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Thursday, January 27, 2005
SHOPTALK: John Rolfe
Special orders, special food
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Also on this page: HEIDI VALENZUELA | |||||||||
Q: What kind of cookbook would you write? A: I'm really into salsa, and dressings, so it would tend toward that. It's a long process, as I add (recipes) to the collection. Name Your Diet is more geared toward healthy foods, but I think the cookbook would be not so health-oriented. Believe me, I like ice cream and cookies. And Swedish fish. Q: So, what exactly is the business? A: It's a home and office food delivery service, and a catering service. It's geared to people who are health-conscious or have dietary restrictions and are looking to have meals prepared. I love baking, too, and I really enjoy cooking a lot of Asian cuisines, Cajun, Mexican . . . Q: Do people ever want beans and hot dogs? A: Someone did - well, close to that. One guy wanted corned beef and cabbage, which was fine. I've done some pretty gruesome stuff. Q: Anything in particular? A: For one woman who was on a special diet, I had to cook an entire fish in a pressure cooker for 24 hours. Everything melds together, and becomes a paste . . . You can imagine the smell. That was one of the odder requests, but if it worked for her, that's all that matters. Q: What's the soup project you were just working on? A: I was making it for my yoga class. It's a big class - I'm making 24 quarts. Twelve and 12, split pea and lentil. Q: How did you get into the cooking business? A: I grew up in a kind of crunchy household - 'earthy,' organic. I went to the other extreme, kind of protesting that, then came full circle. My mom was a fabulous cook, and I used to cook with her, and basically it stemmed from her. Later, I don't know, I just kind of realized that I was tired of working for someone else, figured that corporate life was not for me, and decided to go to cooking school (The Natural Gourmet Cookery School) when I was still at the magazine. I also started the food delivery service, The Natural. It was a good time in my life. Being so busy, and feeling that I was getting stuff done. I did my 'externship' at a spa in South Africa, for two months, and came back (in 1998) and launched the delivery service full time. We moved here two years ago. Q: How did the business do in New York? A: It was great. I had a good relationship with the cooking school, and they would refer clients, and I had a lot of contacts through the magazine, and (being written up in) the New York Times. . . . The fact that it's so easy to get whatever you want in New York was good for business, but it turns me off in some ways. Q: And here? A: It's been hit or miss. There have been good weeks, and not-so-good weeks. Q: What brought you to Maine? A: A change of scenery, and Sept. 11 was a factor. My husband has family up north a little bit, so that was a draw, too. Q: Once you said something about burns. Were you speaking literally or figuratively? A: Oh, literally. Steam burns are the worst, but it's not an habitual thing. I try really hard not to be too klutzy - the only place I tend to be graceful is the kitchen. One of my soup pots marks the number of quarts on the outside. I have an emblem on my arm that says 14, and it makes me look tough, but you get burned once and that's enough. Q: Do you provide a nutritional breakdown with the food? A: People have actually requested that, but I don't have a background in nutrition. I can gauge it - I know what I'm putting in food, the carbohydrates and protein and so on. Q: Who are your clients? A: They tend to be upper-middle-class people, or middle class, just looking to save time and eat well. New mothers. People who are housebound - I have a client who had a knee replacement, but he has to lose weight, too . . . Name-dropping is creepy, but I used to cook for Al Roker, before he had stomach bypass surgery. Q: How did that happen? A: I was working with a nutritionist who had a client who had lost a lot of weight and liked the food, and the nutritionist was Al Roker's nutritionist. Q: Do you have competition in this area? A: Not so much. There are people doing delivery services, but they're not, that I know of, as personalized, to accommodate a person or a family's diet. Q: Is it hard to set prices, when the meals are so personalized? A: No, it's not. I have a set fee. Two entrees and two side dishes, equivalent to four meals, is $65. That includes delivery and preparation and stuff. It's a fair price, but I think it puts people off a little bit. In New York, I used to charge $100 for the same thing, and people wouldn't flinch. Q: Have you thought of changing it? A: So far no one's complained, or questioned it. But I'll definitely work with clients, if they are serious about having food that will work for them.
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