I am not sure I am going to take it. Just yet.
Here’s the deal. I would be working with a store front restaurant that only offers take out at the moment, but is going into their third year in farmers markets and has quite a following. In their store front alone, they sell 7000 veggie burgers a week! Yes, you read that correctly. VEGGIE burgers. But they sell more stuff than that. Homemade giardiniera, gluten free items, vegan, vegetarian, full fat desserts, beef and chicken. Whew! Thank goodness meat is involved.
I really like the owner of the company. Turns out we are the same age. The first Chef I worked under ended up working with this guys grandfather back in the day. We both love cooking and food, but he found that as his career as a chef progressed, the less cooking he ended up doing – it was more administrative, and realized one day several years ago that he had gone three months without stepping foot into a kitchen and wondered where his passion had gone. I have no doubt that I would be a great fit for his company, but I told him I have two other interviews in the next few days and I would let him know. I did tell him that I would “interview” at a farmers market with him on Saturday in Kenosha. What better way to demonstrate my salesmanship!
But this morning I have another job interview with Urban Till. I’ll let you know how that turns out, but of course, cannot give you any details, because Tony would accuse me of jinxing myself.
I ended up going to WW after my interview. I am up 1.8 for two weeks, but I am so okay with that. You’ll note that I am up .8 for the last 4 weeks, which is typical maintenance for me. But I did have bad back pain for several days and didn’t get my steps or workouts in like I would have liked. Um, guess what I went back to? Classical Stretch. I DVD’d about 22 episodes from our PBS t.v. and it’s made such a difference. And I had some emotional eating binges a few times, so there’s that. Tony was the one who kept me on check with those, and now that he’s not here, it’s a lot easier to have stuff around without him looking over my shoulder – which was a good thing by the way.
I am pretty sure my eyebrows got me the job – because they are on fleek. I’ve talked about this before, but I get my eyebrows threaded at Wal-mart. They upped the price to $9, but still so worth the 120 seconds of torture I go through, which is so much better than waxing ever was for me. And for the record, there is no filter, the sun was directly in my eyes, so the green in my eyes (I just said OUR eyes, since my twin sister has the same ones!) is more pronounced in the sunlight.
Both Hannah and Jacob finished their finals and with my potential new job opportunity, we went out to eat. I enjoyed a Fat Tire beer and Hannah and I split a small pizza, and Jacob got a burger.
So I have a busy weekend! Today: job interview. Saturday: Kenosha Farmers Market. Sunday and Monday: NRA Show at McCormick place. And hopefully by next week, I will have a few job offers and will be able to pick which one suits me best. THANK YOU, for all your sweet comments on yesterday’s post and on Instagram. It was such a confidence boost to read “they would be lucky to have you!” (thanks Susan!) “you have a wonderful passion for food and people any company would be lucky to have you…it’s just a matter of time to see who that lucky company/business will be!” (thanks Bonnie, from Ohio!).
Here’s to new beginnings!
I’m making my way through here and I’m sure theres an update along the way on what you decided to do, but I figured I’d stop and say CONGRATS on getting an offer 🙂
That’s great Biz that you got the job offer. Like you say yourself and others here, it’s good to do the other interviews so you can choose what suits you best and if you are not 100% about any of them, keep looking.
Charlie’s advice is great!
Hope you had a great weekend, you had lots of fun things to do.
…Knock ‘EM dead, that is (iAuto correct ?)!
So proud and happy, I can just hear your excitement and passion!!! You will knock ‘me dead, of course, but good luck & best wishes, my friend!!! ?
Knock ‘EM dead, that is (iAuto correct ?)!!
I don’t know, I kind of like the sound of “knock me dead.” It sounds like part of a phrase. And one that should be spoken with an Irish accent as an interjection. Like, “Well knock me dead and spit in my eye, you’re right!”
The accent is a must.
Ha! That’s funny, Charlie, does have a wee bit ohf a ring toh it, don’t it now?
Congrats!! Wish we were at the market with you. We stopped at a cute restaurant( The Daily Dose) and had lunch on our way back from Green Bay in November. There is another restaurant in Kenosha that was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives too. We were in Naples today, I thought about you : )
Charlie was spot on with his words of wisdom. You have so much to offer and I hope you take your time in deciding the best fit for you, your future, and don’t settle for anything. You are our inspiration.
Isn’t my brother so smart?! He’s absolutely right though – I think I could work for a catering company, but having the ultimate responsibility would suck the life out of the joy of cooking.
Thanks for being such a great cheerleader for me Kym! I appreciate it!
What an exciting time for you! Good luck with today’s interview.
I’ve had my eyebrows threaded in the past and thought it might be pulling the skin around my eyes too much, so I went back to waxing. Now, the last two times, I’ve broken out afterwards. I think I’ll return to threading.
Yep, that’s the thing with waxing, is that I’d have all these little bumps around my eyebrows for days. I have determined that there are better threaders than others, and when I find one that is gentle, I ask when she works next and request her 😀
Good advice from your bro!
Just breathe and take your time finding the right fit.
Tony wanted me to sell my salsa at Farmers Markets because he thought it would sell like hot cakes – and while he likely was right, the paperwork and trouble of renting a commercial kitchen – and only being able to afford renting it at odd hours like 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., then the labeling, canning, etc. – the profit margin was so small it didn’t make sense.
