Today we’d like to introduce you to Dora Tramel.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started out as my grandmother’s sous chef. She cooked at home, in the town cafe, and for the church events in my hometown of Midlothian. I did everything from cutting coupons, sifting flour, cutting and cleaning fruits and vegetables, starting and managing the grill fires, to making sure the grocery lists were budgeted correctly. In my 20s, I started out working in fast food just because I needed a job. I started out as cashier and would always end up migrating to the kitchen. I worked at Taco Bueno and Church’s Chicken. I learned to speak Spanish at Taco Bueno because I was the cashier, and the cooks only spoke Spanish. Which has paid off so much for me in the restaurant industry. After that, I got a job as a baggage service agent at DFW Airport then moved on to Cantina Laredo, Au Bon Pain, and Tigin in the Airport. I worked as hostess, dishwasher, and sandwich maker in these positions. I made some of my longest-lasting friendships at DFW Airport. Plus, I met the girl who showed me how to make authentic Indian food and shared her culture with me. After this, I got a job at Blue Ginger in Las Colinas’ old sister restaurant in Southlake as a dishwasher. They paid me 25 cents more an hour to learn to prep, then learn work each station. So, you bet I was on it! I learned to wok cook and make all kinds of Thai food and wrap spring rolls, plus learned to speak a little Lao. This job inspired me to want to own my own restaurant and the birth of DAT’s Good Egg Rolls over 10 years later. I took a break from cooking after this because of course my goal is to learn everything I’m allowed and why not learn to fix my own restaurant’s issues such as plumbing, heating, and ac to save myself money in the future. I still cooked from home, always creating more or adding to what I had previously learned. My carpal tunnel really started to kick in, so I went back to cooking. These were my line cook days when I had to gain confidence in myself and my work. Once again, I skipped all over the Metroplex line cooking for gig jobs from The Wheelhouse to at@t to Charles Schwab to Aramark, amongst many others, but I started learning my value through my work, the service side between you and your clients, plus more efficient ways to prep and get through my workload for the day from this journey. I started my catering company, DAT’s Good Cooking at Texas Musician’s Museum, which led to me doing craft services for the beginning season of “The Chosen.” I finally got my chance as sous chef/kitchen manager, but never the respect or given the ability to move up from there without false promises or drama. So, for my birthday in 2022, I decided to start building my catering and private chef business, DAT’s Good Cooking, plus my food delivery busines full-time. That way, I can pursue helping people like myself in the food industry or wherever God wants me to help.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I struggle with anxiety and depression, so getting out and marketing myself has been hard. Sometimes I’m too hard on myself on top of all the other expectations put on me. It’s difficult knowing what God wants me to do or where he wants me to go, especially when things don’t work out right with my businesses. I get scared and want to run back to working for someone who doesn’t value its employees, just so that I can make money to survive and keep my businesses afloat. But I keep my faith and take it one step at a time because God gives me what I need to keep me and my businesses going.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
DAT’s Good Cooking is a catering, private chef, retail business that makes and sales creative cultural food items with fresh ingredients from scratch. We provide full and catering drop-off services. DAT’s Good Egg Rolls is a food-delivery business that creates and makes specialty egg rolls, such as chicken/beef Fajita, New York-style cheesecake, and Punjabi Curry egg rolls with coordinating dips from scratch with fresh ingredients.
My companies are different from others because we put service and kindness first. Secondly, we allow our consumers to eat from different countries, even continents at the same time, with authentically prepared foods. I grill my own meats, make my own egg roll wrappers, etc.
I am proud of my brand because it is me! My brand is my journey in food from as young as I can remember to right now at 38. That is why I named it Dora A Tramel’s, DAT’s Good Cooking, and DAT’s Good Egg Rolls. Plus, my grandmother’s name is Dora also, and I could think of no better way to thank her for showing me how to cook and not being able to share our dream of cooking in our own cafe together.
What matters most to you? Why?
Man. Writing this part is going to make me cry. What matters most to me is going through the struggles so that the person after me doesn’t have to struggle as much. So that I can provide the help and resources for minorities and young people that want to cook, own restaurants, learn Spanish or English, get a legal immigration status through working a program, I plan on establishing for illegal immigrant restaurant workers, offering good nutritious food substitutes for Alzheimer’s and cancer patients that cannot chew anymore so that don’t die from constipation, providing classes on business in hospitality, so that no one gets stuck not being able to move up in the industry. All of this is important because they are things that have torn me down to my core or made me feel helpless when they have happened to the people I work with or love the most.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: DAT’s Good Cooking/DAT’s Good Egg Rolls
- Facebook: DAT’s Good Cooking/DAT’s Good Egg Rolls
- Linkedin: Dora Tramel
- Youtube: Datsgoodcooking1468
- Yelp: DAT’s Good Cooking/DAT’s Good Egg Rolls
