Interview with Jerome Chang
Chef/Owner Cathcart & Reddy (Formerly Dessert Truck and
DT Works)
6 Clinton Street, Lower East Side, NYC
By Kathryn Gordon
Kathryn: Hi Jerome,
it’s nice to meet you. Tell me about how
you started your business.
Jerome: I’m an attorney who changed careers and went
to FCI (French Culinary Institute) for their pastry program. Then I got some fine dining experience in the
industry for about 3-4 years. At first,
I thought I’d take the more traditional career path, like working to become the
executive pastry chef of a hotel.
Kathryn: Why did you start off your entrepreneurial
career with a desserts truck?
Jerome: That story’s a little bit strange, and who
knows, but it just sort of happened. It
seemed like a great idea, and I felt I was seasoned enough to pull it off well.
It was 2007. The time had come for the democratization of
really good food. Chefs were offering
more casual dining options for really solid food other than white table cloth
establishments. At the time we were
looking to get into business, there was a general movement to make really good
food accessible.
We were pretty much the first gourmet food truck out
there. If you look back at the old
magazines (guides to NY), we’re in all of them when the NY food truck movement
started.
Kathryn: Well, now you have a retail space. Was it always a dream to have a retail location?
Jerome: No, not really, especially as we didn’t have
deep (financial) pockets and we still don’t.
Basically I’m a small business owner who commutes from where I live in
Harlem to the Lower East Side because the rents were reasonable here. I have one business partner, Suzanne. I had a different partner in the beginning who
left after the first year because he had never been in the hospitality business
before and didn’t understand what the work entailed.
I met my current business partner, Suzanne, when I was
working at Le Cirque. She had started in chocolate working with Jacques Torres.
Kathryn: Okay, so you're both veterans then, from the Jacques
Torres/Le Cirque world. That explains
the bomboloni style doughnuts (“Brioche Doughnut Squares”) on your menu!
Kathryn: Why did you decide to transition to a set location
and stop selling products off the truck?
Jerome: Last winter, we determined it was time to
retire the truck because it was on its last legs. The whole truck aspect is a double-edged
sword.
Kathryn: Why?
Jerome: It’s the logistics of it. The city regulations (against parking in
metered spots) don’t work in your favor and that was a negative. There have been police crackdowns against
food trucks and neighbors can complain, get you ticketed, fined and towed.
We did use the truck to support corporate catering for film
and TV, and that was a good revenue source.
Kathryn: When you had the truck, where did you park it
at night after you closed up? And before
you had the retail and kitchen space where did you do your production?
Jerome: Overnight the truck has to be in a
Department of Health approved commissary, so it was parked in Brooklyn when we
weren’t selling.
I produced for the first couple of years in 2 different
shared kitchens, beginning by working out of the kitchen of a catering
company.
Kathryn: When I last visited, this location was called
“DT Works” for “Dessert Truck Works,” and now you’ve changed your website, and
some signage, to Cathcart & Reddy.
Why did you decide to change the business name again?
Jerome: Well, we had gotten rid of the truck and people just get confused! They would mix us up with other trucks. We helped create a (mobile food) movement in
NYC. There were other trucks with dessert, but we were the only ones focused
on desserts.
We no want to reach a wider more traditional audience. Having
the truck name didn’t help and they were skeptical.
Kathryn: You’re located on the Lower East Side and you
want a more traditional audience?
Jerome: To be able to grow, we need to reach a wider
customer base. It’s been hard here to
build up a business during the day. The
most traffic on this street is at night so we’d like to attract more people
throughout the day.
Kathryn: Do you have any regrets with the path your
business has taken?
Jerome: I have definitely made mistakes. I think the hardest thing is to make the
transition from fine dining, where we live in a bubble and all think like
foodies.
As chefs, we fantasize technique and exotic techniques too
much, and that doesn’t help you “run a business.” 95% of your customers don’t care about
that. You have to learn how to produce
things that are easy to understand. It’s not about “pretty.”
Kathryn: Do you think that you were prepared for what
you’ve had to do?
Jerome: I understand food costs and I did a business
plan. I think most new businesses that
fail don’t make it because the owners don’t understand what they’re getting
into, are not adequately prepared, and do not understand what operating their
business truly costs them. First and foremost, they do not understand their food
costs or how to determine it.
Note: Food Start Up Help consulting services can
assist you with determining your food costs, vis-à-vis industry standards. Please visit www.foodstartuphelp.com
Kathryn: I love that you’re using your
iPad for your POS (Point of Sales) system.
Jerome: Yes, it’s very easy to use. A few months ago SQUARE came around
aggressively marketing merchants, and it’s free. I created a custom menu and can add new line
item additions (products) as needed.
Note: Square is a free system that allows you to
swipe credit cards via your iPhone and turns your iPad into a cash
register. You can research whether it
could help your new business at www.squareup.com. Food Start Up Help chefs Kathryn, Jeff and
Jessie like that it has in-depth analytics and reports that will help you
understand your sales patterns.
Kathryn: What would you like most to happen next for
your renamed business, Cathcart and Reddy?
Jerome: We’d like to attract more customers. We need more people to venture this far over
on the Lower East Side. It’s a 10 minute
walk here from the closest subway, but we like the space, the rent is cheaper
than other places we found, and Clinton Street is a food destination street.
Kathryn: Thanks Jerome!
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