3. Teagan’s Leap of Faith: The Birth of Vintage Chef Co

Teagan (00:00):

I rang you. I'm pretty sure you were getting a tattoo at the time. Yep. <laugh>, you're in a lot of pain.

Probably not thinking straight. No, but I said, Hey Krystal, what do you reckon? And what did you say?

Krystal (00:09):

Let's do it. Yay

Teagan (00:11):

<laugh>. So there we go. We have a cafe

Krystal (00:21):

In today's episode of Nibble + Splash. Get inspired by hearing Teagan's journey from being a high school dropout to a fully qualified chef and natural born risk taker. Learn how she became a successful business owner and founder of the multi-layer hospitality company, Vintage Chef Co. From catering to meal prep, to building a production kitchen and then opening two cafes. Tune in while Tegan takes you through how she turned her passion for food into a thriving business, all while juggling mom life. I love this story so much. It is one of the things that you get asked all the time, not just on your socials but also in person down the street for example, is how do you do it all? How did you start your businesses? What made you take that leap? Why do you do it? All of those sorts of things. So we're gonna unpack all of that today and I'm just really excited to share with everyone this story because I have heard it a thousand times and I just love it so much and I get sick of it. No I don't. I feel like everyone's really gonna enjoy this.

Teagan (01:21):

Oh good. Yeah, because it just happened. Yeah. Like when you're living it, it just happens. But from where I started to now is such a dramatic change and it's only been really like six, seven years, which is incredible. That is crazy. That is a fast growing story I tell you. But yeah, I'm gonna do my best to pivot what I've learned in business to hopefully help everybody listening on their journeys as well. Whether that's in business or in life or anything like that. Just to believe in yourself, take risks. And it's just so amazing that everybody has access to podcasts now and self-development things that I never had starting my business because that can really help you as well. Just inspire you to think. Right. I'm just gonna do it. Which is my tagline. Pretty much Nike should sponsor me. <laugh>. Just do it. Just do it.

Krystal (02:10):

Yeah.

Teagan (02:10):

So where are we starting Krystal,

Krystal (02:12):

I reckon go back to the not not finishing school. This girl right here runs three multimillion dollar companies and didn't get past year 11 <laugh>

Teagan (02:22):

Because school is not the be all and end all. I tell you that right now. I remember going through high school, I was not an academic at all. I was followed I, I followed the wrong crowd. You could say most of us have made it out the other side, some didn't. Um, but I left school in year 11 because my friend and I managed to talk our parents into the fact that school was not for us. We weren't learning anything. It was a waste of our time. We just wanna get into the workforce and what did we wanna become? Great pickers. We were from the Barossa Valley. There was a lot of great picking jobs out there. Makes sense. Yeah. And you know, when I got out there in the elements and got very sunburnt in the summer, very sweaty, had to pack my lunches <laugh> and in the wintertime you are so cold, everything is frozen. And

I was like snipping my fingers 'cause I couldn't feel my fingers <laugh>. But I just wanted to earn money to be able to go out on the weekends and be with my friends. And social life was such a big thing for me then. And that's I guess how I got into hospitality because I'm just such a social person. I went from being a great picker to straight into the hospitality workforce, which has been in my family ever since I can remember.

Krystal (03:37):

Oh absolutely. Well it's how we met too, which um, yeah,

Teagan (03:41):

It is that that'll come, that'll come in the story very soon, Krystal. But we've known each other pretty much since forever, haven't we? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. It's crazy. But yeah, so my family have owned restaurants and hotels and pubs and clubs since before I was born. So that was on my dad's side of the family. And my Mum actually met my dad through that. Like he was running the Gully Hotel and my Mum just walked in there and never left <laugh>. But yeah, it was crazy. And I remember as a toddler taking naps on the kitchen floor in like a busy pub and like stealing chips out the chip bowl and maybe not naps on the kitchen floor <laugh>, but you know, I could smell the aromas of pub food. Yeah. If you remember what they used to smell like. And then my Mum had restaurants and managed restaurants and ran, you know, looked after restaurants for other people until eventually her and my stepdad got a restaurant in Lyndoch and I worked for them from when I was 18, 19 years old. I started out as a barista actually. That's scary. I was making coffees. Hey, excuse me. I was actually very

Krystal (04:45):

Good. You were, you were making coffees before I was making coffees. Yeah.

