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

Hi Jess, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I am hoping to build a legacy for all three of my kids, in specific, right now, for my two teenage daughters. They have watched me love cooking for them, and cooking for my business over the years. They have seen the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into both of the businesses I have owned, and they have said they want to own their own business some day.

I would love to be able to grow Fox Den Cooking to have multiple locations, and to pass this down to my kids to continue to inspire people to learn how to cook and share the love of food as I have.

I think that people will say that I was an approachable, instructor and business owner, looking to make a cooking school into a shared social experience. I want to make sure that learning to cook and sharing that with other friends and family is a fun experience and something that should be easy and accessible to all.

I hope to be remembered for being a hard working, woman business owner that made someone’s day a little brighter, a couple hours at a time.

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?

Cooking is in my blood. I grew up with a family that loved cooking with and for each other. To me, food was how we showed love for each other. My grandparents used to babysit me when I was very little and my mom was working a couple of jobs, and they would make me homemade tortillas with a little butter melted on top, folded in half. I can actually taste it, just talking about it. My maternal side is Hispanic and my paternal side of my family is Irish. My dad’s side of the family was very much into all of the fancy cooking magazines and articles. My Grandma was always clipping recipes and putting together lavish ideas for spreads for birthdays and holidays. I even tried wild boar and lamb and artichoke stew when I was 8 years old.

I think when I really started to get into the idea of cooking for myself and others was on weekends with my dad. My parents divorced when I was young, and I remember him picking me up, stopping at White Hen Pantry, getting himself a lottery ticket and me a pint of Coffee Ice Cream and sitting me in front of old school channel 11 to watch all of the classic chefs. I grew up with Julia Child, Yan Can Cook and The Frugal Gourmet. Every other weekend I would watch all of these amazing chefs and thought I wanted to own a restaurant someday.

Life moves on, and I ended up graduating from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Elementary Education. I completed all of my student teaching and teaching assistant hours throughout the local suburbs in a variety of grades, but really ended up loving second grade. I ended up taking over for a teacher’s maternity leave, promised a job when it was over, only to find out teaching was coming to a bit of a standstill for hiring at that time.

I quickly switched careers to something completely different for a few years, then got married, had kids and became a stay at home mom of 2 little girls. I didn’t do too well staying home, not working, so my husband sent me off to find a small job just to get me out of the house, which led me back into the restaurant world, serving and bartending at a local golf club. I loved interacting with all of the members, but I was secretly always in the back with the Chef, learning all of the tips and trick and wanting to just be behind the counter.

Time went on and I went back to corporate America, divorced and remarried, but not happy in the field I was in, my husband convinced me to try my hand at cooking for people in a different way. I had been meal prepping for us at home, and he suggested I try doing it for others. I started by cooking a few meals for my aunts coworkers and they gave me some insight on what they liked and didn’t like and I went from making 15 meals a week to 350 meals a week for people out of my own home. My best friend had helped me create a website and ordering system. We figured out a business name and social media handles to best promote menus and the business, and it grew from there. This was when I truly realized that I knew how to cook well, and people agreed. I would shop, prep, cook and deliver meals myself on Mondays and Wednesdays. I loved being able to interact directly with my customers and prepare delicious food for them.

Covid definitely took its toll on my business, as well as others, but I pivoted and tried working in other capacities, with copackers that could handle the capacity but unfortunately, in the end, I had to close due to the lack of meals necessary for a facility to make my orders.

During that time, I had met a Chef in the area, that had met with me to talk shop and we became fast friends, and he ended up a mentor to me throughout my time with Foodie Fresh Meals. He had taken on another opportunity by opening a restaurant in a space, but Covid really sank it fast. He needed to come up with a new idea for the space since he signed a three year lease, then came to me about opening a cooking school together. I said yes immediately, being able to meld together my two loves. He was only able to stay teaching for a very short while, and needed to remove himself from the equation, so I took over the space and all of the teaching.

