Pampered Chef Leads to Traditional Business

NewsTimesLive:

The two met while working as consultants for The Pampered Chef, an international firm providing every utensil and tool imaginable for kitchens. The company also stocks stoneware, bake ware, serving dishes, cookbooks, herbs, coffees and teas.

“Pampered Chef works something like Tupperware,” says Melendez. “We were both stay-at-home moms and with Pampered Chef you can give demonstrations in your home. To show off the wares, we would cook during these demonstrations.”

“Yes. I really got into it,” says Keenan. She became a director for Pampered Chef and traveled about the country for the firm. “In my 8?-1�?„2 years with them, I did 957 cooking demonstrations. I got used to working with food in front of an audience.”

After a while, Keenan was looking for a change and she and Melendez began looking for a business related to food.

In March 2006, a friend took Keenan to a grand opening of the friend’s food-prep store. Melendez and Keenan decided such a store might be just the ticket for them.

“We researched several franchises,” Keenan says, but the two decided to open an independent store.

“We decided we wanted to be able to have the option of completely designing our own business,” Keenan says. “We also wanted to be able to offer choices to our customers — things like splitting a meal, or offering heart-healthy foods. At least 30 to 50 percent of our meals are heart healthy.”