Teagan (04:48):

And you've gotta know everything you do I think. Yeah, like when you have a company for a, like if you've got a food company or a hospitality company, if you know every single part of that company, it's gonna be the best. Like you can't just start a business from the ground up and not wear all the hats at some point. Anyway, that was short-lived. I soon realized my passion was out the back in the kitchen and my passion stems from growing up and my nanny having me a lot on the weekends because my parents worked in the hospitality industry and we used to bake and make dinner and set the table and do dinner parties. And it is just such a core memory that has definitely inspired my food side of everything in my life, which is entertaining. Starting the businesses, knowing how to entertain and just loving, making people happy with food. So that's that. That's the little where it came from. Um, and then there was so much more. Where should we start Krystal with the next part?

Krystal (05:46):

Or I reckon doing your chef's apprenticeship. Like at what point in your life did you decide, 'cause you weren't a young apprentice or a school-based apprentice or anything like that.

Teagan (05:57):

I was a cook. I just started as a cook in the Lord Lyndoch and I soon started running the kitchen as a cook because when it's your family business, I feel like you do everything to the best of your ability and you care so much what the customers are thinking because that's your family brand on the line. So yeah, it's a big reflection of you. Yeah. So there was nothing that went outta that kitchen that I wouldn't wanna get or I wasn't proud of. And coaching everybody through the kitchen and making sure that they had the standards that we had. Like that's the best part about having a family business. I think knowing that everyone loves it and cares as much as you do. But yeah, I'd had a baby while I was working in the kitchen and as everybody knows, if you're in the food industry, especially the hours are not good <laugh>

Krystal (06:43):

Then

Teagan (06:43):

I ideal, I was working Saturday, Sunday, double shifts most nights of the week, missing out on a whole lot of things, you know, couldn't go to birthday parties, couldn't even go to my own birthday parties at some point. <laugh> because it's like, what is it? Hatch match and dispatch.

Krystal (06:58):

Yeah. Hatch match and dispatch.

Teagan (07:00):

That's my Mum's philosophy with the days off from work, you can have Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Like you either have to be having a baby, going to a funeral

Krystal (07:06):

Or getting married

Teagan (07:07):

Or getting married. No.

Krystal (07:08):

In betweens like

Teagan (07:09):

That is my belief in having days off. Yes. So now having a team of 50 people, they must have a lot of hatch match and dispatches. <laugh>.

Krystal (07:19):

<laugh>. Oh it's just different generations. Yeah. Its when and when you're brought up in a family business too. I think there's a lot less leniency. Like, oh you reckon it, it's like trying to get a day off of school when you're, when you're a school kid is what it's like trying to get a day off with your mom as your boss.

Teagan (07:35):

Oh mate. I, yeah, there was many arguments that went along <laugh>. Anyway, I've learned a lot from that. And I wouldn't change it for the world because I wouldn't be where I'm in my business without having those, you know, structures in being just so passionate. Like that is your number one goal and you need to just get it done.

Krystal (07:53):

Good work ethic.

Teagan (07:54):

Good work ethic. That's the word I was trying to think of. Yeah. <laugh>. Thank

Krystal (07:56):

You. So by now you'd had your first son.

Teagan (08:00):

My first son, yep. And I was realized that I was missing out on a lot of things, so I just wanted to find a way to be able to have some more time off, have a little bit more of a lifestyle. And I think that's ultimately what I've created with Vintage Chef for our whole team is mm-Hmm <affirmative> the flexible lifestyle. Knowing that you can spend time with your kids, you know, it just being a parent just always comes first. We have a little saying babies first.

