This story is part of WTOP’s Small Business September coverage. Each week, WTOP is highlighting small businesses across the D.C. region, along with financial, government and other organizations that help our small business community thrive.
Sometimes entrepreneurs know exactly what business they want to launch. Andrea Dettelbach fell into entrepreneurship after finding something she was good at in her personal life.
She launched her Montgomery County, Maryland-based catering and event planning business, Soup to Nuts, after a lifetime around food and helping friends with parties.
Dettelbach has been around the kitchen her entire life. Her mother, Libby Strauss, was a well-known chef and food writer in Miami. It was only natural to get into this line of work, she said.
But her professional background was in nonprofit development and event planning. “And about 15 years ago, friends finally convinced me that it was time for me to stop doing the development work,” she said.
A friend hired her to do a dessert party and fundraiser.
“Two other people (at the party) asked me if I was available to do a brunch and a dinner, and it kind of morphed from there,” Dettelbach told WTOP.
Since then, Soup to Nuts has catered weddings and funerals, bar and bat mitzvahs, fundraisers and school auctions and every event in between, even providing catering for clients who wish to remain anonymous.
She calls the company Soup to Nuts because it provides everything clients might need, including food, decor, staging and running the event the day-of.
“Or, if you look at it from the catering side, I can provide everything from the soup to the nuts. I don’t specialize in any one thing, so I’m able to provide whatever any someone is looking for,” she said.
But she does have some highly requested and delectable dishes. The No. 1 most requested morsel is her macaroni and cheese bites. She said she makes “those by the hundreds, the thousands.”
She said desserts are also standout dishes, using her mother’s own recipe for her chocolate mousse, and even adding a little Miami flavor with key lime mousse and key lime pie. She is also known for her brisket made for Passover celebrations and Rosh Hashana.
While she can handle events of up to 200 people, her sweet spot is 40 to 80 guests. She has intentionally tried to keep her business small, relying only on word-of-mouth to get her name out there.
And while it is always nice to see new people contact her about her services, she said, “Having repeat customers is really important to me. People who are happy with the work and with the food and the planning and feel that they’ve gotten value for what they paid for, I think is wonderful.”
And while she may have talent in the kitchen, she said, “For me, the planning is really the skill that I have.”
That skill comes in when she has to scale her recipes for different party sizes as well as managing any sort of live event.
“It’s a whole different ballgame,” she said, versus cooking for your own family.
One complication in recent years is the rising cost of food. Her customers are often shocked by prices when they see estimate breakdowns.
“In order to keep my quality up, I need to really try to source things, and it’s very, very difficult because food has gotten so expensive,” Dettelbach said.
At one point she planned to expand the business, employing more people and opening her own commercial kitchen rather than leasing one, but Dettelbach said her businesses size has afforded her flexibility in her personal life.
“Having time to do family things and have my life outside of my work,” she said. “I’m hoping to evolve more into more party planning, maybe a little less catering, so that it isn’t as physically challenging.”
That’s another complication of the catering business: the harsh physical toll it can take Dettelbach spoke to WTOP a week after back surgery.
Her favorite part of the business is seeing her customers satisfied, from the beginning of planning to the end of the event, she said. Working with her staff is also fulfiling.
“I have wonderful, wonderful people who staff my events for me. They have been with me for many, many years, and I would not be able to run my business without them,” Dettelbach said.
Her advice for potential entrepreneurs out there:
“You’re going to have periods when you’re not going to think you can do it. You shouldn’t let people discourage you from trying. That is really probably the most important thing I can think of,” Dettelbach said.
“If you’re in the lucky position of being financially stable … so that you can take risks, I encourage people to do so. I think that’s the only way we I think that’s what kind of what makes our communities hum.”
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