Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Kendra Peterson.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Growing up, I was always in the kitchen by my mother’s side. Baking tons of cookies at Christmas, polishing silver for dinner parties, clarifying butter for crab. She was an amazing cook. She died when I was 8 years old and with my sisters out of the house, it was just my father and I. Turns out I have a limit to how much-frozen pizza and grilled chicken I can consume, so I started cooking, channeling what I learned from my mother. Boxed brownie mix baking turned into from scratch brownie baking. Then, came full dinner, sauces, cakes and by the time I was in high school, I was having my track team over for pasta dinner with hand rolled pasta noodles and homemade chocolate mousse.
College brought me a degree in Nutrition and Food Science from Miami of Ohio but I was still in a limbo of how I wanted to combine my love of nutrition with love of cooking. The most relevant route at that time was to become a dietitian and I had no desire for the hospital life. So, I went to my safe place, Williams-Sonoma, the cooking store I had been working at since I was 16.
I became a manager and was soon helping open stores in the midwest. Once settled in Ohio (for the time) I started helping with their culinary programming and soaked in every bit of information I could from the chefs we hired.
I returned to Chicago after a few years eager to move my culinary life forward. I jumped into teaching classes in Chicago and eventually, people started asking if I cooked outside Williams-Sonoma which got me thinking. Then one day, while catering the food for my nephew’s birthday party, one of my sister’s friends asked if I could make food for her family. She was just too busy and they had a lot of children to feed! From there Drizzle Kitchen Private Chef Services was born. But it wasn’t until a few years later that Drizzle Kitchen really came to life.
I became part time at Williams-Sonoma and also took a job as a kitchen assistant at the Chopping Block cooking school in downtown Chicago. I wanted to learn everything from as many people as I could and I also knew I would need supplemental income while starting a new business.
After a few years of that routine and wonderful clients, most of whom simply needed help with healthy and easy meals that were ready quickly, I was introduced to a client who’s family was in dire need.
A beautiful family of 6, dad was the primary cook, both parents worked and the youngest son was diagnosed with a developmental disorder. The family was torn apart, nobody was eating the same thing so it was like a diner for them come dinner time. Stress was woven through their home life and there were a handful of doctors, therapists and then myself who came in to try and help them put the pieces all back together.
After some very specific nutrition protocol prescribed by doctors, I began making food to help heal their son. Then, I made food that the whole family could safely eat, within the limitations of his food sensitivities. We decided some fun cooking classes with the dad would help him feel confident in the kitchen again. And the best email I’ve ever received came a few months after my time with them ended. They told me they were eating as a family again, all together at the dining room table, all eating the same meal – for the first time for almost 8 months.
Right then and there, I decided to look for clients who needed food to help with their life. Help nourish them because of some issue they had been battling. And nothing fills me with more joy than being able to show people a whole new world of food they thought was impossible. We work with everyone from cancer patients to post-op patients to families navigating through multiple life-threatening diseases to athletes. But the common thread is showing people for everything they think they can’t eat there are 10 things they can.
Today, I have 5 chefs working with me. We have 20 clients that we get to prepare meals for weekly, in their homes. We do everything from their weekly meals to dinner parties to graduations to traveling with them. In addition to my clients, I recently wrote a cookbook, Drizzle Kitchen Favorites: Happy Foods for Every Body and Every Allergy. I also manage my blog, launched a YouTube Channel this spring, am the Consulting Chef for Enjoy Life Foods and am an ambassador for food allergy app, Spokin.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not smooth! There were years when I couldn’t afford health insurance, years when I couldn’t pay my bills and maxed out credit cards. Years when I couldn’t go on trips or out with friends because I just couldn’t afford it. But that makes you dig deeper. It made me work harder, work more and appreciate when I had things.
And as with any business, you have people who you don’t blend with well and the magic is being able to take that with a grain of salt, learn your lesson and move on.
You also learn a lot about yourself as an entrepreneur. You quickly learn your strengths and weaknesses, but that doesn’t always mean you admit to them! Knowing how to delegate and give up control of things that you don’t do well is not easy but ultimately makes life better. Makes your business better.
As a female entrepreneur, I find that there are many doubts I cast about myself, I have learned this term to be “imposter syndrome” from other female entrepreneurs I talk to. It’s very hard to give yourself credit for all the accomplishments you’ve made. I find it difficult to truly understand that people consider me an expert.
So, the obstacles and challenges I have faced are not only tactile issues that involve the operation of the business but also personal, emotional issues that are woven into the business itself. At the end of the day, it’s a human running the company.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Drizzle Kitchen – what should we know?
Drizzle Kitchen is known for Happy Food Alchemy. What this means is we customize and personalize everything to our clients, whether it needs to be low sodium, low FODMAP, keto, allergy friendly or simply clean and nutritious meals. I am known for specializing in allergy adaptable foods as well as bringing a nutrition focus to food to help people manage and navigate through any health issues. My cookbook is based on the combination of both of those things. Nutrient-dense foods that can be adjusted to accommodate food allergies.
Many of our clients with allergies come to us and have been eating the same thing over and over because they know that to be safe for them. Well, I think food should make you happy and should be fun, exciting! So, with all of our clients, we try to bring that “Happy Food Alchemy” into their home. Joy surrounding food is one of the most magical things we have as humans. It allows us to share, bond, connect. New recipes, new foods, new ingredients are a few happy ways we bring some magic into our client’s food lives.
I am most proud when I receive emails about how much our clients love our food. Most recently, it was from a mother whose son has so many allergies she has been the only person to ever cook for him. We now have a chef that cooks for them weekly and she feels safe and confident with our meals. He loves the roasted broccoli that we make so much she has to hide it from him!
What sets us apart is my nutrition knowledge and allergy awareness-those things are at the base of the business. Everything else builds up from there. I am a huge advocate for people dealing with allergies and am so happy the world is beginning to make things easier for us! I am also a really joyful person. My laugh lines run deep and I’m ok with that. I smile at everyone and try to make food and cooking happy and fun.
As a female chef, I am pretty fit and that’s not always the most common! I try to lead by example that you can be healthy, active and always enjoy food. But I also teach food responsibility and accountability. But, always with a smile!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Integrity. I think integrity is a combination of gratitude, honesty, and stature. I am truly grateful for all of my clients, I never try to be anything I’m not and I know when it’s ok to be in the “friend time” and in the “work time” with my clients. I try and be an example and teach this to my chefs as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: drizzlekitchen.com
- Phone: 773-208-9330
- Email: kendra@drizzlekitchen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drizzlekitchen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drizzlekitchen/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/drizzlekitchen?lang=en
Image Credit:
Kendra Peterson
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