Krystal (08:24):

We do, in fact, I think about 80% of our core team are all parents. So that just proves that theory there,

doesn't it?

Teagan (08:33):

Yep. And I tangented again because I remember you said about my apprenticeship and I don't know how we got here, but that's okay. So I did my chef's apprenticeship while I was already basically the head cook at the Lord Lyndoch. But I'm really grateful that my family put me through that course and they actually still paid me like my normal wage as I did it because they knew it was gonna help upskill what I already do and also give me a qualification at the end of all my hard work. So, and if I didn't do that, I wouldn't be where I am today. Isn't that a funny story? Pivotal moment, pivotal moment. And as you would've heard,

I'm not really that into schoolwork. So the theory side of things held on a little bit about another five years later, <laugh>

Krystal (09:17):

Five, five year chef apprenticeship.

Teagan (09:18):

I remember that was actually after I had Cruz my second baby and Janet was like, Tegan, you just need to finish your project. And she made me sit in this room and do the project until it was done. And I'm so lucky she did because that was exactly the time I was starting Vintage Chef Catering and I was like, I can't be vintage chef, I'm a cook <laugh> vintage

Krystal (09:36):

Cook doesn't

Teagan (09:37):

Have the same, same ring. Oh. But yeah, you just never know what's around the corner and qualifications, they're just, well it's the key to what I'm doing because you need to be able to have that brand that people believe in. And we've got a lot of amazing chefs that work for us now basically. I don't even cook anymore. <laugh>

Krystal (09:57):

Only if you're hosting.

Teagan (09:58):

Only if I'm hosting. I still do love cooking, but it's crazy how you go from being a chef like day in day out to now I'm working on the business and recording podcasts and doing retreats and it's crazy. Just fly in, fly out, make sure everyone knows what they're doing. But yeah, so I knew that I was always destined for more in the sense of the hours and the job I was doing. I just didn't know what, and there was a pivotal moment that come up that I'm gonna tell you about in a minute. But I've got a little funny story from when I was working paycheck to paycheck in the chef life. Um, you know, it was pretty much a minimum wage what I was on back then. And so was my partner at the time and my dad used to always say that I've got really expensive taste.

Teagan (10:45):

And he goes one day you better have a good job, Teagan, because with your expensive taste <laugh>.

And even at some point, like I went to the shops and I had to put stuff back out my trolley because I couldn't afford it. And you know, like I've been through all of those hard moments and making sure, you know, we didn't have money for our mortgage some weeks I had to borrow money off my parents. Like, you know, but I just always thought this is not what my life is going to be. And it wasn't until my friends from Z Wine mm-Hmm <affirmative> approached me when I was working at the Lord Lyndoch and said, you know, we've got this food and wine match coming up at Sandy Creek Golf Club and we'd love you to do the cooking. And I just thought that would be like kind of on the behalf of Lord Lyndoch type thing.

Teagan (11:25):

And they're like, no, no, no, like we want you to do it. So I got to design all the menus. We got to create what, what one of their wines went with the courses. I think there was four courses and I remember I got to order for it, I got to prep for it. I knew all the dietaries, I knew how many numbers there were. And if you're a chef you'll understand like a la carte menu. Like when you've got a docket rail of 50 dockets and everyone's got steaks cooked in a different way. That is hard yer like I went and helped my sister at a cafe the other other day do breakfast and my God, like I was sweating. I was like, oh my, I got brain fog, I was stressed, I had anxiety. I think it was called PTSD to be honest. ptsd.

Krystal (12:03):

TSD is bringing back all the mems <laugh>. Oh.

