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

Lauren , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

Am I happy as a business owner? The overall answer is yes. I am happy to be working for myself and on my own terms, but being a business owner does not come without its own difficulties and challenges. My fiance and I decided to start our business not only because we were tired of working for others, but primarily because we want to do something we love and to have a work life balance in an industry (hospitality & food service) that demands so much of our time. We have been operating our business for just over a year and every day is an adjustment. We are still learning and adapting based on our clients’ wants and needs along with those of our young family. The early years of any business are always difficult, but I do not think that any of them are easy. While certain tasks may become more streamlined, we as business owners are constantly working to improve, adjust, and stay relevant and fresh.

I have often thought about what it would be like to have a ‘regular’ job because sometimes all of the aspects of starting/running a business easily become overwhelming. When I think about working a 9-5, or a 9AM-midnight shift as a chef, for someone else’s dream I quickly realize it does not make sense. I cannot do what I love working just as hard and just as long for someone else’s dream or profit. When I put things in perspective, the trials and tribulations of being a business owner in tandem with the struggles to find an amenable work life balance are all worthwhile. I am lucky to have to the opportunity to create my standards, my rules, my balance; as opposed to being at the mercy of a schedule determined by an employer.

With that being said, I did recently take a ‘regular’ job in an unrelated field. At first glance this decision may seem contradictory to my previous statements; however, it is not. Bringing in a supplemental income will be hugely beneficial to us as new business owners. It will allow us to maintain autonomy in our business and continue to grow at our own pace. We will not have to rely on our business to support itself and our family after only one year of operating. This next chapter in our development will ensure that we can continue to maintain integrity in our business vision and decisions.

Lauren , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Our business, Honeycutt Culinary Concepts, is a food service/hospitality business focused on bringing farm-to-table dining to our community. Our goal is to make high quality food from scratch with a focus on local ingredients and to provide our clients with unique dining experiences. My fiance and I are both graduates of The Culinary Institute of America. We both have over forty years of experience in the industry, combined.

We offer a variety of services from artisan breads and baked goods at our local farmer’s market (the Lawton Farmer’s Market), home meal replacement services, catering, personal/private chef services, and a pop up dinner series. Currently we are working on opening a quick service restaurant and have plans to open a casual-upscale full-service restaurant within the next 1-2 years.

We have established working relationships with over 20 local farmers, producers, artisans and foragers over the last year. We are proud of the fact that our small business helps keep money within our community many times over before it exits. We love showcasing other local businesses and using sustainable, high quality ingredients in our cooking. We hired our first employees 9 months into operating and are excited about the opportunity to help create jobs within our community. We love being involved in community activities and events from teaching classes at the local VoTech to participating in festivals.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Our business has multiple revenue streams because we have our own supply chain within our supply chain. For example, we purchase ingredients from as many local sources as possible and some additional purveyors. We create products with those ingredients. Outlets within our business purchase them from each other. For example, we make artisan breads and baked goods to sell at the Lawton Farmer’s Market. On occasion we may have a couple of items left over, which we can turn into an entree, like a savory bread pudding, to sell on our home meal replacement menu or as a dessert for a catering menu, like a double chocolate croissant bread pudding. In doing this we not only minimize waste within our own business, but we keep money circulating within our local economy multiple times over.

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

One lesson that we had to learn and are currently in the process of learning is defining what success means to us. Some people view success as a singular goal like making a certain amount of money or opening a/multiple restaurants. We opened our business with a hyper focused, narrow mindset of success; believing that we needed to have a certain profit margin in a certain amount of time or open brick and mortar locations in order to be successful. We have learned along the way that success is different for everyone and for us it is having a business that we are proud of, that is profitable, that has a positive impact on our community and that we can grow on our own terms.

Contact Info:

• Website: honeycuttcc.square.site
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honeycuttculinary/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honeycuttcc