Nadine Johnson, CEO of Sous Kitchen, Inc., a food service company based in San Carlos, CA, says, “Score was instrumental from the beginning in helping our company get off the ground.”  In 2004, before starting Sous Kitchen, Nadine and her sister-in-law, Diane Jacobson, brought their business plan to the Silicon Valley Score counselors in San Jose. “The Score counselors offered suggestions that made our plan more attractive to financial institutions,” says Nadine. “With the improvements they recommended, we were able to obtain about $200,000 in start up financing from a national credit union,” she adds.
 
Prior to starting Sous Kitchen neither Nadine nor Diane had direct experience in the operations side of the food service industry. Nadine, who has an undergraduate degree from Oregon State University and an MBA from the University of Washington, worked in the financial area with PricewaterhouseCoopers, with a short-lived tech start up and with Covad Communications as investor relations director. Diane, who has a BS degree from the University of Puget Sound and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, worked in marketing in the pharmaceutical and high tech industries for over ten years. Both women loved cooking and had been encouraged since childhood to explore creative cooking arts. They had toyed with the idea of opening a store that would allow stay-at-home moms and working women to prepare delicious and convenient home-cooked meals with fresh, local ingredients for their families. In 2004 while Nadine was still on pregnancy leave from Covad, she and Diane decided to seriously pursue this idea.
 
At first the women considered buying a franchise, but after visiting the operations of a major, national franchisor and tasting the food, they decided that they could only offer the quality, fresh ingredients and unique menu choices that they wanted as an independent company. With money they borrowed and more from their own savings, Nadine and Diane opened their store. They wanted a location close to their homes and were fortunate to find a site in a business park in San Carlos near US 101 that had a supportive landlord who provided partial financing and paid for some of the required leasehold improvements.
 
Before opening the store, Nadine met with Norton Pearl from the San Francisco Score chapter. Norton had extensive experience in the food service business as owner of the Le Pot Au Feu restaurant in Menlo Park. “Norton’s advice was very specific and right on the mark,” says Nadine. “He provided guidelines for how much we should spend as a percent of sales for everything from food to utilities. He also gave us insurance and marketing advice,” adds Nadine. She and Diane continued to meet with Norton after they opened the store in March of 2006. He recommended that they not advertise in newspapers or on the radio, but rather offer discount coupons to attract customers to the store. “Norton told us to anticipate and plan for seasonality in our business. If not for this advice, we wouldn’t have recognized the swings in demand for what they were and probably would have freaked out,” she adds.
 
The original business model for Sous Kitchen was for the company to provide fresh ingredients and a facility where stay-at-home moms or groups of friends or co-workers could prepare high quality, home style meals that could be taken home, cooked and served to their families.   In the original business plan, however, Nadine and Diane foresaw the potential for developing the corporate market as well. They envisioned providing the same high quality, home style prepared meals for busy employees at local companies to take home from their places of work. Fortuitously, in 2006, Nadine and Diane found another partner, Brad Rolfe, who could help them develop this market.
 
Prior to joining Sous Kitchen as VP of Business Development, Brad had many years of experience selling to corporate accounts. “I’d always been a fan of great food,” he says. After what he terms as an epiphany, he and his partner decided to start a business similar to Sous Kitchen. “In an effort to learn more, I came down to San Carlos to meet with Nadine on the premise that I might be interested in being a customer. Of course, actually I was spying,” he admits. “We really hit it off,” says Nadine, “and Brad and I spent most of a day together discussing everything from recipes to how we buy fresh, local ingredients.” She continues, “However, I didn’t hear back from him after that meeting until later that year when I bumped into him at a conference of current and prospective food preparation business owners.” She adds, “When I confronted him and said ‘you were spying on me, weren’t you’, we had a good laugh, but actually began discussions on how we might work together.” Brad and his partner invested in Sous Kitchen and Brad became a full time employee chartered with responsibility to develop the corporate market.
 
In 2007, Sous Kitchen established a strategic alliance with PurpleTie™, a neighboring company that provides dry cleaning, laundry, clothing alterations, photo processing and other personal needs services with pick up and delivery from home or work places. “Partnering with PurpleTie™ was vital to our ability to enter the corporate market,” says Brad. “Through their ‘@Work’ program they deliver meals that we prepare to corporate employees,” he explains. By the end of 2007, Sous Kitchen’s revenues increased over 65% from 2006 with just two corporate accounts – Electronic Arts and Genentech. The focus on corporate accounts drove revenues another 30% up in 2008 with the addition of companies such as Lockheed Martin, Microsoft and Oracle. “We were up to 78 corporate accounts that comprised about 90 percent of our revenues in 2008,” says Nadine.
 
In September 2008, Sous Kitchen won a prestigious award from the Count-Me-In foundation, a national non-profit that is devoted to encouraging and supporting the growth and success of women-owned businesses.
 
“We’re very proud of our growth and expect to exceed $1 million in revenue in 2009 even in the current poor economy,” says Nadine. “However, we still need to focus on operational efficiencies so we can fund our expansion and that’s our immediate objective,” she adds. With this in mind, Nadine has met with Jill Breckenridge of Silicon Valley Score to take a hard look at Sous Kitchen’s financials. “Although I watch the numbers pretty carefully,” says Nadine “it’s always useful to have a ‘second pair of eyes’ to check what you’re doing and to play devil’s advocate.” In addition, Jill is providing advice on public relations and marketing to help Sous Kitchen reach its goal of 200 corporate accounts by the end of 2009.
 
Nadine, Diane and Brad have big dreams for the future of Sous Kitchen. They’re in negotiations for retail placement of frozen, prepared dinners and are considering ways to implement national distribution to corporate clients. “Diane, Brad and I have complementary strengths,” says Nadine. “I think we make a strong team and we have a strong business plan. But, there’s one thing I’ve learned from our experience and that is ‘don’t be afraid to ask for help’.” She concludes, “Score counselors have a wealth of experience in all aspects of business, and because they are a national organization, Score clients can access all of these resources. And, amazingly, it’s free. Where can you get a better deal that that?”