Teagan (12:05):

But when I found this new way of catering where, you know, you knew all of these things beforehand and you could really, really elevate the dishes and you weren't in a rush with prepping or anything like that. And anyway, I did this thing, I got a few of my friends to help me. It went off without a hitch and I got a standing ovation at the end and I went out and like everyone was just so happy. I think it was like 60 or 70 people and I just had that feeling like this is gonna be my life. Yeah. Like I was just like so into it. I was. And the fact that I made money at the end of it, like for myself, like the profit, I was just like, holy moly. Like that's like a week's wage. And I did it in one job. In one job. Yeah. You know, so that it was fun. That was the moment. It was fun.

Krystal (12:48):

That was the moment.

Teagan (12:49):

That was the moment. But I also wouldn't have got to that moment with all the other hard work that I went through beforehand, you know? Yeah. Because that taught me everything I need to know.

Krystal (12:57):

Absolutely. So you decided that catering was gonna be this new little passion of yours, bit of a side hustle because at the moment you're still working for your parents at the Lord Lyndoch.

Teagan (13:09):

Yeah. So the side hustle took off quite quickly. And do you know what I did after that event? I went to Kristen's house, Kristen, she owns that wine in the Barossa Valley and they said that these are the girls that I catered for at the Sandy Creek Golf Club. A cute little town in the Barossa right near where I live. And we went to our house and we drank red wine and we had our kids running around. I had two kids at this point. And we created menus. I created finger food menu, sit down menu, a shared menu, a indulge menu for the top end spenders. And I literally printed them all out tied, like made a whole punch in the corner and tied it with brown string <laugh>. And I went to every wine in the Barossa Valley that I knew of and I started getting a few emails for little C pretty things and even a couple of weddings.

Teagan (13:58):

But the main people that supported me were my friends at that point. I did a couple of 40th birthdays, I did a couple of 50th birthdays, an engagement party, one of my friend's weddings. And it was all word of mouth. And so obviously when you start a business, you can't really take the leap until you've got the income coming into warrant that. So for a long time I was working part-time at the Lord Lyndoch and then doing my stuff on the weekends and prepping after hours and everything. So for the interim I was actually away from my kids more. And then I got to the point where I thought I can't do all of this. And I had the money coming in and then I did it. You

Krystal (14:41):

Just, you just didn't have the time after

Teagan (14:42):

That. I didn't have the time. And it was funny because when you've got events, like you can spend the week prepping it, especially when you're a one man show or a two man show. But I wanted to get to the point where, what can I do during the week to supplement my income a little bit more? And I was already making these meals for my husband Ethan at the time, who was in Con at the time. He still is my husband <laugh> <laugh>. But he was in construction at the time working from, he was leaving the house at 4:00 AM in the morning and getting home at 7:00 PM at night some days. Yeah.

Krystal (15:13):

He worked crazy hours,

Teagan (15:14):

Crazy hours travel, like two hours travel there and back depending on where they were working. But I used to make these meals because I was working so much, which was healthy meals in the fridge, ready to go. And that is our meal prep. So that just goes to show that if I wasn't so busy doing that I wouldn't have made these meals. And sending them to work with Ethan is actually the reason why they took off because all of his friends at work wanted me to make them for him. So I started selling them to them and then I started a little Facebook page trying to sell them to our local community and obviously being at the Lord Lyndoch, sharing their kitchen. Because even when I stopped working for the Lord Lyndoch, I still shared the kitchen. I just had to use it after hours. Yep. Which as you remember could be quite difficult.

Krystal (15:59):

<laugh>. It was some late nights, early days. Like Allnighters. Yes.

Teagan (16:03):

Crazy easy.

Krystal (16:06):

You went from sharing the kitchen facilities to then also sharing some of the staff that were there.

