We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shirah Clark. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shirah below.
Shirah , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.
Looking back over the last year, I would have had a honed in on a specific aspect of our business and stayed laser focused there until it was more self-sustaining. And then I would have tackled the next vision or goal and grow that into a self-sufficient space, and so on.
My mistake was that looking for every chance to say “yes” and that often stretched my team, my resources, and myself far too thin. I love the idea of growing and thinking outside of the box, but I see now, that it was more harmful than helpful. We dropped balls and missed the mark on a few big orders because we were pulled in so many directions. I am grateful to have had some very gracious clients, but I recognize that were didn’t live up to our Mission of making hosting less stressful.
My other major change would have been to analyze my food cost numbers much earlier. We didn’t have clear method on how to keep our boards, trays, and tables artistic, but also profitable. We now have a system that ensure we can be creative and unique without losing profits- it just took longer and made a big impact in our profitability to not have this be a top priority.
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?
I have been working in food services since I was 14 years old, with my first job being on a farm in the city of Snohomish, WA. This experience ignited a passion within me because I learned the importance of being connected to our food and how this can shape our connections with each other. I loved seeing how a shopper would light up with delight when they bought the vegetables I picked from the field earlier that day. The farm stand was a magical place for me.
I continued my career as a leader in quick and fast casual restaurant concepts such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery, Gourmondo Catering, and Panera Bread. My leadership roles have included everything from team lead, shift supervisor, assistant manager, kitchen manager, regional training manager, general manager, to district manager. I have had the privilege of working every position in the fast causal restaurant segment.
In 2017, I had started a side hustle baking business called Dusty Apron Bakery. I was known for an outstanding chocolate cake and delicious scones. And then in 2023, I was presented with the opportunity to purchase Whippoorwill Grazing, an existing business that focuses on grazing and charcuterie boards. Purchasing this business allowed me to expand beyond desserts and cakes and enter into the specialty catering market.
Whippoorwill Grazing was in alignment with Dusty Apron Bakery’s values with offering from-scratch, house-made crackers, cheese spreads, jams, dressings and with sourcing high-quality ingredients, so this was the perfect next step.
With this expansion, I have also been able to execute my goal of hiring, training, and developing staff who have been traditionally underserved in our communities, with a heavy focus on hiring women. The job skills we will be able to teach our staff will allow them to build their resumes and be viable candidates for jobs within our industry no matter where they live.
My mission it to create magic and joy in our World through food. From inspiring those who work in my kitchen to the amazement of guests and clients walking into to see their grazing tables for the first time. I work to create the ultimate gathering-space for all to enjoy while engaging their senses and enjoying their time together.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
In 2017 I was in a transitional period of my career and I had decided to take some time off to soul-search. I was off work about 3 days, before a friend reached out and asked if had time to bake her some holiday pies. I figured why not? I can use the extra money for the holiday shopping. And then I decided to extend the offer to all my friends on Facebook. I sold 75 pies that first year.
From there, I was offering Valentine’s Day cookies, Easter breakfast pastries, weekly breakfast pastry boxes and eventually I started making custom cakes.
I continued to grow my business and was at a place to take on the business full time, but then covid hit. I was able to see make a few orders through the year, but had to scale back to focus on health and well being. In 2021, I had a big surgery and had to again put the business on the back burner. In 2022, I decided I really need to focus on growing my business and getting my creative works back out there, so I spent a year working the business to a point were it could be my full time job going into 2023.
I spent sometime looking for a commercial kitchen space so that I could expand my offerings and start wholesaling products. I found a kitchen operated by a local grazing board caterer. We arrange a deal with where I would get kitchen rental time in exchange for hours to work on my business. Withing 4 months, the owner asked me if I wanted to by her business and the answer was “yes”. So that is how my side hustle became my full time job.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Over the last 7 years of my life, I have experienced every personal challenge I can think of from pregnancy-loss, to covid, to divorce, the death of loved ones, surgeries, job changes, and major moves, but nothing shows more resilience in my journey than my first year in operations.
Shortly after taking over this operation, our walk-in fridge went down, we had an smash & grab break-in, ovens going down, hot water heater crash, and then the news that our building is being demolished and we are losing our lease in just a few months. We have incurred over $20k in unexpected equipment repairs which has made hitting payroll and expenses challenging for several months at a time. And yet, here I am still standing. Still growing, Still booking well into 2025. Still with visions of what is next for me and this business of mine.
All of these challenges, both personally and professionally, have taught me the art of surrender. It has strengthened my faith in the Universe and that I truly believe everything will always work out as it should. It has taught me to have a big picture calling/knowing for myself and my business, but to digest each day for itself. I can worry away my energy worrying about what next week will bring, or I can put my focus on how to grow our way out of this situation.
Through all of the challenges this year has presented me, I have said in the “ring” because I know I have touched so many peoples lives. I helped them celebrate new babies to the passing of loved ones. I have been part of the magic of wedding days and the picnic on the beach with their best girlfriends. Romantic dates and new business launches and everything in between. So for every challenge I have faced, I have meet it with grace and love and returned back to my “why”.
And through it all I have increased our sales by 20% over last year, engaged the power of our social media, and made my new friends a long the way. I often remind myself, I have not only survived the first year, but I am thriving. All of these challenges go into the bucket of “this is my start up story.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://whippoorwillgrazing.com
- Instagram: @whippoorwill_grazing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhippoorwillGrazing
Image Credits
Image of myself: Johnathon Tung