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Call Chrys at 203-794-0405 for a free consultation!
Catering and cooking lessons are also available.
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From Corporate to Culinary (By Job Recipes)
How many of us dream about cooking up a new career for ourselves? Chrys Murphy was one of those dreamers. Having raised two children and approaching middle age, she literally cooked her way into a new profession. Leaving behind a bland job in sales, which served mainly to pay the bills, she started from scratch and headed off to culinary school. Now she runs her own personal chef business called The Corner Table.
Changing professions is never easy and doesn't come without a lot of soul searching for most people. Chrys certainly felt a little panic at the thought of leaving her steady job working in international sales for a manufacturing company to go off on her own. She even questioned her own sanity along the way asking herself "what in God's name am I thinking?" as she struggled with her decision. So strong was her anxiety that just before she made the ultimate decision to cook and run she went to the trouble of getting an associates degree in business administration, thinking it would help boost her safe, but uninspiring career. Finally, she decided to put a chance for career happiness ahead of a safe job and started off on her new venture.
Chrys had grown up with an appreciation for good and healthy food. Her family had a vegetable garden and her father insisted that the family eat organic and locally grown foods long before it became a popular trend. However, as Chrys got older and began raising her own children while working full-time, she found it difficult to adhere to her father's food philosophy. Eventually though, she remembered how much she loved to cook and began to think about pursuing a career in the culinary world. Funny enough, after having been so influenced by her father when it came to cooking, it was her daughter who helped push Chrys to enroll in culinary schoool.
Chrys' daughter had completed a cooking program at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and it was with her encouragement that Chrys enrolled in the CIA (the one where you learn to cook, not spy) and immediately knew this is what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. After completing the program at the CIA in Hyde Park, she headed west to complete the baking and pastry program at the CIA's California branch located in the heart of Napa Valley. She felt that the additional training in California would help increase her marketability. Chrys loved California and thought about staying there but was drawn back east by her daughter's impending wedding.
Once back to Connecticut, Chrys began to pursue her options in her newfound profession. She worked for a chocolate company to learn more about, well, chocolates and then decided she was ready to go off on her own as a personal chef. According to Chrys, a personal chef is different from a private chef. A private chef prepares meals exclusively for one family while a personal chef can have several clients. A personal chef usually prepares the meals and then delivers them to clients.
Chrys first began to promote her new business by creating a brochure and sending it to nutritionists in the Greenwhich and Stamford areas of Connecticut. This tactic eventually landed Chrys her first client. To drum up more business, she got her name listed with a company that provided services for wealthy clients in Connecticut and advertised her personal chef business in a local newspaper. She expected most of her clients to be people who had demanding jobs and were just too busy to cook but that has not really been the case. Surprisingly, many of her clients have serious health problems such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes and cancer that can hinder their ability to cook proper meals for themselves. To better serve these clients, Chrys has educated herself about what nutritional needs best suit each client. Also, her own background helped her deal with one client who was going through chemotherapy treatments. Since both of her parents had cancer, she knew what foods were important to help this client build his strength. Chrys may have thought this road was going to lead her to demanding clients but, instead she has found clients who are very appreciative of the service she provides and she finds that quite rewarding.
Like any good business owner, Chrys keeps up with the latest trends in her industry by being active with local "foodies" and the Connecticut "green scene" to network, brainstorm and learn more about the local farms that provide food to her nearby markets. She also sells her own soups to these local markets. Chrys grew up learning the benefits of cooking with organic and locally grown foods and now the rest of the country seems to be catching on to this trend. With the latest incidences of contaminated foods being shipped to grocery stores all over the country causing alarm, many consumers are seeking more information about the places that are supplying their food. Because of this, some consumers are becoming more interested in buying foods harvested from smaller local farms instead of large industrial farms located far away. People preferring locally grown food even have a new name to call themselves, localvores.
Building her business has been a slow process for Chrys, but she has learned to be flexible and adapt when something is not working. She likes the fact the her industry can take her in so many different directions and was inspired by a public market she once visited in Vancouver, Canada that sells everything a person could want for their home from food to housewares. She thinks maybe somewhere down the road she might want to open up a similar market in her neck of the woods. Does Chrys still ask herself what in God's name am I thinking? No, she has no regrets about her decision and is ready do move in whatever direction her new profession takes her.
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