Teagan (16:12):

Yeah. So that was kind of the easy option. When I got to the point where I needed help because everybody was happy to get some extra hours. They all watched what I was doing and they all knew what I was doing and they could really help me take it to the next level. And some of those people still work with me now. Isn't that a funny story? You are one of them. Ryan Fabian. Josh. Like they have been with us since day dot and I just pride myself on that. Like working with friends has worked out so much in my favor and they've just been there from the ground up. So they just, like I was saying before, they've got that passion, like it's a family business. Yeah. And entrepreneurs or business owners would just dream of the moment when it's time to quit your nine to five. Like that was just like wow. Or in my case, 24 7, quit to start another 24 7.

Krystal (16:58):

Quit your 24 7 to work 24 7.

Teagan (17:00):

Well that's what you gotta do at the start, don't you? You do. Yeah. You just gotta, you gotta be there, you gotta watch it grow, you gotta make sure it's doing exactly what you want it to do. So then you can teach people what you do so then they can eventually do it. Which is what I've managed to do.

Krystal (17:14):

You have and you've done it very well. Thanks

Teagan (17:16):

Honey. But yeah, so we started with one follower on Facebook in little old Lyndoch and now we have over 20,000 followers. And literally we used to have little menus that went out and every time somebody ordered meal prep, so this is when we first started, I would have, I think it was classic clean, uh, the fitness meals. Were

Krystal (17:38):

They the Fit range? The fit, oh what was it called? Uh, I can't even remember. Athlete Meal. Athlete Meal. That's,

Teagan (17:44):

We had the athletes meal and then we had culinary kids and

Krystal (17:47):

We had lunches and dinners.

Teagan (17:48):

Lunches and dinners. Yes. They were in plastic containers and they had little stickers on them and I didn't even know how to use a printer back in the day. That's when you really started to work for me a lot. Yes. I used to walk over to the library next door, <laugh> and print the next next week menu for 20 cents. And I used to be in there for three hours sometimes just working out why the half the page was hanging off the page and realigning things and getting help. But anyway, so when you got your bag of goodies picked up from the Lord Lyndoch only, you would have next week's menu in there. And they used to have to ring me or text me or Facebook message me and I would have scribbles of bits of paper all over the world. Like literally we literally

Krystal (18:27):

All over the world <laugh> like you don't even, or all over the tiles writing all over the,

Teagan (18:31):

The tiles. I should actually put up a bit of paper on this um, podcast of what they used to look like because it was hilarious. You couldn't even read my writing. <laugh> did I forget a few orders? Probably

Krystal (18:41):

It was your website when you started out. It was that ordering platform.

Teagan (18:45):

I didn't have a website. No. That is how we used to do it in the olden days. <laugh>. Crazy <laugh>. But yeah, so that's how meal prep come about. And now I'm very, very proud to say we do over 7,000 meals a week. Yeah. From our production kitchen. So that's the next bit of the story really, isn't it? When we outgrew the Lord Lyndoch. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. I remember getting to the point where they couldn't even get to their stock. No. So we had our cool room trailer set up outside, which was one of my first investments for when we did catering. 'cause we go here, there and everywhere, all over essay for catering. And then that got full very quickly. Very quickly. Um, so we were kind of at this crossroads of what to do if we wanted to grow anymore. And I spoke to my husband and we just had this opportunity come up because we were living in Williamstown at the time.

Teagan (19:36):

And then his dad's friend had a property in Lyndoch that had a massive shed. It was in a commercial area, had a house. And they just happened to be moving and they were willing to rent it out to us. Now this was a huge risk, but there was no doubt in my mind knew is I knew it was gonna work. So what happened is, in between everything we already had to do and Ethan working a million hours in construction, we took over the lease of this rental, rented out our property in Williamstown and we fit out the shed to be a full commercial kitchen that we're still using today. Like we did not spare an expense on that. And my dad lent me the money because we didn't even have time to go through banks or anything like that because we, it was like it needed to happen yesterday.

Teagan (20:22):

We, we needed a place. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We, we were outgrowing that place big time. Like I was worried that we were gonna get too many orders for the food that we could keep cold. Yeah. So it was the perfect bones. I've got heaps and heaps of photos and videos that pop up of the process of that. We had the three kids at the time. It was a whirlwind, but my husband did it all himself pretty much with his dad helping. And before you knew it, we were moving in there. Our team was growing but we still didn't have a shop front Krystal.

