We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Danielle Sutter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Danielle below.

Alright, Danielle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

A college friend of mine, living out of state begged me for over a year to start an Instagram handle specifically for cooking and food images. I used to post on my personal story what I served for dinner and etc. I finally gave in and did just that, started a handle for food, more_garlic_than_called_for. Nothing exciting and no intention to do anything with it. Fast forward a couple months, each time my local fiends and I got together to socialize, I was ALWAYS responsible for food. I am lucky to have a couple groups of friends, but one group in particular is full of women power houses. We have careers, growing families, side hustles and the taste for adventure and empowerment. Each event was and still is themed, each person celebrated, regardless of degree of success, and each person embraced for the unique personality they have. This same group of ladies, aka role models, each have something unique to contribute, mine, pretty food. That pretty dinner or snack for wine night turned into, “Danielle, can you make a dessert themed board for this person’s birthday?”, “Danielle, what about an Asian inspired board to enhance the Hibachi surprise birthday party?”, “Danielle, can you make a board to look like a bouquet for Valentine’s day or a Christmas tree for the holidays?” Very quickly the original food handle turned into a charcuterie handle which evolved to, cheesin_real_hard. Fast forward a few more months, when requests from friends of friends and local strangers started trickling into my direct messages, requesting I make a unique board for them, did I realize, hey, this creative outlet may be more than just fun, I can make this into a side business. Which stopped me, do I want my business to be called, Cheesin Real Hard or do I want it to represent what my goals are and embrace my local community. I took the holidays to focus on where I wanted to take this business, what my family commitments would look like, how long would I try this, potentially failing, until we call it quits or a good try. One night, real late, while starring at the dark ceiling and spit balling ideas with my husband did we combine Jacksonville’s nickname, The First Coast with my goal, to build boards and teach others how resulting in First Coast Build A Board. Luckily, I was one of a kind and from there dove deep into business planning and forward momentum.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Danielle Sutter and I am the owner and sole operator of First Coast Build A Board, a very small, local to Jacksonville, FL charcuterie board building business. First Coast Build A Board is a private, all-inclusive learning experience serving five to fifteen participants (at a time). When we say, “all-inclusive” we mean all-inclusive. During the event, each participant has a fully prepared station with cutting boards, aprons, knives, gloves, and food safe boards. In addition, all cheeses, meats, fruits, and other accouterments are provided. Everything is brought to the private location, therefore this class can be conducted at private residences, amenities centers, corporate locations, etc. Date night, mother-daughter classes, girls nights, team building exercises, you name it, all perfect occasions to discover a creative talent you didn’t think you could have. The instructor (me) provides you fully wrapped meat and cheese, and walks you step by step through how to cut and assemble into different designs. Ideally, by starting with wrapped product, the student can repeat the process. As in, approach their deli section and remember, I have the talent to make that block of cheese into a braid (or other design) or that package of salami into roses, etc. In other words they can take what they learned and repeat in the future.

During the first half of the class, cutting and assembling instruction is provided; the second half, board creation. At the end of the class, each student goes home with a fully assembled board.

Hands down, the best part of the whole experience is hearing the comments along the way, “Oh, that’s how you do it?,” “Look at my, xyz, its beautiful!,” “I am so impressed!”, or by far the best, “I can’t believe I did that!” The pride in my students work, that they created that, that they did all the work and made it more beautiful than they could have imagined is so incredibly fulfilling.

I still do custom boards upon request and I love the quiet, creative, stress reliving time that offers me. And don’t get me wrong, the impressed gratitude provided when I hand over the completed board is rewarding, but nothing is as rewarding as the look and overall feeling of accomplishment my students convey during and at the end of a class.

But, I am often asked, how did you know you wanted to teach? Well, my husband and I were attending a holiday party and I decided to bring a Christmas tree shaped charcuterie board. No one would touch it. Several took pictures and one person, I hadn’t met before said, “Who made that? It’s almost too beautiful to eat!” At that point, not wanting my efforts and the food to go to waste, I destroyed the board and made it into a big blob of food. The same person responded to my actions in a way I didn’t expect. She said, “My team is having a charcuterie board making contest. We each have a certain amount of time, same size board and a budget, can you give me some hints? If I can do even a portion of what you made, I will win. ” So I did her one better, I took her number, called her the next day, told her what to buy and we sat down for a couple of hours cutting and assembling. Knowing I wouldn’t be there on the day of her competition, she needed to do the work during our class to have a better shot at remembering day of. Therefore, she did all the work. At the end of the class, her gratitude, aura of accomplishment, and excitement to enter the competition told me one thing, this is exactly what I want to pursue. From that day forward, I shifted my goals. As mentioned, yes, I still build boards for personal consumption and when requested, but now, I focus on teaching others to make food pretty.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

After my first taste of teaching, I busted through the door of my house and into my kitchen where my three kids and husband were hanging out with an enormous amount of pride and the sense of satisfaction. They could feel it. They were excited for me. Without thinking anything of it, I said, I want to pursue teaching and without a hint of hesitation my husband said, “ok, lets do it.” Luckily for me, teaching charcuterie classes does not come with an enormous start up cost, but it also was not free. My husband and I made an agreement, we would pull a certain amount of money from our personal savings to cover the start up costs, understanding that if this business idea fails, losing the decided upon amount was worth the risk. We also decided that we would not walk away unless we made it a full calendar year with no success and/or the side business took more time from the family and our current life style than brought reward and accomplishment back in return. Fast forward, the business has not yet broken even but we are close, very close and each class I meet new people, expand my networking bubble and continue to feel that sense of pride. Statistically a lot of start ups do not break even for the first several years of operation, therefore to be close with time to spare, we can consider our small business venture to be successful.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

It’s not something new or exciting, but sticking to what I know to be true, being honest, doing what I say I will do, committing and following through, etc. When I tell my potential prospects I will follow up by I certain day, I follow up, regardless. After a class, I reach out to each participant, and thank them for investing in my small business. It may seem obvious, but I (personally) will return over and all again to a business where I felt respected, appreciated and what I paid for what what I got. In the long run it doesn’t pay to cut corners and it may take a few extra minutes of my day to thank each person, or let someone know that I don’t have the details yet but I am still working on them, but those qualities instill confidence in my clientele and when asked, my clients remember those feelings and refer.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @firstcoastbuildaboard
• Facebook: First Coast Build A Board (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089094146389&mibextid=LQQJ4d)
• Other: linktr.ee/firstcoastbuildaboard

Image Credits
Ozzy Trevino