We were lucky to catch up with Miss Lucky Long recently and have shared our conversation below.
Miss Lucky, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
I hope to leave a legacy of care and compassion for others. I want my food brand to bring joy. I want to be remembered as a hard working joyful person who doesn’t mind putting a smile on someone else’s face.
I hope that when I have children they are able to follow in my footsteps.
Making money is great but being personable, knowing how to meet people where they are, and being able to connect with people through their taste buds is a real talent.
Miss Lucky, 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?
When I first got into the food industry it was through providing cooking lessons to children online. This was during the beginning of the pandemic. This idea I had of teaching kids to cook while giving the adults a hour or two of rest propelled me into the industry.
Shortly after I was able to identify a need for meal prep for adults that worked too much or were too busy to cook food for during the week. I started advertising around Baltimore and talking about it to anyone who would listen. I began offering meal prep plans and did that for a while.
I decided to branch off into catering about two years ago. Since starting my catering company we’ve catered festivals, pop up shops, private events, and more.
I’m most proud of the growth my company has had. We collab with local artists and entrepreneurs in the food industry. We have grown from the cooking lesson to catering for groups and events.
We make eating fun and take the chore and bore out of cooking. We provide meals that make people feel just as good as the food looks. Getting a nice home cooked meal after a long day is not hard with Luckys Gourmet Eats!
We want to continue to provide Baltimore and its residents with yummy food for themselves and their families.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
When I was in college I used to cook for my friends and neighbors. This side hustle was really my introduction to cooking for an audience. I didn’t think that I could make a career out of it I just knew I was good at it.
It wasn’t until I graduated and came back to Baltimore that I started thinking I could make this hustle work for me. When Covid hit everyone including myself was struggling to make ends meet.
I found myself often wondering what could I do that would make me happy. I went from job to job searching for one that made me feel like I had an impact. One day I was thinking about what I’m passionate about and how I could align that with my career.
A friend suggested I start cooking lessons for kids. At first I was skeptical because it was not something I had tried before. But the more I advertised the more people were interested. So I decided to create a class via zoom.
I also decided to start working in a restaurant so I could see the business aspect of things and how other people ran their businesses.
After my first class the rest is herstory!
Some key milestones I would say are 1.Getting class going 2. Gaining more students. 3. Moving into the food industry as a permanent role.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I learned at a younger age your community and support system are the most valuable tools you have.
This lesson has propelled me in many ways and can be true to an extent in business. The reason I had to unlearn this in a business sense is your community is not always necessarily
target audience.
Just because they post you on social media does not mean they will turn into a paying client. Sometimes you have to venture out beyond your community to find your target market. Unlearning this lesson changed things for me drastically.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Lgecuisine.com
- Instagram: Luckysgourmeteats
- Facebook: Luckysgourmeteats
