We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie Cheung. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.

Stephanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?

My best boss would definitely be Stuart Heir, who hired me to be his assistant when I was 18.5 years old. He gave me the confidence to pursue my passion in food, he encouraged me to voice my opinion, his exact words were “If you don’t speak up, no one is going to hear you.” At the time, I took it literally, and I switched from whispering my words to shouting them. He sent me on my very first business trip in Bangkok, Thailand, when I was only 20 years old. He told me I needed to train a group of seasoned graphic designers on how to utilize Photoshop 5.0. I looked so young then that the designers thought it was some sort of prank, but I pushed through and taught them everything I know. He showed me first hand that almost nothing is impossible. Today, almost 3 decades later, he still mentors me in my personal growth and provides me with business advice. Stuart is not only my first boss, but a father figure, a good friend, and one of my biggest supporters. I am very grateful to him and hope everyone has a Stuart in their lives.

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?

Stephanie’s Crepes is a dedicated 100% gluten free boutique crepe shop. I chose to specialize in gluten free crepes because I noticed the rising numbers of Celiac Disease–a sort of gluten allergy–in the people around me. So, I started reading up on our food supply chains. It turns out that some things have been altered over the years in order to meet the growing populations in this world, and it looks like Celiac disease rose around the same time. So, I started working on gluten free crepes, and it turned out great! I also focus on offering organic fruits and vegetables, as well as proteins that are nitrate and nitrate free. My brisket is grass fed and grass finished beef. My smoothies are 100% frozen organic fruits. I use organic eggs for my crepes and cage free eggs to make my batter.

This is my second career. I changed my career when I turned 30. Prior to this I was in the natural fancy color diamond industry for 11 years. So I developed a liking for colors and details and I started to dabble a little into designs, sales, and marketing. I worked with a single company, and I practically grew up with them.

When I turned 30, I decided I wanted to do something else with my life. Since as far back as I could remember, food has been dear to me. When I was little, my mother would tell me stories about my grandfather, who owned a bakery during World War II. At that time there were Japanese soldiers occupying Indonesia. They gathered all the men and put them to work. Some of them were killed. It was war so it was humans at their worst. They spared my grandfather’s life because they loved his freshly baked bread. That story sticks with me to this day, since I just thought, “Even if we have a pandemic, even if the world is caving in, people still need a good meal.” We are always told to aim for jobs as doctors or lawyers, to climb to the top, but at the end of the day, a loaf of bread is what saved my grandfather’s life. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here today.

My family would gather every week for dinner at different restaurants, and I loved it every time. But at the time it was frowned upon to own a restaurant as a career, since food wasn’t really a business back then. So, when I changed my career, I had to do something a little bit different in order to support myself.

I went back to school–culinary school–and studied French cuisine at the Institute of Culinary Education. For ten years I worked every position from busser to prep cook to line cook to sous chef. Then, I finally became a chef. I moved to the front to work as a server, assistant server, captain, manager, but just working in the kitchen was what made me happy.

When I finished learning at all the restaurants in New York, I was invited to cook at the Cannes Film Festival. I traveled all around France and I saw there was a bustling crepe culture – little crepe shops up and down every alley, lines that went on for miles. In New York we were supposed to have everything, but we didn’t have that many crepe shops. I’ve always wanted to make food that I feel is romantic, and there’s nothing more beautiful to me than a crepe.

Once I decided to pursue it, I traveled all throughout Asia. It turned out there was a thriving adoration for crepes in Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia. I followed different creperies, studying their techniques until I could make a crepe perfectly. I would pour on the batter, going at it again and again until something clicked–it was all in the wrist. Then, I was ready. When I returned back to America, I worked on my recipes for 6 months. I’d make as many as possible, tweaking the little details until it was exactly what I wanted. Once I had enough recipes, I was ready to share it to the world.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

My very first business was a hot dog cart in Westfield, New Jersey. I bought a golf cart with a hot dog cart attached to the side, and sold hot dogs to kids after their soccer matches. My cart went 15 mph max, which caused anger to a lot of drivers. I also didn’t know that at soccer practices, they had bake sales. So I was competing with soccer moms who were angry at me for selling hot dogs in the parking lot. One of them called the cops on me, thinking I was unlicensed. After enduring it for a week, I decided I’d rather pursue work in restaurants. It helped me to learn important skills which I still deploy today in my business.

Any advice for managing a team?

I have been very blessed with having the best team here in Miami. Every single team member I have is hard working, dedicated, and treats this business like their own. I’ve worked with mothers and their daughters, married couples, people who work tirelessly and put their all into everything they do. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for everyone who’s helped make my dream come true. I hire based on the character I see in them, not on their restaurant experience. I can teach them how to work in my kitchen, but I can’t teach them kindness. Every member of my team is kind and compassionate, and always willing to help one another out. I tell them that a restaurant is an “all hands on deck” operation, and that it’s imperative for each of us to do our part. I am very thankful for every single one of my team members who chose to work alongside me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.stephaniescrepes.com/
• Instagram: @stephanies_crepes
• Facebook: @stephanies_crepes
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stephanies-crepes-coral-gables