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

Hi Kristi, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I’ve always been fascinated with food – not just the consumption of it, but its provenance, the process of creating certain dishes, the impact it has on a culture. When I went vegetarian in 2008, doing so opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. I began to experiment with foods I’d never before tried and new ways of preparing them. Avocado. is the result of many years of studying and experimentation with vegetarian cuisines, and I want to share my perspective with other folks, because we all interpret cooking through different lenses.

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?

Avocado. offers private chef, kitchen concierge and menu/party planning as well as meal preparation. I specialize in preparing vegan/vegetarian/raw vegan meals, either for one person or a whole family. If someone is having a romantic dinner for two or a wedding reception and they want all plant-based offerings, that’s where Avocado. can assist. I also offer personal kitchen organization, which is something that a lot of people find daunting to do on their own. I can create personalized menus for families and prepare them in-home so they don’t have to concern themselves with the often time-consuming process of making lunch and dinner every day.

On my website, I have several menus that folks can select from, as well as an a la carte menu of offerings so they can “build their own.”

To wit, Avocado is a one-stop-shop for vegetarian or vegan cooking in the Tampa Bay area.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

My clients are all great – I have developed a fun relationship with many of them. I make note of their likes and dislikes and kind of instinctively know what they’ll go for in terms of meals. I do keep in touch with my clientele with an email newsletter, which I produce a few times per month, depending on what’s happening in the Avocado kitchen. I like to foster brand loyalty by rewarding my repeat clients with discounts, free meals, and gifts. They’re just little ways of saying ‘thank you for supporting a small business.’

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

In 2018, LocalShops1 held its annual Top Local Chef Contest, and I thought, well, why not go for it? Avocado was still in its infancy at the time, and even though I was competing as a personal chef and not a restaurant chef, to me, that line was blurry. So I threw my hat in the ring, was accepted – and fired myself up to win this competition. I was the only woman chef, the only personal chef, and the only vegetarian/vegan chef in the contest, so that was unique. For that contest, we chefs were paired with a local Tampa Bay brewery to include one of their beers in our signature dish. I selected a porter from Dunedin Brewery and created a lentil and eggplant chili using the beer as a savory note. It was delicious.

Even though I didn’t end up winning the competition, it was something that made me realize truly, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.avocadostpete.com
• Instagram: avocadostpete
• Facebook: avocadostpete
• Twitter: avocadostpete