Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea and Donte Smith.
Andrea and Donte, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My husband and I have a love for food. We would often cook for people in our family and our friends. We loved the fact that everyone was so excited when they would hear we were cooking. I (Andrea) was working a corporate job at an insurance company and I felt like it wasn’t something I was passionate about, so one day, I just told my husband I was going to quit. He looked at me and said, is this something you want to do. After I explained how unhappy I was at this job even with the pay being phenomenal and the benefits were amazing, I still had to force myself out of bed to do this job. My husband and that time were already considered disabled, so he spent a lot of time home previously. One day we were watching Chopped and my husband says what do you think about selling food. I’m like selling door to door or to people who can’t get food at work? He said yeah! I think we can do it. So after researching city codes and how to start a business, it was now time for us to come up with a name. We wanted it to be unique. At first, I said Smith Catering but there are several so that wasn’t good enough. We wanted something that would stand out. After thinking my husband says, I got it!! Couples Catering, cause we’re a couple doing it together! I said wow, that’s perfect! So I researched the name I only found one in California, so to set us apart, we added Dallas to the end of our company name. That’s how it began. Through it all, we’ve kept God at the center and we know that we are nothing without Him.
At first, we weren’t making much. We would purchase food and break even after we sold the plates. Then we ventured into doing parties and weddings. We caught a huge break when one of the largest pre-owned dealerships wanted us to try a probationary period and cater to their corporate office of about 200 people. After that, we became one of their caterers and we have been going strong ever since. We never forget where we came from. That’s why we still do door to door selling when time permits, but the corporate account pays a good amount that keeps our family stable. We never knew we would end up in tow position and we hope to expand to building in the next few years! Even before the corporate account and times got hard and we wanted to quit, we kept pushing and it has paid off. We have two corporate companies we have contracts with, we’ve done over ten weddings over 100 people, three baby showers and a number of Birthday parties and we’re just getting started. We plan on being one of the largest catering companies in Dallas and we know if we keep believing it will happen. Even with my husband’s disability, we still manage and I can tell you if we can do it, then anyone can!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Never a smooth road. We’ve had times we didn’t make money off caterings because we tried to help people and there was no profit for us. We’ve had people wait until the day of their event cancel and we’ve been stuck with food to feed an army. We’ve had times that we didn’t even know how we would purchase food for an event but that didn’t stop us.
Please tell us about your business.
We specialize in food for the soul. We believe that food makes people happy. No matter the kind of food. We serve soul food, but we try to connect with people from all cultures.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would’ve waited and saved up for a building to do business. I would’ve researched prices and competitors so that we would’ve been ready and not lost so much financially.
Pricing:
- Weddings starting at $9 a person
- Full pans of meat $55 Half pans $30
- Vegetables full pans $50 half pans $27
Contact Info:
- Phone: 214-229-7164
- Email: couplescateringdallas@gmail.com
- Instagram: Couplescateringdallas
- Facebook: Couplescateringdallas
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