The Healthy Trend that Caters to You

Having a passion is one thing. But finding a niche within a passion opens doors. Welcome to Centered Chef, a health-focused educational-catering and food-classroom business with roots in Chicago that has taken on the tough but important task of making healthy food delicious. One day, Chef Ryan Hutmacher had a ‘this is it’ moment when he made the decision to move away from sales and leverage his entrepreneurial and culinary skills to take charge of his life. He journeyed to France for an apprenticeship and then completed his formal culinary studies to begin a new phase in his career. Founded in 2005 under the moniker “Chef on Call Chicago,” the original objective of Hutmacher’s company was not necessarily to be so health-focused, but to become a personal chef and catering business with meal delivery for clients. But he saw significant demand for health-centric dishes, including inquiries about dietary restrictions, weight loss and disease management, which all propelled the direction the company would take. Hutmacher, who was then struggling with being 50 pounds overweight, re-branded in 2007 to “Centered” to both cater to the requests he was getting and mirror his personal need to keep health and wellness at the center of his life ambitions. Hutmacher’s story, similar to other small business entrepreneurs searching for their passion, establishes the need to be strategic and forward-thinking in order to leave a true mark on the culinary industry, particularly in Chicago where a high volume of chefs abound. For Hutmacher, creating – with a significant learning curve – calorie-specific, gluten-free, vegan, high-protein and low-fat “health food” as a personal chef allowed him to take his brand to the next step. “Centered Chef now represents good, pure food in social educational platforms,” Hutmacher said. “I had a breakthrough while swimming and it hit me, here I am trying to find balance and what’s synonymous with balance and shifting in life? It’s learning to cook healthy.” Finding Direction During the company’s beginnings in 2007, growth came in at 25 percent annually, but when the recession hit, revenue was cut by 50 percent through 2009. To keep the brand going, Hutmacher knew he had to become its biggest advocate and hit the street pitching to avoid the risk of going under. “In order to go big, I knew I had to build a place to put the brand on the map,” Hutmacher said. “I had investors open to it, so I went out there and raised money and it was a very scary experience. I believed in what I was doing so much that I learned to trust my gut.” The waters from 2009 through 2011 were murky at best. Knowing banks wouldn’t look his way, private investors and alternate revenue streams were his only solutions. During this time, Centered Chef was already going through plans to find a new location to meet new demands. Originally, Centered Chef’s brick and mortar building was big enough only to support catering orders.  In 2010, the brand expanded and found a 3,000-square-foot location at 177 N. Ada Street, an older industrial area of the city, which would allow them to teach culinary education, host events and account for long-term growth. The location opened in August 2011. With a large mortgage bill looming over his head, Hutmacher garnered a City of Chicago tax increment financing (“TIF”) grant to support the build-out. TIF grants are awarded to certain projects that help develop neighborhoods in Chicago to bring more vitality and jobs to the area. That was the momentum they needed to get going again, but financial support by Kitchen Aid is what truly helped open the school portion of the business after three other appliance companies passed. Where They’re Heading It took Hutmacher two years to bounce back from loss. By 2012, the company posted their first profit since before the recession. This year, they are tracking again at 25 percent growth. Knowing he was putting his life investment as well as other people’s money and trust in him on the line for his dream was the hardest thing Hutmacher ever did. But what came from that risk was a two-pronged strategy that firmly planted Centered Chef in the health and wellness space. Today, Centered Chef has two divisions. One supplies work for event hosting and catering jobs, such as weddings and corporate events. The second is the educational division where they either bring organizations into their space to teach the merits of healthy cooking or travel North America giving demonstrations. It’s allowed them to gain a niche and be selective to the jobs they take to always carry their mission forward. Thus far, Hutmacher’s team of four full-time (including himself and his business partner and Centered Chef General Manager Sam Pena, [caption id="attachment_7363" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="From left to right: Sam Pena, General Manager, Christine Oleksiuk, Culinary & Events Coordinator, Melissa Schwenk, Sous Chef and Chef Ryan"][/caption] who stuck it out with Hutmacher during the hardest points of the recession because he believed in the concept), 10 contracted chefs, two adjunct dieticians and two interns, have worked with Allstate Insurance, General Electric and Lend Lease Company, among others. Since last year, they have taught – and served healthy catered food – around the country in over 20 cities from Fairbanks, Alaska to Honolulu to Boston. Hutmacher considers nutrition accessible and healthy cooking practical, an approach he uses in front of the camera and every day. This has not only kept him going, but has allowed Centered Chef to grow and feed off mutual inspiration regarding healthy living. Their Loft, Kitchen and Film Kitchen are open year round for corporate entertaining purposes, events and catering endeavors.