We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jahnesta Watson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jahnesta, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Jahnesta Watson “Chef Shaiheem”, is the owner and private chef of the Atlanta based catering company, The Guilty Plate Co. The company began in 2016 at a point in my life where I was severely overweight and unhappy. When I began meal prepping to lose weight , my closest friend named Sean Perry and fraternity brother, suggested that I should go into business for myself. I began simply by offering to prepare meal prep meals for people in the office where I worked and things really just took off from there!

I had to figure out how to get to the point of understanding that it was not helpful to my business to not have balance between the value and pricing. I think so many Chefs and business owners have this issue out of the fear of not getting business.

Jahnesta, 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 am a completely self taught Chef via self learning and restaurant training and I cooked my way through school that way. I have studied for about 10+ years across a wide array of business which have culminated themselves into a wealth of cooking knowledge.

A problem I solve for my clients is that I take the hassle out of food in general From my clients. From start to finish and from Meal prep to large events. I am plugged in with other talented black businesses who have the skill set to make any event amazing..

The love of the craft, my attention to detail, and my knowledge of layering flavor profiles set me apart. I don’t just cook but I understand the why behind ingredients.

Some of the things I am most proud of are my building of celebrity clientele, my feature in BUZZFEED and my interview with FoxNews. More than anything I’m proud of starting and keeping my business thriving this far..

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

The initial capital for my business was my salary. I spent time cutting back on everything I wanted leisurely so that I could pour back in. I didn’t grow up having people teach me the importance of credit and about business finance but when I got my business to a point of being there then my business was able to finally start to scale.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was how to handle letdowns in business. I used to believe that shutting them out to keep pushing was the main thing to do in order to succeed. I have now learned in my like the important thing to do is to pull them apart and understand what caused the letdown. We have to be cognizant of all the moving pieces of our business and even an angry customer has things to say that you may need to hear.

Contact Info:

• Website: Theguiltyplate.Com
• Instagram: TheChefShaiheem
• Facebook: Jahnesta Watson

Image Credits
Tevin Mike (IG – @WhoTMike)