Today, we’d like to introduce you to Dora Tramel.
Hi Dora, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I started out wanting more for the people who crossed my life, wanting to be loved, respected, and appreciated. I started out sacrificing my time to my trade, sacrificing my ego and self-esteem to my trade, but, most importantly, my mental health.
You know the type: your average busser, server, bartender, bareback, line cook, or dishwasher, flying around doing literally everything to prove you are part of THAT restaurant team in the beginning.
After that, I polished my skills by doing the hard things, applying to jobs in kitchens with different methods and cuisines than I was used to. Getting those jobs, starting from part-time dishwasher and prep cook to line cook and on to sous chef and then executive chef. Getting yelled at on the line for fingerprints on the plate after I have served over 50 Korean braised short ribs and refusing to take my gloves off because my hands were dripping with sweat on the inside, filtering the grease and cleaning the fryers until it became my favorite cool down at the end of my shift. I came to a point where I enjoyed the families I worked in, but I was still overworked and dealing with horrible human resource issues.
I wanted to change all of those issues and keep the families, so I started my own catering and food manufacturing businesses while still working full and part-time jobs, sometimes two at a time. I am now able to hire some of those hardworking people that I came across to help with events, food manufacturing, and production.
Let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road; my greatest obstacle has been life. Balancing the good with the bad, successes with failures, capital with no capital, faith, and anxiety, that’s life!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
DAT’s Good Cooking is a food manufacturing and catering business that provides various cultural culinary products. We make salad dressings, salsas, chutneys, curries, BBQ sauces, and egg rolls that are made with fresh ingredients and natural preservatives.
We repeatedly test our recipes and study the worldwide cultural cuisines to make sure our food products stay authentic. I am seeking investors to help scale my business with a new location or food truck and improved packaging and labeling. We also offer drop-off/pickup corporate catering, buffet catering, and full-service catering that can be tailored to your catering and culinary needs.
How do you think about luck?
None. I believe that my life is tailored to the amount of faith and courage that I put forth and the lessons I have to learn here on earth as a child of God and a follower of Jesus Christ.
I can not just sit and have faith that the boat is going to float me to my destination or that it is going to be perfect weather the whole trip. I have to stay prepared, and if I am caught slipping, how am I going to get back up and protect myself from the same fall?
Contact Info:
- Website: toasttab.com/dats-good-cooking
- Instagram: DAT’s Good Cooking
- Facebook: DAT’s Good Cooking
- Linkedin: Dora Tramel
