Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanay Wise.
Shanay, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My grandmother is responsible for inspiring my desire to cook and bake delicious food. After her passing in 2007, I launched Catering Done Wisely to honor her, with the goal to prepare healthy food for the soul. Originally, I started out cooking savory foods for special events and private shows. I then shifted the focus of the company to teaching, gardening, table etiquette and baking after realizing my skill in all four.
After CDW celebrated five years of business, we unfortunately suffered one of the greatest losses in our family: foreclosure to our home, losing everything we had. Although we experienced homelessness, that didn’t stop our company from doing business. To stay afloat, we shifted our focus to solely baking pound cakes, just like my grandmother taught me.
While attending Paul Quinn College for my Bachelor of Arts in Fundraising and Philanthropy, I was approached by the campus Farmer’s Market to be a pastry vendor. Their Farmers Market inspired me to start baking treats like Zucchini, Sweet Potato and Banana Nut bread. They also needed canned items such as pickles and preserves, which I then begin preparing. Canning pickles and making preserves is a skill I acquired from my mother. Selling the breads, pickles and preserves at the Farmers Market created an opportunity for me to display the influence of my grandmother on my cooking career.
In 2016 I took on my first non-profit management job in the hospitality industry. All the knowledge that has been poured into me through this position I now deposit into the community. Catering Done Wisely has a new location coming in Spring of 2020: The South Dallas Entrepreneur Center, which will be our first brick and mortar!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest struggle we had was our battle with homelessness. After being foreclosed on in 2013, we had the hardest time trying to get back on our feet. My daughter was a away at college, but my oldest son was in high school. Not to mention, I had a toddler. We lived under shelter care for almost a year and a half, which made it very difficult to stay focused on my business. We were also without transportation several times. Selling dinners and cakes on Dart transportation was a part of my business life and I am not embarrassed by that at all. I thank God for my customers that continued to support me during that time.
In 2018 after our battle with homelessness, we went from homeless to home ownership! During this homeowner journey, my daughter graduated from college, my oldest son graduated from high school, and now I am a graduate from Paul Quin College
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Catering Done Wisely’s goal is to prepare and sell healthy foods that everyone in the family would enjoy. For our products, we use locally sourced farmers and gardeners so We try to buy within Texas on all vegetables, herbs and fruits. We are most known for our pound cakes because of the items we’ve sold at the PQC Farmers Market. My pound cakes were initially a part of my dessert menu, but now that I have regular orders for the pounds cake, we have a separate menu and brand for them! I’m especially proud of that brand because I named it after my grandmother: Gran-T- Beulah Cakes!
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I personally define success as walking in all my God given talents I’ve been blessed with. What I am building now is a family business that can employ people, train people and take them out of poverty, with the help of the food and hospitality industry.
Contact Info:
- Address: The South Dallas Entrepreneur Center
2800 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Dallas, Texas 75215 - Website: www.cateringdonewisely.vpweb.com
- Phone: 817-690-0389
- Email: shanayiswise@gmail.com
- Instagram: Catering Done Wisely
- Facebook: Catering Done wisely
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