Our Story
Humble beginnings.
That's where most successful business stories begin. Someone had a big vision in a little garage, kitchen, or living room, and they worked tirelessly, constantly evolving, failing, and succeeding until their vision became a steady reality.
Our beginning is no different, except that we are still in the "little kitchen" stage.
Sara has been a fantastic cook for as long as I can remember, and throughout our marriage she has continued to grow her cooking skills.
Me, being the creative person that I am, always took photos of her food and bragged on her on my social media. Early in 2020, I decided to create social media pages dedicated solely to sharing her food creations. So, @noms_by_sara_and_stephen was born. Yeah, the name was kind of odd, but it was just for fun.
Or so I thought.
In all honesty, we never really planned on opening a food business. We had joked about it, but it didn't seem that our chosen paths would offer us the convenience of opening a successful business, since neither of us had ever worked in the culinary world.
I knew better, though. See, I'm kind of weird and nerdy. I like to read business books and listen to business podcasts, and after doing so for half a decade, I learned something from those successful business owners.
Becoming an entrepreneur is never convenient. Convenience doesn't happen.
Hard work happens.
I don't remember why I sat down one morning, opened a blank spreadsheet, and started throwing together a menu that evolved into a huge, rough financial projection (nerd alert) - maybe it was frustrations with my job, or maybe it was just one of my many random visionary ideas. Whatever the reason, what started as a little spreadsheet rapidly grew into a this business.
We began making breakfast for a handful of my co-workers for only $5 a plate. Simply put, Sara's food was WELL received.
We then branched out into offering some baked foods on weekends, and these delicious goodies were also well received.
When we announced on our Noms page that we were pursuing opening a brunch café, the support we were shown was overwhelming. It was at that moment we knew that this was our path. We had to make this dream a reality.
We announced our business name and donned a fancy new logo, retiring the Noms name. Ironically, this happened right after announcing a pause on all baking due to Sara being diagnosed with preeclampsia. One step forward, one step back.
I love a good challenge, though. I kept building our website and planning our future. I didn't want to lose any steam on this endeavor, and by the time we were ready to get back
Switching to the present...this pursuit is and will be hard. With a baby on the way, we will have some downtime in terms of food production. Raising funds to open shop is another hurdle, because we don't want to take on mountains of debt. There are a ton of growing pains, a ton of research, and a lot of hard work yet to come.
But we can do it. Sara and I have been through extreme hardship together, and we are fighters. We are blessed, we are grateful for all that we have, and we are determined.
The next page in our story is blank. We do hope that you'll come along and be a part of our story. Without our family, friends, and fans, our story would abruptly end.
So grab a cup of coffee and a muffin, and let's get to business.
~Stephen