They Said ‘You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know’ – They Were Right!
I work for Dream HUB and have for 2 years now. Last summer, as Dream Kitchen EDU was being introduced, I had the opportunity to read through the curriculum and Instructor notes. I wanted to be educated on this new and exciting branch of the business, and having had my own business previously, I was also quite curious. I was blown away at the information they were covering and couldn’t help but reflect on my own business experience and how this guidance would have been so immensely helpful.
A little background – Dream Kitchen EDU is an educational incubator program specifically for food industry entrepreneurs created by professionals with A LOT of experience in the field. They provide guidance and insight that only comes with this depth of knowledge and experience.
I owned a small business in Geneva for three years. During that time I learned more about city and county regulations, health department code, FRP, accounting, marketing and permits than I ever could have dreamed of knowing. The problem was that I was learning this all as it came up, not allowing us to plan effectively. Want to have a small party with a champagne toast to celebrate your grand opening? You now need to make time to learn about the state, county, and city liquor codes! When you are paying rent without receiving anticipated income because your project is months behind, life gets a little stressful. The business I owned was successful in the traditional terms; we were able to pay our bills and after a while take a little bit of money home, but it wasn’t a sustainable design. I worked myself into the ground because we were playing catchup from the very beginning. We jumped in feet first and had to learn on the fly, having no idea how much we really didn’t know about small business ownership.
I can’t replace what I learned through this experience and I will be forever grateful for it. But after reading through the Dream Kitchen EDU files, I can confidently say that my experience would have been far less stressful with this education!
One of the most unique features of Dream Kitchen EDU program is the Pop-Up event. This gives you an opportunity to experience all aspects of the foodservice business ownership WITHOUT the commitment of a three-year lease. I cannot express how valuable this opportunity would have been for me and I am certain other small business owners would say the same. This allows you to test the market, figure out a little bit about your marketing strategy and see what is all involved in preparing to feed 20, 50, or 100 people. They also provide you with the commercial kitchen, which can cost you upwards of $60,000 to build out if you do it on your own. Might as well find out if you really do make the world’s best tamales first, at a fraction of the cost!
-Sarah Vogelsinger