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

Yonder , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

After Covid was announced in 2020 my world had changed drastically in a good way. Let’s rewind back to 2017, my former business name Cakes By Yanda Millz was born and went on a unexpected ride with Way Down Yonder New Orleans Finest Restaurant. During this time, I quit my corporate job to help my mother bring her vision to life, then at the same time trying to bring my vision to life with specializing in gourmet desserts, beignets, king cakes, etc. My mother & I ideas were big, we wanted so much for our businesses and we were a force together in the restaurant working daily side by side. I became skilled in helping my mother with capturing content of the food, plating presentation, marketing, hiring, and focusing on the whole operation of the business. The 4 years I worked for my mother, I learned the necessary tools to sustain a full-service restaurant, understanding our customers, and how business/restaurant industry works. Once Covid occured, business started to change for my Mother and I. I begin to question where would our business go? What should we do next? Why are things slowing down drastically, people are changing, what will the future hold for us, my family, etc. I had a lot of unanswered questions at the time until God revealed something to me that was much bigger than myself. My heart has always been in the direction of helping, teaching & showing people the way, so because of this God begin to speak to me in my moments of solitude. I gave up so much to help & honor my own mother, and now it was time to start helping myself. I heard God voice more clearly in the path needed for me to go. My vision to open my very own location with a new concept, during a global pandemic, triggered me to rethink my baking skills and focus more on offering something new to the community. I wanted to create an organization that teaches, provides opportunity and encourages positive growth in our employees, communities, and partners. Business changed, I begin to change, and Way Down Yonder Beignets & Coffee was born with a vision God had already showed & spoke.

Before business open in Feb 2022, I did not have any employees when this concept was conceived. As a matter of fact, I was nervous, scared, laughing at myself for going this far, emotional when things were going in the wrong direction, taking on such a huge risk, and sacrificing so much. All of those feelings were normal, it was okay, but in order to see what’s it like, you have to face your fear, you have to keep moving forward no matter what it looks or feel like. You have to believe that on the other side of all these feelings, God will make a way.

I was able to revisit some people I’ve met in the past & family members who knew other family members to help get the business started. I was able to hire & train up to 12 employees. I think recruiting my first team members was an easy process because I knew some of the people already. They were a much younger staff, who were eager to learn. It was new concept, employees never heard of, everyone was super excited to help out, and spent a massive amount of time learning the business, and helping get it started.

If I was starting today, knowing the processes and procedures I have in place, knowing how my business model runs, knowing how easy my menu is, knowing how much time it takes to prepare, and how many solid people it takes to run the restaurant, I would not have started out with so many people.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Yonder Miller. I am the Owner/CEO of Way Down Yonder Beignets & Coffee. I was Born & Raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, now residing in city of Columbus for the past 20 years. I owe everything I’ve learned from my parents who taught me that in life you have to do the work in order to receive the positive things you want in life. I got into the restaurant industry in 2017 underneath the teaching of my mother Chef Yonder Gordon of Way Down Yonder New Orleans Finest Restaurant. I specialize in providing Hot Made from scratch Authentic New Orleans Beignets with a twist, and a savory breakfast menu. What sets me apart from others in that we are bringing our true culture to the City. I am most proud that the City of Columbus & Surrounding areas love our cafe, love the beignets, the coffee, and love that we are bringing something new to the community. I would like followers to know that Way Down Yonder Beignets & Coffee mission is to develop a thriving corporation that uses its resources to help our community in every way we can. We want to be ingenious and find solutions to issues that plague the society we live in and the world at large. Way Down Yonder Beignets & Coffee would like to open generational wealth for families & be a beacon of hope and an inspiration to all we come in contact with.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe what helped build our reputation within the market is consistency, understanding areas we need to improve on by listening to our customers, and maintaining a positive online presence.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Most effective strategy for growing clientele is building customer relationships, promoting the business online, understanding your customers, and offering a good product/service people can get.

Contact Info:

• Website: wdybeignets.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wdybeignets/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wdybeignets
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonder-miller-05585b256/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wdybeignets

Image Credits:

For myself images credits to Darrean Brown IG: photographyby_db