Exceptional, Restaurant-quality Service

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food service but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Sean Thornhill, founder of Evoke, located in Squamish, BC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Evoke is a private chef service that strives to deliver exceptional, restaurant-quality service right inside your home. Evoke started following the closing of restaurants and other services during the Covid pandemic. Our goal was to allow people to celebrate special events with friends and family in the safety and security of their homes during a very difficult time.

As people discovered new ways to celebrate during a very unusual time, we were always adapting to serve our clients, from in-home dinners to online cooking courses and ready-to-eat meals. Evoke specializes in innovative cuisine tailored to suit the needs and wants of our guests. Menus are designed to suit the style of the event being hosted as well as the tastes of our clients. We work with the best seasonal ingredients from local purveyors that we know and trust.

Tell us about yourself

I created Evoke during the summer of 2020. The Covid pandemic hit the hospitality industry hard, and restaurants were closing down both temporarily and permanently, and like so many people, I found myself unemployed. During this time, I truly missed working with food, and so I decided to start selling ready to cook meals, the response was overwhelmingly positive, and soon enough, we were asked to cook for a baby shower.

After our first event, we had many more requests for in-home dinners and tasting menus. It seemed people couldn’t get enough, so we made it official and started advertising our service. I can honestly say that one of the most rewarding things about being a private chef is the total creative freedom in menu design and product selection, furthermore, this line of work really puts you in touch with your guests in a way that you never really get to experience in a restaurant.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I think the biggest accomplishment that I reached as a business owner was starting from basically nothing. Evoke started with a few scratch-made meals that then turned into fully catered events delivered in a Ford Mustang! All the tools and resources we had were secured by re-investing profits.

After that, it was really about finding ways to stay relevant when nothing was predictable; we went from catering in-home gatherings of 20 people to having indoor gathering limits/cohort limitations. After that, we started doing boxed confectionery products online cooking classes for office Christmas parties. I genuinely feel that our greatest accomplishment was starting from nothing but a passion for food and then always finding a way to pivot and continue providing our clients with ways to celebrate and connect during a very difficult time for everyone.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the biggest challenges of owning a business is figuring out how you are going to reach your potential clients, especially when your resources are limited. You always need to find a way to deliver an exceptional experience that will blow your clients away; that’s a must if you want to build a reputation that creates new and repeat customers.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Be passionate about your business. This might sound obvious, but when you care about your service beyond the financials, your customers can feel the difference in the service.
Advertising is the best investment. Get your name out there using targeted advertising techniques. The money will come back.
Every time you deliver a service, it needs to be exceptional. Word of mouth is what creates the reputation of your business.

The first step is always the hardest. It takes determination and fortitude to be self-employed. Getting started on your own is an intimidating process, but there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing your vision come to life.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.evoke-privatechefservice.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvokePrivateChef/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evokeprivatechef/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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