We have grown exponentially since July of last year. We offer private events that range from corporate, team-building classes to birthday parties, to anniversary celebrations and even book clubs and wedding showers. Our events have become some of my favorite moments since being here. My classes are traditionally Thursdays through Saturday evenings, with our most popular class being Fresh Pasta Making.

I have hired three additional instructors as of the last couple months, to help assist in offering an even wider range of classes for students. Dana is a Private Chef that has her own meal prepping company and is the perfect instructor for my students looking for knife skills and all the tricks of the trade as she is truly culinary trained and such a little ball of energy. Kym is my baker extraordinaire. From scones to cookies to any pastry you can imagine, this woman is always baking and looking to share all that she knows. Mary is a local Dietician that loves teaching her students about all of the vitamins and nutrients involved in all of the fresh fruits and vegetables she cooking with across a variety of cuisines.

What sets my school apart from others is that I am not promising to teach anyone the perfect way to use a knife or cut an onion. I am far more concerned with people coming to share a moment with their friends, family or coworkers that they will talk about for many years to come. I am looking for people to turn off their phones, engage with each other, and have a truly enriching experience while learning something new and tasting something delicious.

Going back to my upbringing and informal education, I was shown to share food with people and teach them how to love something new that they maybe had never had before. I want someone to feel the warmth of the homemade flour tortilla, just off the comal (cast iron tortilla pan) with a little pat of butter, that was like a hug from your mom. I want to teach how to make Coq Au Vin and have someone transported to Paris, either for the first time or remember actually visiting. And I want them all to do this together and share stories together. Meet a new friend or discuss how they share their time together over food.

I hope my brand becomes sharing food with people with love and having a truly enriching experience at Fox Den.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Call me old school, but I have built and grown both of my business on word of mouth and good service. We do live in a world where social media is a must for small businesses, and Google profiles are necessary to catch people’s eyes when searching for things to do. So I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have all of those tools set up.

However, I have worked hard, to create products that are solid, that people enjoy and I make sure, that when my students are here, they have a good time and love what they are doing.

I make sure to ask for constructive criticism after every class and facilitate a conversation involving students offering suggestions for future classes.

I make sure to make everyone feel seen and heard in my classes and that they feel comfortable learning and cooking with me.

I think that growth in business comes from happy customers telling other friends and family about their experience and making sure when my referrals come in, they are just as happy.

I truly enjoy interacting with people and I love what I do. Even when I am exhausted, I love what I do and I never let my students see that side. I think that being genuine in all of my interactions has been a key factor in my success with growth, as customers want to help small business owners succeed at something they love.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Right around the time that I started teaching classes at Fox Den, I started watching The Lost Kitchen on repeat. Erin French, owns a restaurant in her hometown of Freedom, ME. She is a divorced and remarried cook that started cooking at a young age, never culinary trained, but ended up cooking dinners out of an Airstream, and eventually out of her restaurant. She has an entirely woman dominated staff and only allows reservations from a post card lottery system. She forages for flowers and decorations herself. Her mother works with her to serve wine and a multitude of other things. And she truly works from farm to table. She goes around to all of the local farmers and only serves what is in season and only what she can get from them. Her menus are lavish but precise and her goal is to make food for people they will never forget. Her recipes are simple but very good, layered with flavors that make you wonder how it would all come together. But she is trying to give her guests (that may have waited a few years to get in to eat at her restaurant) a once in a lifetime experience.

I love watching her episodes because it reminds me to continue doing what I love, teaching to those willing to learn, and coming up with classes that inspire students to want to try new things and taste things they will never forget. I want to offer a place for people to be transported out of their regular lives and stresses and just enjoy food and the company of others.

As I grow, I hope to work with as many local farms, wineries and breweries to have the ultimate food and beverage experience to promote my other small business owners along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.foxdencooking.com
• Instagram: @foxdencooking
• Facebook: Fox Den Cooking Classes
• Linkedin: Jessica Evans
• Yelp: Fox Den Cooking

Image Credits
Leave Her Wild Photography