We recently connected with Stephen Miller and have shared our conversation below.
Stephen, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
My Entrepreneurial Journey started in 2020 in midst of the coronavirus pandemic. I was currently employed at a private Social club in Downtown Columbus as one of the lead cooks. Because we essentially were an exclusive restaurant, we were able to stay open while most businesses had to close. It was a blessing to keep steady income in such a crazy time but mentally I was ready to move on.
I grew weary of having to coming into work on someone else’s timeframe and not having much creative control of dishes and structure of establishment. Seeming like a shadow in the background cooking for some of the most prominent Business owners and public figures in the city. With no sense of true opportunity to come of the 4 years dedicated, I decided to create my opportunity.
I envisioned to create a Gourmet Carry-out and Catering Company. Elevating the quality of Carryout meals with higher quality presentation & professionalism. I became stuck as to what to call it. Striving to give it a catchy name to remember while still upholding a high level integral presence. Then the name “To Go For Your Soul” came to me and it stuck.
Now it was time to figure out what I wanted to sell, how I wanted to sell it and who I wanted to sell it to. This involved market research, menu developments, packaging and label design. Getting higher quality to-go boxes and Cutlery will enhance the presentation and feel of a fine dining experience. The type of food was crucial as well. The goal to guests palates by exposing them
Learning proper business structure is definitely necessary. I set up my LLC through Legal Zoom. It took care of all paperwork including my EIN to get business perks, business bank account and tax purposes.
The people closest that knew me knew my passion for food but I needed to gain the trust of the public. Realizing that everyone’s word is not truth, to minimize risk, I had did limited preorders with a few days in advance to allow ppl to see and choose. This was to reduce amount of food and time wasted as possible. Of course with trial and error you learn the few details . Few days out the week with set times to keep control of business.
As I grew and got steady clients over the weeks and months, I gain the momentum to start catering and private chef experiences which were the bigger goal. Growing in business IQ, customer service skills & Culinary traits through consistency has led me to now
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?
My interest in cooking started at a young age watching food network with my mother. The variety of foods exposed to me as well as the cooking shows showing professional techniques intrigued my curiosity. I started my work in 2014 with my first job at Honeybaked Ham. My job was at a kiosk in a grocery store during the Easter holiday weeks. I learned some strategies of sales early on during that small window. I was so happy to start making my own money at age 15.
I began my personal culinary learning journey my junior & senior year by going to Columbus downtown high school where I learn the basics of food safety, kitchen equipment and how to navigate a professional kitchen. During my early senior year, I started working at chipotle. I needed hours of work in a culinary setting to gain the credits to graduate. I started working on the line serving the bowls or burritos and then began working behind the grill as a lead cook. There I understood a taste of realtime kitchen action which is totally different than a classroom setting.
During the ladder of senior year, I began working at Lindsey’s restaurant & Bar, it is a fine dining establishment in German village. A totally different ballgame. The kitchen was intense all day long with long hours but it had raised the standards of kitchen efficiency and quality of craft. I didn’t learn too much as far as techniques but resilience under great pressure. Once my tenure was over there, I began working at a private country club called “The Columbus Club”. I learned a great deal of what I apply today with the vast variety of cooking skills, cuisines, professionalism & attention to detail. I was there for 4 years. But as with everything, things come to an end.
When the Corona Pandemic hit, I really had a self reflection moment. I loved food but working under someone else’s schedule and creativity became redundant. I believed I hard learned enough to take a chance on my own talents. I began “To Go For Your Soul’. I started by selling gourmet carry out meals during the week. It goal was to build brand trust and awareness. The next part of the mission was to reacher a higher clientele of catering jobs and private chef experiences which I am doing now.
We pride ourselves on being completely custom with our catering services offering a wide variety of cuisines to choose from as well as connections with decor & bartending services. Professionalism and tension to detail are of upmost important as well as thorough communication to ensure each client is fully comfortable with their business with us and make them and their guest have the best dining experience possible.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I believe what helped me build reputation is through consistency and doing self reflection to understand how to be better with every interaction. Investing in knowledge of industry and always looking to improve the experience. Never give up no matter how many no’s you get and staying positive for every opportunity that becomes available. I always create an outreach to new potential clients and not feel like my work is too good where I just expect everyone to flock to me. Being authentic a=in how yo present yourself while underpromising & over delivering
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
It was a nice spring day of this year. I had 2 events going on in the same da a brunch event as well as a private chef experience dinner. The brunch was a success as I had dropped off the catering. Now as I get there. I end up having car issues. The car is no longer starting thus delaying my time to get ready for the next event. I have worked very hard on becoming a solution based person instead of just focusing on the problem. So now I end up having to spend extra funds to get a Lyft back to the kitchen to get prep for second event of the day. Then I needed another ride to get to the actual venue. Loading up the car again crunching on time to get there across town. So my car is stuck at first event location. I could not cancel on this awesome couple so I of course pull through with a successful dinner without them even knowing. There are no excuses when it comes to the road to success. Thee is always a way and every obstacle is a chance to become a better version of yourself
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.togoforyoursoul.com
- Instagram: Chefmills614 & Togoforyoursoul
- Facebook: Stephen Miller
- Linkedin: Stephen Miller