We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Monique Booker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Monique, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Its Peak Covid! i just had my son and i’m now a stay at home mom, I never in my life pictured myself in this situation. I have been cooking for the last 13 years and it was all i knew, now i’m a MOM??? i went fro workking over 40 hours a week to now taking care of my new born son every day, all dayyyy. His dad was there of course and honestly shout out to the covid payments for keeping us afloat.Now adjusting to my new life i was lost, i didn’t know what to do. My passion is food but now this little 7lb baby boy has me afraid to leave the house,so in order to keep my skills polished my son has very fancy meals starting at 6 months. I knew deep down i would have to go back to work and i wanted to but it had to be different, it had to work not only for me but my son’s schedule as well and then it came to me..Ill start my own business and since that day i’ve spent every waking hour either planning or spending on my business while being the best mom possible. One thing about humans is,they will always eat no matter what! so was it worth take the risk? ask me in a year!
Monique, 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?
Im a Chef in Cambridge,Mass, Graduated culinary arts school in 2011,Moved to California for 7 years, did a stint on reality TV, worked for some amazing Chefs including Chef Jody Adams of Boston, Iron Chef Morimoto & a very short time with Chef Gordon Ramsay.Came back home because of Covid & decided to start a small business making the food i love and grew up on. It drove me crazy not being able to find good street tacos OR soul food in Boston so i figured i would do it! My son has been my motivation every day to get up and do my best because i truly believe in leading by example.
How’d you meet your business partner?
So i took over the Kitchen at An Sibin at the end of June, we live in a strange time now where everyone wants top dollar but doesn’t have any skills,strange i know. I had been doing taco pop ups for about a year when the owners reached out to me, i was so excited. Up until then i had been in a shared commercial kitchen space, which is a lovely start for any food business, but i knew i wanted my own kitchen some day. It wasn’t only me at first in the kitchen there was other small businesses looking to take over the kitchen as well, more established businesses at that. I showed up every shift just doing what i do,hoping i would stand out to the owners. I would like to say it was my awkward Chef charm that got me the kitchen but i’m pretty sure it was my food. The kitchen officially became mine July 1st and its my biggest achievement so far and it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for all the connections i made at my local breweries, so i’m forever grateful.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
i had none,HA! i literally used all my saving as the first rent payment for my kitchen and went from there. Don’t be like me, find an investor or a small business loan or grant!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: adrianos_gk
- Facebook: facebook.com/adrianosss
- Linkedin: Monique Booker