also encourage donations with each shop which we drop off at local food pantries.

Our mission is to connect busy people with joyful food. Our definition of ‘joyful food’ incorporates positivity from three sources – individual, community, and environmental impact.

Individual food positivity incorporates the principles of Intuitive Eating in banishing any restriction or guilt around food and embracing deep nourishment and satisfaction as we eat. Individual food positivity also includes creating happier experiences in the kitchen by offering guidance from chefs to encourage more confidence and creativity in our clients’ culinary adventures.

Food positivity in the community is centered around our efforts to combat food insecurity. Everybody should have access to safe, nutritious food and by donating to local food pantries we are doing our small part to help those who are food insecure. Community food positivity is also about celebrating and connecting through our cultural foods. Each of us grows up with recipes unique to our family and when we share those foods, we share a piece of ourselves and our family’s history. Connecting through food creates delicious opportunities to understand how we all experience life uniquely.

To us, environmental food positivity means respecting our food and protecting where it comes from. By only using reusable produce bags and grocery bags, we aim to reduce the amount of plastic in landfills and prevent deforestation by paper bags. Additionally, each of chefate’s recipes link to other recipes for ideas to utilize your leftover ingredients. By minimizing our food waste, we lessen our impact on the environment and show respect and gratitude for our food.

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

Food, and sharing food with loved ones, has always been a huge part of my life. As a kid, I remember loving to spend time in the kitchen with my family. Whether it was making pies with my grandma, pizza with my dad, cookies with my mom, or anything and everything with my grandpa – I found the process of cooking fascinating and a ton of fun! Filled with a passion for food, I worked at cafe’s, restaurants, hotels, a dessert manufacturer and attended Johnson and Wales University in Denver.

Already being immersed in the food service industry, during the spring of 2020 I saw firsthand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our food supply. What concerned me the most, was hearing that many people were worried about the food coming into their own home. There was massive demand placed on grocery delivery and unfortunately that resulted in many disappointing grocery delivery experiences – the produce was of poor quality, illogical substitutions were made when stores were out of stock of specific ingredients, and items were damaged from careless handling. I knew there had to be a better way to provide groceries to families in Denver – one of the most important and personal goods in our lives. Because of my chef background in the food industry and my passion for recipe development, I realized that I could offer a unique service that blended chef expertise and personalization into a joyful grocery delivery experience.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Networking has been so impactful for chefate! And for anyone nervous or unsure about networking, my advice is to think about networking as an opportunity to GIVE!

I’ve had to overcome my shyness to help get chefate out there. When I focus on how I can help others when networking, I stop feeling intimidated by meeting new people and start feeling excited for the opportunities. I recommend to new networkers that you take a few minutes before a networking meeting to think of your favorite existing business connections. Do you know a great copywriter? Did you just work with a contractor who did a great job on your home renovation? Do you know someone passionate about photography or event planning?

Networking meetings aren’t just about getting your own business out there, but connecting and referring people you believe in.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Goal setting – In business classes, I learned about mapping out goals and ensuring that they are SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. And none of that is wrong, but I’ve learned that goal setting holds way more nuance than being ‘smart’.

When I first started chefate, I set multiple goals with ‘achievement dates’ spanning several months. I made them specific and relevant and felt like each of these goals was achievable. I also made sure to include a measurable benchmark so I could track progress. What I failed to do was to consider how many unexpected opportunities, setbacks, and realizations happen in the first few months of a new business. I realized a couple of my goals were not achievable in the timelines I had set. I also realized that I failed to allow any room for flexibility within my goals, so a few drifted away from being relevant and instead created distractions.

What I’ve learned is that goals can be helpful and motivating, but sometimes they can stifle energy. I’ve learned to set goals for chefate in a way where they truly support me and chefate. I don’t create goals as a rigid report card that’s updated quarterly. I’ve found that building flexibility into my goals motivates me to continue working on them – not just to achieve them, but to ensure the goal is aligned with what’s best for chefate. My goals no longer stifle creative energy, but reinvigorate my entrepreneurial spirit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chefatellc.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chefatellc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefatellc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChlSZptlsqMs0TNFgx6OLMg
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chefate-denver?osq=chefate