EUROPEAN PERSONAL CHEF: “…uses Business Plan Pro to … forecast the financial resources the company will require to grow…”
 Julio Nascimento, co-owner and head chef of EPC. |
It is time for dinner in California and many families are sitting down to ho-hum meals consisting of last night’s leftovers. Or they have dispersed through the house—the kids are upstairs watching TV, eating frozen pizza pockets. Meanwhile Mom and Dad, too tired from their long days of hard work, stare desperately at the refrigerator hoping for nutritional inspiration to hit. The next time this happens to you Suzan and Julio Nascimento hope you’ll reach for the phone instead of that box of Mac ‘n’ Cheese and order a meal from their company, European Personal Chef, Inc. (EPC).
Founded in October 1999 by this husband and wife team, EPC serves up delicious healthy meals to the Lake Forest, California community and outlying areas. EPC provides three different services:
- Personal Chef
- Event Chef
- Interactive Cooking Class
The Personal Chef becomes your hired chef de cuisine for the night with an affordable menu plan for families, couples and singles. The Event Chef caters entire events, intimate dinner parties, and platters for small-to-large gatherings. Clients can also take cooking into their own hands, and hire EPC for one-to-one cooking instruction.
A natural people person, Chef Julio Nascimento was drawn to the personal chef business. Julio was born in Portugal and he has an extensive background as a chef and restaurateur in Europe. Julio began his career as a chef working for others, but realized he had an entrepreneurial spirit and so decided to work for himself. After owning two restaurants and working non-stop around the clock, Julio realized that he missed the personal interaction between the recipients of his cooking and himself. He wanted to get out of the kitchen, away from managing a staff and into the dining room to see the smiles of fully satisfied customers.
| Sample Menu for the Romance Package:
- Lobster Bisque - Osso Bucco - Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms - Roasted Seasonal Vegetables - TiramisuEuropean Personal Chef, Inc. uses only the freshest ingredients, making an effort to provide a healthy meal for the body and soul. |
Starting small, he started cooking a full-week’s meals for families in their own kitchens. As word got out about the quality of the EPC food and service, Julio and Suzan decided to move the company into a commercial kitchen where Julio could work his culinary magic and then personally deliver the meals to his customers. With Julio’s extensive experience as a professional chef, and Suzan’s savvy business skills, EPC was able to reach profitability in 2000, only one year after inception.
Haute Planning Before joining her husband in establishing EPC, Suzan Nascimento worked for a start-up software company where she wrote the business plan which landed the company the financing they needed to launch a new product. Looking to expand EPC in 2002, Suzan again sought out the help of Business Plan Pro® software, from Palo Alto Software, Inc., (www.paloalto.com). “Using Business Plan Pro has given me great confidence that we have done our homework and have a solid game plan,” explained Suzan.
Not everything was coming up radish-roses in the beginning. Suzan found it difficult to secure financing at times, and discovered that Business Plan Pro was a great aid in confirming the funding that would be needed as the company expanded, “…once all the numbers were entered in, we found that we needed more money to expand than we initially thought.”
With the rate of current success, Suzan foresees the need to hire additional personal chefs by 2004. She uses Business Plan Pro to help her forecast the financial resources the company will require to grow, “I am almost addicted [to this program] because I like playing around with the numbers for ‘What If?’ scenarios. I mess with the numbers probably monthly and update/review [our business plan] formally every quarter.”
Not only has Business Plan Pro helped Suzan predict the future, it has also increased her understanding of business financials, “I never really understood the financial part of [a plan] as much as I thought I did. I used to be scared of the term Cash Flow Statement, but now it’s my best friend. Numbers don’t lie and all I have to do is consult the plan.”
Rave Reviews Herald Continued Success 
For the holidays, EPC launched a successful Dinner and Massage package that incorporated the best of both worlds—a romantic meal for dinner personally prepared by Julio, followed by a relaxing massage by a professional masseuse. This caught on quickly—they received requests from all over including an area hospital considering it as a gift for all of their nursing staff.
| For more information on European Personal Chef, Inc. and executive chef Julio Nascimento, visit the company’s Web site at http://www.EuropeanPersonalChef.com. They currently serve Lake Forest, California, and the surrounding areas. EPC is also assessing the possibilities for same-day and overnight delivery for cities outside their service area. |
One grateful customer, Al Weingartner sums up the success of EPC, “On a spring day in 1984 on my honeymoon in a small town on the coast of France, I had what is now the second best meal of my life. Thank you for our wonderful Valentine’s Day dinner! You are truly a genius!” Armed with a Web site (www.EuropeanPersonalChef.com) and a dependable business plan, European Personal Chef, Inc., is expanding and could be your choice over another unexciting TV dinner.
