“Instead of going out to dinner, buy good food. Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy, it's more important to make yourself feel good.”

Ina Garten, host, Barefoot Contessa

 

 

Phew. I’m pretty sure Ina Garten had no idea just how prophetic that quote would be. The past nine months or so, many of us have been cooking from home so we don’t catch Covid-19!

 

Over the summer, as restrictions eased and we all became a little more comfortable with the social distancing and mask wearing, people began venturing out again, to eat in open air dining rooms or raise a glass on an outdoor patio. Even so, sales numbers weren’t even close to what restaurants were hauling in, same time last summer.

 

Canada’s restaurant industry is facing somewhere between $22 billion to $45 billion in losses for 2020. Just staggering numbers. With many establishments closing for good, sadly.

 

Perhaps the only upside to these devastating numbers? Restaurants Canada Senior Economist, Chris Elliott, sees COVID-19 driving increased demand “…for locally sourced ingredients, which should result in a tighter relationship between restaurants and area farmers.”

 

And that, my friends, is a good thing.

 

From the Garden to the Table

 

My guest on “I’m a Millionaire! So Now What?” this week, Carley Schelck, agrees with me! Carly is the owner and CEO of The Urban Element, an Ottawa-based culinary studio and event management company. Along with her passionate team of food professionals, she delivers exceptional, one of a kind, culinary experiences. Known in both culinary and community circles, she is committed to ensuring everyone has access to quality ingredients, and that led her to develop Cultivating Cooks, a hands-on classroom-based gardening and cooking program that connects students with local chefs, community gardeners, and other local food producers.

 

She operates and manages a “garden to cafeteria” program at Saint Paul University which helps bring ‘from scratch’ seasonal products into a campus setting, and she’s a member of The Ottawa School Food Network, a coalition of like-minded individuals founded to motivate change and create impact on various school food initiatives.

 

We spoke about the “big pivot” (<<< I should trademark that term! LOL) that those in the food world had to take in order to survive, economically speaking, Covid-19.

 

And we also talked about the unique difficulties the creative industries faced – of which the culinary arts are most certainly a member – especially around how to inspire culinary creativity via a Zoom call!

 

She’s an exceptional addition to the Self-Made Nation!

 

Here’s a bit of what she shared.

 

Pandemic Shock

“This is really an unprecedented situation. We had to walk through the fire and learn as we go, and really adjust as we go, to the changing nature of the external environment, our business landscape. So very quickly, we saw our business suffer immensely with the shutdowns, we were not able to gather, not able to connect people with people, or host events. It was pretty jarring. But time builds a bit of resilience, and as you march forward, and you've picked yourself up and you go for it, you start really doing some hard thinking about what do I really want? We had some time to think and to ponder what's next, I started to be a little bit more open minded to the change, open minded to making some big decisions about where our company was, and where it would be going. In order to survive beyond COVID times. And so once I was in a position to embrace that, I was able to make a plan and think about the differences. You know, we're not strategizing ‘years out’, I don't even know if the right word is strategizing anymore - three, four months out - it's these little sound bites, because we can't plan that far ahead right now. So, how we plan and how we market and how we change and adapt are happening in these smaller pieces, these more manageable chunks. You have to shift your thinking around. You know, this idea of going virtual, it's interesting, and yet, it's not nearly as fulfilling as being in person. How do you create some of that warmth that is missing when it's a screen?”

On Partnering with…Your Partner!

“I think that one thing that's helped us is this balance of practicality in risk management, and a real, you know, energetic opportunistic, ‘let's go take on the world’ emotional person like myself.

We've been able to play off each other's strengths and keep the conversation focused on what's important. The most important thing was our family, our personal family, but also our work family. To take care of those two things and make the best decisions. But then the second thing is the responsibility we have from a financial position. How long do we keep the operation going the way it is, waiting for things to change? Having that heart to heart as a couple, being able to know each other on a personal level, to know vulnerabilities as well. And to be able to support one another, it has been beneficial. I mean, it is not easy. There have been heated conversations, which is realistic. I think when you have heated moments of conversation, then there's probably something rumbling underneath the surface that's not been addressed. But that's been the dynamic of our relationship, our business relationship, from the beginning, and we know how to handle those conversations effectively. But we needed to go through all those emotions together. We had the unity, and we knew that we had to make the right decisions in order to go forward together. But something that’s come out of this as well is that it's really forced us to think about what does either of the partner want beyond? You know, if we're going to reimagine this business and the scope of it, what are we now looking for? This crazy disruption has blown out every expectation we've held ourselves to for the last 15 years! So that's been an interesting takeaway.”

Friendly Advice

“One thing I actually just told my son just the other day, I think applies to us adults as well, is don't let limiting beliefs of what you can accomplish, hold you back. Because sometimes we are all our own worst enemies. And we allow those limitations to prevent us from taking risks, especially in scary times. And in times of disruption. And as I was saying those words to my nine-year-old, I thought, ‘I’ve got to live these words, I’ve got to be the living proof to him!’ So that's what I'll leave you with.”

Truer words.

 

There’s SO much more with Carley in the episode itself. I hope you’ll find the time to have a listen.

 

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to exit, or you’re at the helm of a thriving business or start-up, I would love to talk with you about your stories! You can drop me a line here.

 

Plus, if you are craving like-minded conversation with growth-oriented business owners, consider joining me and eight other business owners, investors and entrepreneurs for our edition of Elevated Conversations - watch this space for more details!