We were lucky to catch up with Montonio Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Montonio, thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I’ve taken is starting my food business. In the restaurant industry, it’s very hard to make it pass 3 years. With all food businesses, I feel it is the same way. Food is another art form that is ever changing. You have to have your niche together with your business along with finding answers to challenges that haven’t surfaced yet. It may sound like a lot but working for yourself is a glorious feeling. The sense of self-satisfaction you get when you get a happy customer and you don’t have to answer to anyone is a feeling that makes these experiences and challenges all worthwhile. “Aspire to inspire until you expire.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

For those who don’t know, I am the owner of Zilla’s World Comfort. I’ve been cooking for 20+ years and one day while I was working in the navy I had the idea for a restaurant. I’ve been striving hard since that day to make my vision a reality. At the present time, I offer private dining experiences that include packages with live entertainment (i.e. violin and piano) and photoshoot opportunities, catering, meal preps and more. The experience you get when you book with me is a once in a lifetime experience when it comes to food and the services that follows. I’ve auditioned for MasterChef, TopChef, and Next Level Chef, as well as, cooked for celebrities which makes for experiences that I bring to every event.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

In the times we live in, social media has become paramount in business ventures. When I started, it was my best tool for finding and establish new customers (especially when traveling to new locations). If you are starting out, make sure you do your research and figure out what competitors you have and what is the best setup for your social media pages to attract more customers!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What helped me build my reputation with customers was my resilience and attention to detail. You may never see a bad review about my brand because I always pay attention to detail. Often times, people are too concerned about money starting out that they forget about the other part, the customer. I’ve had times that I’ve had to take loses in order to make sure that the customer was satisfied.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/zillathechef
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/zillasworldcomfort
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/zillasworldcomfort
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/zillasworldcomfort

Image Credits
I have all rights to pictures