Fuel Chef Ashley's Food is Love Mission

Dear Friends, Customers, Catering Clients, Fellow Food lovers,

I miss you! It’s been an arduous several months. But as you may know, we were successful at negotiating a lease for the space at 7748 Madison St., Forest Park. AND we took possession on April 1st. (If you are short on time, you can scroll down to the video at the bottom. But I hope you’ll keep reading)

This is a big deal for me! My first commercial kitchen. You probably know that. But I realized that not everyone that’s reading this will know my history. So here goes.

I am Chef Ashley Simone, owner and Executive Chef of Zesty Catering. I didn’t start out wanting to be a chef. I loved dance (still do) and studied dance and theater and worked as a professional dancer. For the Greatest Show on Earth. But you can read more about my deep dark past by going here. Bold Journey Article Here

After my second college experience, this time culinary school, I started my catering company 13 years ago. I worked as a personal chef in clients’ homes and then in shared kitchen spaces as I moved into catering, providing food for events and parties of all sizes. Then the pandemic hit and like so many, I lost all my business in two weeks. During the lockdown, I started cooking and baking for my friends and neighbors in the Forest Park area. I started a group, Ashley’s Daily Breads & Sunday Suppers, and prepared weekly Sunday meals, baked goods during the week and special meals for the holidays.

I looked for a commercial space for nearly two years, and it took over one year to get a signed lease. We took possession of the space April 1st. And it looked like this!

Notice anything? No equipment other than a hood. Sinks and stove and a freezer or two were torn out and so we have a bare kitchen. And years of grease to clean.

We jumped in, wanting to get started right away. Unfortunately, the process has been again slowed by an ineffectual management company but finally after a month we were able to install blown in insulation under the metal roof deck. So our utility bills should be manageable.

And now the space looks worse than before.

We have a small amount of demolition to do, major clean up, plus a little new construction. And then buying and installing the equipment . A catering company has all the equipment a restaurant has, and more.

That is why I am writing today. I need help. We are attempting to get the space ready to open in an efficient and cost effective manner. That includes shopping for used equipment when possible. (That’s the upside of the collapse of some restaurants–there’s a lot of used equipment around.)

We are not doing a total gut rehab of the space. We will use what we can, and replace and/or repair what we can. Even with that, I’m looking at $50,000 - 60,000 in expenses.

Now, that’s a big figure to look at, and I feel confident that the business will grow and expand and will deserve to have this money put in it.

And I know I’ll be able to feed so many more people, which is why I am asking if you can help me relaunch the wonderful Ashley’s Daily Breads and Sunday Suppers, and expand that and the catering services we offer. PLUS launch the cooking classes we will have space to do at our new kitchen.

Food Is Love is my motto and I am committed to continue with that at the core of my business. I am quite excited about being able to share that with the increased space. I am excited I will be able to add staff to help me realize this vision.

I am launching this GoFundMe because I think maybe you’ve experienced some of my cooking. Hopefully you’ve tasted my food and had that OMG moment when you realize how much better it is than what you were expecting.

So will you partner with me to make this possible, so that Food Is Love will expand to many others?

Thanks for all your love and support,

Chef Ashley

Please watch this, and share with others