unorthodoxchef

Continued……… 

Now keep in mind that we didn’t have the money to purchase this second location so we looked for a partner to buy into the corporation. The deal was that this partner would run Corleones and we would run Nicky D’s.                           

We had someone in mind that had already operated a restaurant in Mount Dora, but it went out of business because a family member had stolen all the money from one of the owners. Sorry, I can’t list his name, I still kind of like him.

And so we wrote up the contracts and Faith Alexandru took on her role as one of the owners of Corleones in Mount Dora. The deal was that Faith would put up the money to buy Corleones upfront, and later on she would add her percentage into a bank account to buy into Nicky D’s. Faith agreed to take on the note from Corleones which was held by the previous owner who shall not be named.

To sum up what happened after this would just take 100 pages to explain so I’ll give you the short version. She was incompetent, she stole money, she had no culinary skills whatsoever, she ran away all the employees with her negative and uneducated attitude, she nailed the doors shut of Corleones, left the food to rot, including a food order from Bari Foods that I got stuck paying for, and lets not forget the hundreds of maggots that were feeding and breeding all over the food cases and cutting boards.

Really hilarious right? It was even funnier when she sued us for the money she put into the business after I had asked for her resignation and fired her. Did I mention she won by default considering we were never served the correct documentation for a court appearance? Gotta love the Lake County Court System.

We continued our business at Nicky D’s not knowing of the repercussions of the lawsuit with Faith. We knew that things were getting worse when business started to falter because of the state of our economy. Umatilla, Fl was a small town and when the most of the local business’s started having financial issues, so did our restaurant. We figured the restaurant would have to be closed eventually, but we still operated with the intent of turning it around. Kelly and I were not in the habit of giving up to easily so we proceeded to take out a loan on our credit card sales to make sure we had some breathing room.

Our last hurrah before the business hit the fan was The Taste of Mount Dora where we cleaned up in the category of side dishes and appetizers.

We came to work the following week and ran the restaurant as usual. It wasn’t until Friday or Saturday that we realized that our bank accounts had been debited for over $74,000. A garnishment had taken place and every outstanding check I had at the time bounced even though I had over $11,000 deposited into the account to cover payroll, Cheney brothers, the landlord, and the holder of the note.

That was it. We locked the doors, told the employees that were there at the time, took our personals and left for good. It was a messy way to leave things and I never meant to leave….To be Continued on Wednesday

To understand my current situation of discrimination in the Lake County Court System and the Judicial System in Florida let me explain to you how it all started in a nutshell.

It was my American dream to open a restaurant by the time I was 30, and in my situation I owned 2 before I turned 27.

I had envisioned the scenario quite clearly.  I had a lovely garden style café with sandwiches, Panini’s, espresso, spring salads, and more. However, when I finally obtained the money for the restaurant, I had no idea how to use it.

My background came from Sinclair Community College in Ohio where I obtained an Associates of Applied Science, with a Culinary Art’s Option. I thought this would suffice for me to be successful and have all the tools necessary to open my first restaurant. What a joke!

School never taught me about corporations, fictitious names, tax forms, UT taxes, payroll, and so on and so forth. I had to learn these things on my own by surfing the internet hours a day, overpaying for fictitious names numerous times, including the wrong EIN numbers.

And so, now having the tools I needed to purchase a business or build one from the ground up, I started searching high and low for an establishment. It took me 6 months and in that time I spent most of my money on bills considering I left my job way to early as a Chef at a Winter park restaurant.

Now, keep in mind I was trying to do this with my boyfriend at the time Kelly Wade who was a seasoned GM at many high profile restaurants, however his contributions were under appreciated and he was just to overqualified to work there.

We used our last $10000 to purchase a small pizzeria in Mount Dora, Fl called Pizzeria Corleones. It was a cute little hole in the wall with hardly any foot traffic, but they did have a wonderful recipe for pizza. What a dream come true, a pizza place that had a small bakers pride oven, as opposed to the restaurant I came from that had a brick Chimineya, and lets not forget the 12 burner gas grills, a double broiler, you get the picture.

Corleones was really a last resort. I would have never imagined myself cooking in such a small establishment that was stifling my abilities with its limited amenities. However, I pressed on and Kelly and I made the best out of the situations.

It took some time to build up our clientele, but we finally reached a point that we were doing double the sales that the previous owner was. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled that someone took a chance on us.

We continued business as usual until one day we were tipped off about a restaurant in Umatilla, Florida that was looking to sell. It was a mom and pop establishment that had more German roaches on the plates than food, but we figured why not subject ourselves to some criticism by our Mount Dora clientele by purchasing a complete dive that was serving up food to the uneducated and unappreciative. …………………To be Continued Tuesday at 9:00AM

Today I came to an alarming conclusion that involved a restaurant I used to have, the lady that stole money from it, and the judicial system that is not only flawed, but it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I decided to go to all the news channels about it.

There are many pitfalls of being a small business owner in Florida. As small business owners, we all know that the first year is the hardest. We may lose partners, money, and possibly gain some lovely gray hairs. No one is successful in this business unless you fail a couple of times, or you just have tons of  money from your inheritance to open a muffin shop since someone told you your baked goods were great. But, when you get there and figure you know nothing about operating a small business and your just so surprised that no one really liked your muffins afterall, and the doors slam shut in your face. You think “maybe this is not for me”.

Can you tell I had a rough day? I think all of you can figure out why I named this blog The Unorthodox Chef. This industry is filled with flaws and sometimes it’s not all peaches and cream and neither are the Chef’s. : )

And so my point, I have one, but I’m still not sure how to say it nice enough that it doesn’t offend everyone. There are so many prejudices that come along to being a minority or small business owner. I learned today that Corporate companies will go to great lengths to bury the competition, no matter if you have mouths to feed, a house payment that is a year overdue, a vehicle that has been picked up by the repo man, just to name some lovely scenarios that all of us are familiar with, ok some of us. lol

What are your thoughts as a minority small business owner (meaning all of us that don’t represent Corporate giants) of the current treatment of small businesses?

And if you have a story to tell, I would love to hear it!

Many of you probably have never heard of this brand of Vinegar, but I have used it in so many recipes at the restaurants that I just had to share it with everyone. I stumbled upon this vinegar when I was trying to make a champagne vinaigrette and I just could not find a vinegar that would work well with my ingredients.

Initially, I had purchased a couple bottles for Christmas gifts when they were around $5.00 a bottle, however due to the high demand and quality of this product, they have raised the price to close to $9.10. Trust me, it’s worth every penny.

Product Features

 25.4fl.oz / 750ml
Aged in oak barrels
A must for refined cuisine
Imported from France

Recipes it works well with

 Antipasto

Spinach Salads

Potato Salads-Hot or Cold

Pork and Kraut-Sounds weird I know

Dressings

The Flavors

I know that you can pick up a bottle of vinegar at your local gourmet shop, but the flavors that this company offers are unbeatable and unsurpassed. The only place I have ever found them is on Amazon, but I’m trying to find out if they are available elsewhere.

• Grande Champagne Vinegar *****
• Raspberry Vinegar*****
• Apple Cider Vinegar****
• Tarragon Vinegar****
• White Wine Vinegar****
• Walnut Vinegar*****
• Pear Vinegar *****