Today we’d like to introduce you to Maribel Abel.
Hi Maribel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
As a young child, I have always been fascinated with playing around the kitchen and truly found passion in the process of creating different dishes. I cooked a lot with my late father growing up and found it very therapeutic. While in undergrad I found myself cooking for other students for free just because I enjoyed it, but eventually, with a little persuasion from friends to take my cooking seriously, I started Betty’s Kitchen. I started this journey on YouTube with recipe tutorials to encourage and help other people cook. As time went by I slowly took a break from my YouTube channel to focus on school. I also didn’t realize how much time and energy it would take to run a YouTube channel so I quickly got burnt out. In 2020 during Covid and working from home full time I was able to officially open up Betty’s Kitchen as a business and start taking orders. The amount of support I received when I started was amazing and gave me the confidence I needed to take my cooking more seriously. I started my catering business as a small party size business of no more than 40 people but quickly received bookings for orders up to 200 people and founds ways to make it work.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am grateful for the journey and the ups and downs. The road is one I can’t complain about because it has thought me so much about being a business owner and showing me what I want for Betty’s Kitchen. Some major struggle I went through, especially during my first year was time management when it came to the amount of time it took to complete an order. This process was hard to figure out, especially for very large orders which I had to use my apartment kitchen for. I quickly learned that I had to think big if I wanted to maximize the time I had. I started researching large kitchens to rent out in case of large orders and how to account for time with the pricing of items.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Apart from Betty’s Kitchen, I work as a full-time Project Manager and Scrum Master for a Software Consulting company, and also getting my MBA from UT Austin McCombs School of business. I also recently started documenting my travel experiences as I travel around the world trying different cuisines. You can follow my travel journey at @bettyonthemove. I hope to travel to as many countries as I can to learn about different styles of cooking in order to incorporate them into my dishes.
What are your plans for the future?
Currently working on some business plans that I plan to launch post-graduation as I continue to learn more about running a successful business and gaining knowledgeable mentors along the way.
Contact Info:
- Email: bettys_kitchen@outlook.com
- Website: https://bettyskitchenonline.com
- Instagram: _Bettyskitchen
