We’re looking forward to introducing you to Dolores Allen-Flakes & Marcus Flakes. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Dolores & Marcus, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
Many people quietly struggle with the weight of everyday household chores, but rarely admit it. There’s a sense of shame in saying, “I can’t keep up,” as if managing a home should come naturally or effortlessly. The truth is, behind closed doors, even the most accomplished individuals feel overwhelmed by the invisible labor of cooking, cleaning, and organizing.
Marcus and I know this struggle firsthand, we live it too. Like so many others, we juggle family, work, and the endless cycle of chores, and some days it feels like pure survival. Marcus witnessed his parents go through the struggle as they got older. That’s exactly why we created Pantri App. We started the journey together and believe that freedom begins at home. Our vision is to redefine what it means to manage a household by creating a system where you can “deposit chores and withdraw freedom.”
By acknowledging that these struggles are universal, not personal failings, we open the door to a healthier, more honest conversation. We want people to know it’s okay to say, “I need help.” In fact, that’s where innovation begins: by transforming hidden struggles into shared solutions. Pantri App isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about restoring dignity, balance, and joy to the everyday lives of families and individuals alike.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
We’re Marcus and Dolores Flakes, husband and wife, executive chefs, and founders who built our lives and our businesses around food, family, and community. Our story is rooted in kitchens, where recipes weren’t just meals but memories, and where we both discovered that food has the power to connect people in profound ways.
Marcus first honed his skills running a full culinary program while serving in the Army, where discipline, precision, and creativity had to work hand in hand. He also built Marcos Pepper Grill, restaurant turned food truck during the pandemic. Dolores trained as a chef in Chicago after studying culinary arts and business management, blending her love of food with a sharp eye for strategy and design. She ran her catering business for 8 years while working full-time in the oil & gas industry and then during the pandemic was laid off and pivoted by starting Build a Pizza. We eventually crossed paths while managing the businesses at Cloud Kitchen, where our shared passion for food and entrepreneurship sparked both a partnership and a love story.
What makes our journey unique is that we’ve always worn many hats at once: chefs, entrepreneurs, parents, and partners. We know what it means to juggle long hours in the kitchen with the demands of raising a family, and we’ve learned to survive, and thrive by leaning on each other. That balance of grit and grace is what shapes everything we do.
Our latest chapter, Pantri App, grew out of those lived experiences. It’s our way of transforming the challenges we’ve faced into solutions for others. But at the heart of it all, we’re still chefs who believe food is love, family is everything, and freedom at home is worth fighting for.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
What often breaks the bonds between people isn’t a lack of love or care, it’s the weight of unspoken burdens. In households, that burden is usually the invisible labor of chores. Studies show that nearly 65% of household work still falls disproportionately on women, and that arguments about chores are one of the top three causes of relationship stress in families. It’s not the dishes or the laundry themselves that cause distance, it’s the resentment, exhaustion, and silence that build up when those tasks feel endless and unfairly distributed.
At Pantri App, we believe what restores bonds is honesty, balance, and shared solutions. Our mission is to create a system where families can “deposit chores and withdraw freedom.” By making invisible labor visible, and by offering tools to share, delegate, and celebrate progress, we help households move from survival mode to thriving together.
When people feel supported instead of overwhelmed, they have more energy for connection. Freedom at home isn’t just about a cleaner kitchen or folded laundry, it’s about restoring dignity, joy, and the time to sit down together, laugh, and remember why family matters in the first place.
What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
For Marcus, one of the hardest challenges was closing his business and stepping into corporate America as a military veteran. After running a full culinary program in the Army and later building his own venture, he thought he could simply “fit in” to a corporate structure. What he discovered instead was that his entrepreneurial spirit and leadership style didn’t always align with that world. It was a humbling season, but it taught him resilience, adaptability, and the importance of creating spaces where veterans and entrepreneurs alike can thrive on their own terms.
For Dolores, the hardest challenge was also closing a business—but the lesson was different. It meant finding the courage and strength to start over, to rebuild, and to keep pursuing her dreams even when the path forward wasn’t clear. That experience became a turning point, proving that failure isn’t the end, it’s the foundation for reinvention.
Together, those challenges shaped the way we lead today. They gave us empathy for others who feel like they’re “starting over” and fueled our belief that freedom, whether in business, at home, or in life, comes from creating systems that support people when they need it most.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
We believe success is reachable, but we cannot prove it. Not yet.
Our journey has been full of short-lived wins and long-haul lessons. We’ve built businesses, closed them, pivoted, and started again. And through it all, our tenacity has never wavered. We know what it takes to be successful, we’ve studied it, lived parts of it, and continue walking toward it, even in our 50s.
We listen to CEOs share stories of failure after failure before they found their breakthrough. We nod, because we understand. But proving it for ourselves – that’s the part we’re still working on.
As African Americans, we know that society often says the path to success is harder for us. And in many ways, it is. But we also carry the wisdom of our mothers, who taught us to believe in divine timing and purpose. My mom, Lu Ann Allen (RIP), used to tell me, “When it’s your time, it’s your time.” Marcus’ mom, Barbara Davis, reminds us often, “What’s for you, is for you.”
Those words are our compass. They remind us that success isn’t just about external validation, it’s about staying the course, showing up with integrity, and believing that what we’re building matters.
We know we’re successful in our own minds. We feel it in our resilience, in our creativity, in the way we uplift others. But can we prove it? That’s the answer we’re still waiting to write.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
We’re doing what we were born to do.
For me, it started in my mother’s kitchen. I was the big sister who loved to explore the ingredients she rarely used and cooked for my siblings, then two sisters and one brother, now three sisters and three brothers. I took cooking classes in middle school and learned recipes like Monkey Bread at age 12. I’d make desserts and dishes for family gatherings, always trying to perfect them. The joy of bringing food to the table and seeing my family light up, that’s when I knew.
Later, when I started D’s Family Kitchen and Build a Pizza, it was built on the foundation of Family, Food, Friends, and Love. That wasn’t just a tagline, it was a reflection of who I’ve always been. Culinary isn’t just my career; it’s my calling.
Marcus’s path was different, but just as destined. His parents named him Marcus Aurelius after the Roman emperor, believing he was born for greatness. He fought the path they laid out, college and a traditional career, and chose instead to serve his country through the military. That’s where he discovered his passion for food, running a full culinary program and realizing that cooking was more than a skill, it was a way to serve, to lead, and to create.
Even when he tried to walk away from it, thinking culinary wasn’t a “big career,” the art kept calling him back. He returned to college for culinary arts and began perfecting his craft with his own flare.
We’ve both had moments where we were told to do something else. But our hearts knew better. We were born to feed, to create, to connect, and now, through Pantri App, we’re building something that honors that purpose every single day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pantri-app.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pantriapp
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pantriapp
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PantriApp/
Image Credits
Photos Credits:
ETC Studios by Tawana Cox