Krystal (20:53):

No we didn't because

Teagan (20:55):

Covid happened. The Lord Lyndoch shut down. And where were we selling our meals

Krystal (21:00):

On the main street of Lyndoch? On the side of the road, side of the road,

Teagan (21:03):

Out of a cool room trailer.

Krystal (21:05):

Rain shine

Teagan (21:06):

Or shine

Krystal (21:07):

<laugh>.

Teagan (21:08):

So I had my little

Krystal (21:09):

Bumba Oh my with my money. God. And I had the Fbu machine because she can't be trusted with technology. <laugh>.

Teagan (21:16):

And there was no such thing as squares on your phone back then for still.

Krystal (21:18):

No, there wasn't, even though it wasn't very to carry long. A big fat thing and it would have gone flat up through an hour. Yeah. Oh man. But

Teagan (21:26):

Yeah, so we really did need a shop front, but we managed to make it work for as long as we possibly could. Um, so yeah, we'd moved into the production kitchen. It was amazing, wasn't it? Like going from what we were doing

Krystal (21:38):

Was so big and spacious and we had an office desk in there at one point.

Teagan (21:42):

We did. It looked very cute at the start. That all ended very quickly though because we were growing so quickly. The desk was gone, all the aesthetics were gone.

Krystal (21:52):

<laugh>, all the nice stuff was gone. <laugh>. Yeah.

Teagan (21:54):

Because we were just growing more and more and we needed to make it a very, very functional space for the rapid growth of meal prep. And Ethan and I made that decision to invest. We're all in at this point and we had the opportunity to buy the property. So we sold our Williamstown family home that was in our family from when I was 14 years old. Yeah. And then we bought the property, we're in. So now we're in the position where our company pays us rent to be on the same premises, which was such a smart business move. But you know, it doesn't start like that. We've taken the steps to be able to get to that point. And investing in property is something that we're looking at next as the everything gets bigger and better. Like it's just the next business move I guess. But yeah, so that happened. And then it was time for Cafe. Oh the Cafe Baby number three? Cafe.

Krystal (22:48):

<laugh>. <laugh>.

Teagan (22:50):

Oh the cafe. So this is the funny story. I remember being in the Coles supermarket. My friend Michael rang me. Michael was my friend from high school, actually primary school. And he was the cell door manager at Chateau Yaldara. And he rang me, I was in Coles. And he just said, so how do you feel about taking over all the events and the restaurant at Chateau Yaldara? And I was just like, well can you leave it with me for a couple of minutes? <laugh>

Krystal (23:14):

Gotta make it a quick call. So I just rang

Teagan (23:16):

You straight away. And I knew we were looking for a shop front and I did not, I didn't, we we, we kind of knew, but we just weren't really looking. No. We were more thinking something in the main street or I don't know. But obviously we've got catering background and they did weddings there. It was a beautiful spot. I rang you, I'm pretty sure you were getting a tattoo at the time. Yep. <laugh>, you're in a lot of pain. Probably not thinking straight. No. But I said, Hey Krystal, what do you reckon? And what did you say?

Krystal (23:43):

Let's do it. Yeah. <laugh>.

Teagan (23:46):

So there we go. We have a cafe. So the cafe happened and it was Covid as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But we got to utilize our team in the catering times. Like meal prep grew during Covid, but in the catering times we got to utilize like Ryan was painting. Yeah. You were setting up all the menus and all the POS systems and there was

Krystal (24:06):

We making kids' room refurbing tables. Oh, the

Teagan (24:09):

Kids' room. Just everything. Everything. Polishing floors. Um, and then we did a, an open day. And I remember you could only book in 20 people at a time at that point because of the

Krystal (24:18):

Yeah. Two hour sessions. The

Teagan (24:19):

Meter a square rule.

