Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Deguia.
Hi Amanda, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Of course! Hi everyone! How I started my business is kind of funny and interesting, at least to me. Without going into too much detail and an hour-long story haha, my business started with a side hustle turned LLC. I was home on work injury and decided to go back to school while healing. In that, I realized I wanted more for myself and decided to pursue a Business Management degree, and linked up with a business & life coach. Of course, I couldn’t keep myself away from the kitchen, so I found myself creating and playing with easy recipes I could mainly do with 1 arm. I ended with a delicious granola recipe, and after specific tweaks, I started selling on the side for the extra cash to help with bills. Working with my coach daily for 2 months led to a random afternoon on Zoom registering an LLC catering business! When I say random, let’s just say we sat there on Zoom shooting out business names for 10 minutes to see what clicked because I was NOT prepared for this! Fast forward to today, 17 months later, I’ve grown and developed my business into my dream job, all unplanned. Having the ability to create and experiment with food and ingredients freely, hone and perfect my own style and recipes has been a sleeping dream I never knew I had till now. It definitely sparked a new sense of excitement, determination, and also fueled twice as much, my growing desire and passion for providing great food with quality ingredients. As I’ve said when I started culinary school back in 2007: Food is my passion, my life.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh boy where do I begin! Haha, as every entrepreneur knows, it’s never an easy road to start, as well as maintain. I think the biggest challenge has been financially since I have no investors and I took the biggest risk in putting everything I had into the business. There had been times when I wasn’t even sure how I’d get through the month on personal and business bills, but I somehow pulled through. And there’s of course, the constant up and down of ” NO, I can’t do this anymore it’s too stressful, I have no clients, no one likes my food!!!” to ” WHOO I just booked 2 big events, and the last event was a huge success with inquiries for future events!!!” I never knew what true hard work and dedication for your dream was, and what it really meant to be an entrepreneur, until now. It takes a lot of risk in betting on yourself, but the reward is so much greater than any money can buy. Knowing the success I’ve accomplished so far and continuing to build, amidst obstacles and challenges, brings so much happiness and a sense of completion of life. Growing into who I’m meant to be and evolving not only as a chef, but a businesswoman and woman in everyday life is beautiful in itself.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a caterer and private chef, specializing in events/gatherings of any sort. I do enjoy the intimacy and seclusion of private dinners, which I believe my fine dining experience and skill can really shine. However, higher-end events that allow the freedom for finer foods and ingredients for a larger scale of people, really opens up my creativity and desire to make an impression on as many people as I can. Over the past year with previous clients, I’ve developed my identity to be known as a chef that caters to the client. Specifically speaking, I don’t work as your normal caterer/private chef with pre-set menus. I gather as much detail and information from the client like favorite flavors/ingredients, cuisines, theme, etc; and use my knowledge and skillset to develop a menu customized to as close to their vision as possible. At that point is when pricing will come into play, but I always inform the client upfront that “…the sky’s the limit on your menu, but cost will reflect that.” I believe that finally developing my own identity and niche in this highly competitive field is what sets me apart and makes me the most unique. It’s what I’m most proud of to be honest because I’ve jumped around and just followed “the norm” and “what works” for so long, including in starting the business. Being different is how you get noticed, how I get noticed.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
Oh darn, that’s a tough one to choose! I really can’t choose one so here’s my 2 favorite: My grandma was who I learned to cook from. Being able to learn the traditional way of cooking certain Filipino foods from scratch is like gold, as with any cooking lesson from an elder. But my fondest memory was literally learning TO cook from her. She was making breakfast for my brother and I (I was about 12) and I walked over to her and said “Nanay, can you teach me how to cook?”
“Cook what??? Egg???”
“Haha, yes, but also cook! I want to learn from you!”
“Oh! Haha, of course! You can start with this egg! Put it into the pan!”
She, of course, taught me properly how to crack the eggs into the pan and we proceeded to make breakfast. That point forward is just history. My second most favorite memory is always running home from school to watch tv before helping my grandma with dinner and homework. I had to be home before 4 pm to watch Great Chefs, and right after Great Chefs of the World. She would always steal me away at the best part, the dessert, so I only got to watch maybe half of those episodes. But from there, my love of food and cooking, with the help of my grandma, stemmed and flourished.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.asd-catering.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asd_catering/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASD.Catering.LLC
Image Credits
Angela Garzon
Kylie Morey
Amy Monet
