How can I help?
As chef, entrepreneur or Mom, I deeply appreciate those magical words, the opposite of “that’s not my job”.
My first restaurant gigs (at 15) were in a neighborhood Italian restaurant and Taco Bell, (back when they made the beans from scratch, kids!). Since then I’ve done all kinds of work, both front and back of house, random stints and longer gigs anywhere from a tiny grill (literally) behind a bar in Philadelphia, to more formal settings like Charleston’s Mills House, The Country Club of Charleston, Durham’s Magnolia Grill and almost everything in between.
For a local farmer’s market I grew, baked, cooked and sold all kinds of food. That evolved into a tiny downtown fresh grocery and bakeshop. Then we took over the locally famous Lu-E-g’s (renamed The James Pharmacy Restaurant “The JPR”). Great food, music and art filled that vibrant space and left a legacy of deep friendships and great business lessons. Among those is the value of having a strong, knowledgeable, honest consultant as a gut-checker, hand-holder, bubble-popper and coach. Eventually I began doing that work myself, inspired by the example of compassionate helpers.
When JPR closed, as chef I led the kitchen that helped students at Duke University’s Divinity School create their vision of campus dining to include social responsibility and local food connections. We nurtured the café from one electric stove into a full-service dining hall feeding thousands of people a week and catering every kind of event from breakfast to black-tie.
Along the way, our team:
re-invented “institutional” cooking, building relationships with farmers, food producers and pioneers of sustainable food systems
dramatically increased the availability of fresh, scratch-made food to students
challenged and inspired culinary pros who have gone on to do great work in this field
Local and sustainable were still fairly new in the lexicon. Since then, Duke University doubled down on their commitment to these principles, helping lead the way in high quality, locally connected foodservice for other university food systems that thrive today.
In 2008 I joined a group doing foundational work in the field of eating disorder treatment. In addition to feeding patients who are medically challenged and often kitchen-averse, our team of cooks, clinicians, and dietitians developed models for innovative and effective therapeutic culinary and garden programming. During my time there, and later at an inpatient hospital for the treatment of adolescents with eating disorders, I designed kitchens and dining spaces that function at the highest levels of food safety and sanitation, while being warm, inviting and scaled for some of the most challenging culinary learners.
A decades-long interest in issues facing incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people offered an opportunity to run a prison-based “Cook School”. Teaching and developing collaborations and curriculum for this unique college-based program enriched my life immeasurably. My students continue to inspire me and I am tuned to the shape this work will take in the future.
For well over a decade, consulting and teaching has been an opportunity to synthesize the common threads of all this work. What I do best is see big pictures and fine details with clarity, depth and dimension. I relish the intricacies of a problem, working out strategies that are personal and effective. In collaboration I challenge, support and empower people to clarify and calibrate goals, and help remove barriers to meeting them.
A life of problem-solving in the culinary and hospitality world has given me a very simple approach. My daughters, and plenty of chefs, cooks and servers over the years have heard this in a tough spot or on a dark day: We'll Figure It Out!
~ Dani Black
My Approach
I work alongside you to get your food business safe, legal and profitable.
What does that look like? The rest of this website is here to answer that question.
Through presentations, workshops and individual work, I challenge, educate and encourage aspiring food entrepreneurs.
We meet in kitchens, offices, living rooms or a project team's headquarters. Depending how far the project is from Orange County NC, that may mean working is on-site and via Zoom.
We collect our work in a Shared Google Doc: meeting agendas, notes and links to resources we talk about, every spreadsheet or doc we create together. The most important part of this is our Intentions and Goals, agreed upon and tracked over time.
If you and your food business just need a once-over, a weekly or bi-weekly session or other occasional work, we schedule as needed and you’ll get an invoice at the end of the month only for the actual hours worked that month.
If your big project needs regular attention on a set schedule of more commitment and availability, we’ll likely work with a Letter of Agreement that spells out the scope of our work, the average number of hours per week/month. You’ll pay a set fee ahead, and you'll have dibs on my time for that period.
I also provide subject matter expertise for organizations, business leaders and funders who support entrepreneurship. Foodservice has unique needs in business planning and execution: I add a layer of technical assistance for food-based businesses in already excellent programs. I can also coach support staff so they have good tools to better support your clients!
