The Night I Almost Quit Cooking

There was a night I almost quit cooking.

Not because I burned something.
Not because a client complained.
Not because I didn’t love it.

But because I was tired.

Tired of building something from scratch.
Tired of being the chef, the marketer, the bookkeeper, the single mom, the dishwasher, the delivery driver.
Tired of wondering if anyone really sees the work behind a “beautiful dinner.”

That night, I remember standing in my kitchen — flour on the counter, invoices half-finished, Izzy already asleep — thinking:

“Is this worth it?”

And here’s what I realized.

The work itself was never the problem.
It was the weight of doing it alone.

But the truth is — the version of me who built this business from a drafty farmhouse kitchen is not someone who quits.

I went to culinary school in Florence.
I’ve cooked for NASCAR royalty.
I’ve built a luxury private chef brand without a commercial kitchen, without investors, without a safety net.

And I did it one dinner at a time.

Sometimes we don’t need to burn it all down.
We just need to rest.
Reset.
Remember why we started.

This week, I’m choosing to remember.

I don’t cook because it’s easy.
I cook because I love the moment when a table goes quiet after the first bite.
I cook because gathering people well is a form of art.
I cook because building something beautiful from nothing feels like defiance in the best way.

If you’re in a season where you almost quit something you care about —
don’t make a permanent decision on a tired night.

Rest.
Then keep going.

— Susanne