I know I’ll find something 😀
I wish you the best in whatever job you choose. You have the key to your destiny! Whatever place you wind up will be surely blessed with your talent and charisma.
Thank you so much Suzi – I appreciate it! 😀
So many options! YAY!
I was meaning to ask you about eyebrow threading. I need it!
When I get my eyebrows waxed Carrie, it looks like someone punched me in the face for days afterwards, I have such sensitive skin. While the threading hurts like a mofo, it’s quick and usually by the next day the redness is all gone. You should give it a try!
Aren’t brothers the best? Charlie nailed it, start to finish. Good luck with your future interviews and I sincerely hope you have a plethora of job offers to choose from.
Yes, brothers are the best – and he did nail it 😀
If I can answer on behalf of Biz on “why not just start your own business?” I would hazard to guess the answer is, “Because I want to work with food.” And if you’re the one in charge of everything you’ll soon find that the one and only thing you really wanted to do suddenly becomes just a sliver of your overall workload. Case in point, “he found that as his career as a chef progressed, the less cooking he ended up doing.”
If she gets a job in a kitchen somewhere, than in an instant: she’s in a kitchen and 100% doing what she set out to do. Mission accomplished!
If she starts her own business, then she’s got a TON of work to do before she’s in the kitchen. Ideally, she’d even work in a catering business first, to gain some experience. Then you need a business plan. You have to hire (and fire) people. You need equipment (both for cooking and for serving). Then there’s insurance, taxes, inspections, compliance, sales and marketing . . . I think by the time she actually got to start preparing food she’d be too tired. 🙂
And the biggest barrier? She doesn’t have a kitchen. So she’d either need to rent space in a commercial kitchen, or to do it at home: check for zoning approval with the city, have routine health inspections, likely set up a separate in-home commercial kitchen never used for personal use, comply with fire codes, and finally get licensed. I’m sure there are more things I’m not thinking of.
So my advice, take a job and hop immediately into what you want to do. 🙂
My other advice, don’t forget your blog is public and anyone on the planet can read it, including your potential employers. If it were me, I might hold back on discussing any aspects of the job search until you’ve landed one.
Great advice hubby #1, I agree with both. Good luck Biz!!
Awesome advice!! I work in HR and I HEARTILY second the last part. We adore you Biz and love hearing about stuff, but I don’t want to see anything hold you back from your dream job! Best of luck to you!
Yep, I couldn’t have said it any better than I could have! And Tony used to be my proof reader and tell me when not to keep something out in the open – thanks for taking on that role Charlie – love you! 😀
The kitchen depends where you live- I know Biz lives in a Chi suburb so probably no cottage industry allowed. A friend of mine in an Atlanta suburb is able to bake and decorate fancy cakes from her home legally. She owned a bakery but decided she could forgo the rent and do it all from home and she has hired her 2 adult children too! First I’d sit down and decide how much money I really needed to earn. Doing what you like is very important, especially since Biz has no children to support. I’d pay all my debts and get the mortgage paid as soon as possible so I had very few bills but food, insurance and utilities. Why would you take a job you did not want if you did not have to?I think Biz has lots of free time- I understand because I do too! I love my job and never want to retire.
I agree with what Helen and Nan said. I have found myself thinking why doesn’t Biz open her own food business of some type or grow your blog into a full-time gig?.
My dad had his own catering business so I grew up working in it. My dad ran the front end of it ie administrative, selling not the food part but he still had to be seen at the big functions etc. The hours were really long and sometimes 7 days a week especially at the holidays. He was always gone when I got up to go to school and sometimes if he had a big party going on I didn’t see him for several days in a row. All this to say catering can be a blast but it isn’t easy.
What ever you decide you know I and all your other fans will support you!
Hope it goes well and don’t you settle! Can’t wait to hear all about it on Monday!
I love your confidence in me, but my food blog is in a sea of a million and I’ve been spending 4+ hours a day since I quit my job on doing all the behind the scenes SEO labeling, and it’s taking a long time because my blog is nearly 8 years old. Hopefully if I continue (I am working on a new site design too!) that between what job I choose and the blog I can make a living. Fingers crossed! 😀
Congratulations! I’m excited for you Biz. I love that you are following your dreams. Your enthusiasm and passion will be an asset to any employer.
Thanks Aimee – I am getting closer to the job I want, which makes me very happy! 😀
They are absolutely right, they would be so lucky to have you!! Best of luck with your potential new gig! xo~
Thanks for being such a great cheerleader!
Since you can get health insurance on your own, why don’t you just start your own catering business? You could make food for dinner parties and other affairs- hire your own staff (use the kidlets too) and make your own hours. Just have a few signature dishes and go from there. Get those business cards printed!! I think you’d be great and word of mouth/networking goes a long way- tell your friends, your mom’s friends, former business associates, etc and go from there.
Thanks for your idea Nan, but as you can read from my brothers comment below, easier said than done! Hugs!
Good luck. I love that glass, New Belgium is one of my favorite brewerys. ?? jamie
I totally wanted to steal it! Hope you had a great birthday!
Well, if I remember correctly you planned on being “self” employed for about a year and you’re nowhere near that. Which should make you feel like you’ve got time to be choosy over jobs. You deserve to have your exact fit and not to settle! Good luck on today’s interview!
Thanks Helen! That’s the best part is that I am not desperate, so I can be a bit picky 😀