Krystal (24:20):

Yep.

Teagan (24:21):

But you know what, I still to this day think that it just worked out perfectly for us because it

Krystal (24:27):

Was a nice soft

Teagan (24:27):

Opening. It's like a soft opening. Yeah. You know, anything that was gonna be ironed out, all the kinks that were gonna be ironed out happened very quickly. And when we got to the point where we could put 150 people in there and we ran off our feet, we kind of knew what we were doing. <laugh>.

Krystal (24:40):

Yes. Yeah. We were definitely well and truly trained up by then. Oh.

Teagan (24:43):

But yeah, we, they handed over, well they did a handover of about 25 weddings I believe. And when we did up our wedding packages and everything like that, we just booked more and more and more. We become more on the map. I think we become more of a barossa known business.

Krystal (25:00):

We had a location that the public could actually come to and recognize the brand and see the food, see the events, see the meal prep. I think a physical location definitely was a game changer.

Teagan (25:11):

That's what we needed. And being off the beaten track at the chateau there, as lovely as it was after being there for three years, we'd reached all the people that we were going to reach in that area. And we needed to find somewhere a little bit more well known, which is when we reached out to STARPlex at Trinity and had a big dog meeting in the boardroom

Krystal (25:35):

<laugh>.

Teagan (25:36):

And you made a bit of a business plan up business proposal and we won it and it was the best move we ever made. Very controversial move I might add.

Krystal (25:45):

It was, oh, but do you know what this, this is where I love your story because you just live inside your own little bubble and you don't take no for an answer. And when you put your foot on the pedal, it's like full speed ahead. There's no looking back. And I, that's just what I admire about you so

Teagan (26:03):

Much. Aw, thanks babe.

Krystal (26:05):

And we definitely a, as much as I was like, yes, let's do it, let's get a cafe in Lyndoch, it was Covid. And everyone's like, oh no, don't do it. And then we built up our whole reputation and brand and everything like that in the Barossa to then move to a rec center cafe attached to a school. And everyone's like, mm, nope. Don't do that. 12 months in though. Best decision we ever made. And

Teagan (26:29):

You know what? I still have people coming up to me now over 12 months later going, I was really skeptical, but that was like the best move ever. <laugh>. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, I know. Thanks though. We looked at the numbers, we know. Yeah. But it's funny because people think, I've heard a couple of stories that you know, oh, we couldn't afford it in Lyndoch or dah dah dah dah. It's like, mate, we are paying way more where we are now anymore because it's the foot traffic and we could have had both locations open, but we are smart and we know what we can handle and we didn't want our staff to be stretched out too much. We wanna be good at what we do. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we made all these decisions to kind of downscale a little bit in the sense of not having another location. Mm. But it's managed to just double in staff again. Anyway, <laugh>.

Krystal (27:14):

Yeah, it was, it was definitely a less is more moment, but then the minute we get there, it just, it exploded again.

Teagan (27:22):

It's Grand Central Station. Yeah. And if someone offered me another rec center cafe in a high bill area, I'd take it. Yeah.

Krystal (27:28):

Anybody

Teagan (27:28):

Out there Mount Barker? Yeah. Anywhere in Mount Barker. <laugh>. Yeah. So, but yeah, that's, that's how that happened. And there's gonna be a lot more things we get to touch on because to put seven years in, 30 minutes is quite difficult. Crazy. But make sure you add down in comments. Anything else that you want us to touch on? Because we love talking about our story and this is why we're here because I wanna inspire people to follow their dreams. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it is such a daunting thing to think about.You know, what if it doesn't work out? All the risks involved, like you've always said to me like, you love working for me, but you could never have taken those

Krystal (28:05):

Risks. Oh, I just, I feel sick in my stomach watching you take the risks that you do sometimes. But where I'm saying, ugh, what if it doesn't work? You are saying, well what if it does? Yeah.