If you want to schedule a class, a course, or special presentation, we’ll discuss exactly what you want and arrange things at your convenience. Reach out if you want a list of common subjects and schedules or peruse my Classes/Events page, and know that everything is customizable for your or your clients’ needs.
Dream it
A great food idea can take many forms: baking, commercial food, retail production, specialty foods, restaurants, catering, food trucks.
Food entrepreneurs have brave hearts, strong stomachs, cool nerves, zingy brains. “If you’re not a little afraid, you’re not going fast enough”. Apparently Mario Andretti said that. That’s how I roll, and that’s the kind of people I like to work with.
Sometimes this spirit gets people into deep water. I’ve been in that water and have learned it’s better to start in shallow water in the first place.
Dreamers need clear-eyed, objective support to consider practical realities and get direction before they commit real time and money.
Let’s look at your ideas and dreams and see what’s needed to bring them to life. I’m not afraid to deal out tough reality checks, help you assess your resources and push you hard to prove your concept before getting in too deep.
Plan it
Planning a new venture, expanding, or seeking funding absolutely needs a business plan that tells the story, and tells the truth. You are scaffolding to identify, articulate, communicate every piece of what you do (or dream of doing). That discernment is invaluable, a navigation tool for your journey.
It is not a book report with a deadline. Correctly done, business planning is a process for the life of your business, from dream to exit planning: a living document. It’s never too early to start. Objective, informed perspective and a little guidance will help you assess feasibility, demystify the process and get things moving.
There is no “right”, EZ, fill-in-the-blank tool that provides the value of a rich, powerful document built over time. It’s not as hard or scary as you might think! We can start with a simple workbook and collaborate: I nudge and guide, you collect and sift information and articulate plans. We work through the parts together, connect them with reality, and to each other. That repository continues to grow, you own it and can edit it into a polished product for whatever audience needs to see it.
It’s also crucial to assess yourself honestly as a business owner and entrepreneur. Let’s identify the superpowers to leverage and gaps to be filled, so you can surround yourself with smart, capable people who know the things you do not. I am a networker and a convener and can help you build that team.
Fix it
Hospitality work is almost always chaotic, But what kind of chaos is it? Is it creative, open, searching, constructive, wave-riding chaos? Or static, noisy, tumbling, distracting, dangerous chaos?
What does “fixing” look like: holding your hand, or holding you accountable?
Too often we end up working in instead of on our businesses, and once the ship sails, there is precious little time to adjust. Finances, operations, relationships: things can spin out of control. Leaders often get by on pure grit, and knowledge gaps may grow more consequential. You might feel like you got pulled into the deep end, over your head.
I have a strong grounding to listen to and support business owners in crisis or turmoil, to triage towards solutions and concrete action. I help owners or chefs learn what they need to know, and hold them accountable to build needed skills before it’s too late.
Stressed owners may need objective support to manage time, identify priorities, get into the optimal gear. We can meet regularly for skills building, coaching, advising and accountability, and you can outsource projects that are pushing you over the edge: whatever help looks like to you.
If things are super busy, but you’re still not making a profit and you don’t know why, the house is on fire. Let’s find out why and get to work.
And if it’s time to transition out of a business, you may want to do a thorough assessment of exit options. This is best done as part of business planning, not in a crisis, but support through the process can still help.
working alongside to get your food business
safe, legal and profitable
so everyone can have fun
“Not only does Dani's work reflect the sort of community that we want to support, but she is also a talented chef..... We were excited to have her and her sous chef, Derek Treuer, represent us in Washington... Dani and Derek put on a performance and prepared a menu that made us proud of our North Carolina presence at the (NOAA) Fish Fry. They were organized, poised and skilled. They prepared an outstanding dish of shrimp and triggerfish that embodied the region's cuisine... The Fish Fry was a resounding success thanks to your culinary creativity, planning, passion and hard work.
“You faced the challenge with passion, strength, knowledge, and a huge heart. I never once saw you walk away from a challenge… You served as a leader in the kitchen, garden, boardroom and any other setting you happened to be thrown into for the day.”
“Dani was recommended by a colleague when I was looking for help in improving the operations of our small coffee shop/cafe. She helped me to visualize more efficient ways to utilize our small cafe space and to develop simple, pleasing recipes that highlighted local ingredients.”
“She immediately ensured that all of our food preparation areas, practices, trainings and policies met the highest level of compliance with food safety standards, and accomplished this while keeping the kitchen environment inviting and accessible to all….”