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Kristi Brown Caters to Seattle's Rich & Famous

Kristi Brown - That Brown Girl Catering

Kristi Brown has always had a passion for cooking but only recently did she realize her dream - That Brown Girl Catering. Kristi says, "I've known it for a while now that my purpose in life is to cook for people." Ever since she was 5 she remembers planning menus and cooking dinners for her family. In fact, when her grandmother passed away a few years ago, Kristi was helping clean out her house and found one of those menus she had written for her grandmother when she was 7.

Another early influence in Kristi's life was her father, who asked her to figure out her "purpose in life." She recalls going to the library to do just that. The librarian asked her what she liked to do and Kristi responded, "I like to eat, cook, and have fun." The librarian pointed her to the index cards and asked her to look up the key words, and at age 13, Kristi found her purpose: she wanted to be a chef.

This discovery has guided Kristi's journey into the cooking world, and though the road has meandered a bit, the twists and turns she has made have provided her with the skills necessary to succeed where she is today. In fact, it was a break in her path that led Kristi to Washington CASH in the first place. Upon graduating from Seattle Central with a degree in Culinary Arts, Kristi spent some time managing a high-end restaurant in Seattle, but after enduring a few unpleasant experiences, she wanted to move away from cooking and become self-employed. Instead of cooking, she began to focus her energy on planning intimate events for couples. In her search for assistance writing her business plan, Kristi stumbled upon Washington CASH.

She participated in the business training with Peter Rose where she was walked through the process of conducting market research, a feasibility study, and realized that "numbers are your friends." She says, "going through the steps was a very valuable process, everything from determining a target market to writing a mission statement was very useful, and now I understand it how to put it all together."

Kristi's motivation for her business ventures comes from her Washington CASH business group, which meets every 2 weeks to offer support and resources for the newly self-employed. Kristi says the group really helped to pull her out of the slump she fell into. She was neither cooking nor working on her Intimate Events business, but the members of her group never stopped asking her what she was doing. Kristi says that at first she wanted to bring something to the group so they wouldn't ask what she was up to, but the more she had to face them, the more she began to wonder "what am I doing?"

In late August of last year she brought her group a sample of her cooking, by October she officially made the switch from Intimate Events to That Brown Girl Catering, and just recently she took out a $1000 loan to assist an expansion in her business. She is using part of her loan to relocate to a commercial space and purchase industrial equipment. Whatever money remains will be put towards marketing needs, such as new business cards and menus. In addition, Kristi is in need of a new computer monitor, printer, and fax machine, and although she knows the $1000 will not cover it all, she feels it will be a good starting point.

As of March 1, Kristi quit her job and went to work for herself full-time. She spends more than 50 hours a week on her business delivering lunches for the Gates Foundation and Nordstrom. Recently she landed a lunch catering opportunity for Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. At the time she did not know who the job was for but did her best because she feels, "I have to be excellent all the time because I never know who is eating my food." Kristi distinguishes herself from other caterers by providing excellent food and great service.

Kristi has big plans for her business, "I'm trying to be modest, but if it keeps going the way it is and I continue to build on what I have and grow at the same rate, in the next 6 months I will be able to hire someone." She'd also like to grab more of the market, which can be difficult as the more time she spends cooking, the less time she leaves for marketing. It's quite a craft to be able to balance all the aspects of business successfully, but that is exactly what Kristi is aiming to do. She says that in the next 3-5 years she doesn't see herself cooking, "my goal is to act as general manager over a full crew . . .then I want to go on to something else."

To place an order with That Brown Girl Catering call 206.328.7654 or e-mail thatbrowngirlcatering@hotmail.com. Please click here for a menu.