Teagan (28:15):

No, no, it can't not. Yeah.

Krystal (28:17):

<laugh> it, it will. It will

Teagan (28:19):

Work. It will work. It will work. I mean take the packaging story for example, I remember when I was going all over Adelaide going, there has to be a better packaging than putting all this in. Not the food's, not. <laugh> putting all my amazing food in plastic containers, which now are going out of, you can't even buy them anymore as of next year. Yeah. But I was just so sure there was a way. So I went to all the supermarkets, I looked at everything else on the market at the time and I found the Dynamic Foods packet and I looked at the number and the email on the side of the packet and I rang them and I booked a meeting in Melbourne and I flew over there and I bought the $150,000 machine that it takes to do it. And I took that cost for sustainability and for the customers. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And just for the environment and to know that it was the right thing to do. And also, they're just so cute. I love them.

They're cute.

Krystal (29:12):

Our packaging is very cute.

Teagan (29:13):

They're aesthetically pleasing. They look nice in the fridge. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know that you're doing the right thing. And it's just, that's just one example of many of just sometimes you just don't take no for an answer. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>

Krystal (29:26):

God, I remember how many meal prep packages you were buying from every single supermarket or how many photos I would get. I know. But yeah. And it's funny, that's probably one of the biggest things that we get reached out to a lot too, is where did you get this from? How did you do it? Like do the work.

Yeah. Do the work. Yeah.

Teagan (29:44):

And

Krystal (29:45):

Yeah, no, you didn't get any of this handed to you on a silver platter. You busted your balls and Yeah. You flew around the country to find the answers that you wanted to find because,

Teagan (29:54):

And we still foot that cost now too. Yeah. To know we're doing the right thing. And I just think it's such a good thing for our customers to have something like that. Yeah. And yeah, it just goes to show that if you want something bad enough, you can get it.

Krystal (30:08):

So yeah, let's wrap that one up because we could talk about this forever. Forever,

Teagan (30:13):

Forever.

Krystal (30:14):

This is just a little bit of the birth of Vintage Chef co. How you got started, where it is today and yeah, is there anything you wanna leave us with? Anything memorable or that you wanna share with us?

Teagan (30:26):

Well, all I know is that when we were at the most busiest part of Vintage Chef Co and the meal prep taking off, I was heavily pregnant with Jazzy my final baby. And I remember so clearly like booking a couple of jobs and I was pretty much a one man show. Like Ryan would help me do the prep and everything. But I would go to a birthday party and I'd make an epic grazing board, like a grazing table, which was kind of my signature thing. And so everyone could pick at that so they didn't get hungry. And then I'd go in the kitchen and I'd cook the Arni bowls or I'd make up the canapes and then I'd come out and I'd hand it all out. And I would literally do from start to finish, unpacking, packing all by myself. Like 36 weeks pregnant, I was delivering everybody's meal prep, 38 weeks pregnant who?

Krystal (31:12):

Who

Teagan (31:13):

<laugh> in and out the car. I was setting up weddings in between breastfeeding and pumping. Like obviously there was no guests there. But I remember being at Goole, putting the bassinet down on the ground, getting out the plates. Like if it's a passion, you can do it all. Like I did not get that time at home with jazz when she was born. But like I have it now and there's lots of things I'm proud of. Ethan started working for me four years ago, full time, my husband. Um, we now deliver over 7,000 meals a week, which started at 10 <laugh>. We generate over $5 million a year. Now I work on the business rather than in it and just jump in when I'm needed. And I literally just have created my dream life, doing my dream job and it's just pitch me

Krystal (32:02):

<laugh>.

Teagan (32:04):

Thank you so much for listening everybody. If you like what you heard, please head down below, subscribe, check the show notes, follow us on socials. We'd love to hear from you and can't wait for next time.

Krystal (32:18):

She's the baddest of them all. Ooh, that's all I know.