What is the hardest job out there? We would say it’s working in the service industry, especially food and catering. One ought to go through several hard things when working in the service industry. Some of them include stressing about the competition between other restaurants and catering companies, dealing with rude customers, and being up-to-date on new trends and dietary fads. It’s obvious that each and everyone doesn’t the ability to be a part of this job.
Onequa Lamb found herself so passionate about culinary arts and thus she decided to start her career on that particular side. She had no idea that she would have to go through many “make-or-break” situations, even within the first few months in the business. Onequa was once got an offer to cater a wedding for an extremely low price, yet with high quality. How she responded to this offer changed her whole career.
Surrounded by Good Cooking
Onequa Lamb was born in Norfolk, Virginia and she grew up in the same place. She was always encircled with good cooking and good food. She was either influenced by watching her sister work in the catering service or cooking for herself just for fun!
It was quite apparent that she was born to cook. Nonetheless, when she was getting older she realized that she should start her career in the food industry, what she was best at. And she was well aware that it was not going to be that easy.
Deciding What to Do for the Rest of Her Life
When Onequa graduated from Liberty High School in 2014, she had no clear plan about her life, what she was supposed to do next. Well, we all know that the teenage years are a bit stressful as there’s a conflict between what you really want and what society wants you to do for the rest of your life.
Onequa was ambitious and she knew that she would do something big, but had no idea what it was. Her first decision was to go to college and see whether she could find her inspiration there.
Giving College a Shot
“All my friends were like in college and doing stuff, and I tried college but it just wasn’t for me,” Onequa revealed in a video for Tidewater Waves in 2019. She tried going to college, but she felt that college didn’t help what she really needed to do.
Thus, she tried doing different jobs to check what’s good for her and it seemed like there was nothing that satisfied her. Not long, she started getting stressed about what to do with her life. She felt like no job was meant for her. She was depressed and started feeling lost.
Deep Soul-searching
“It was days I laid in my bed CRYING asking God to expose my talents for me, help me find something I was good at,” Onequa wrote in a post on her Instagram. She was in a confused status without knowing what to do with her life.
She saw how her friends were sorting out what to do with their lives and finding their place in life either being busy with their studies in college or doing jobs. She was left out with some tough questions like “Who am I?” and “What am I doing with my life?”
“It Must Be Something Good”
“I was in a weird headspace ‘cause I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know what I wanted to do… So I was just really trying to focus on like, what am I doing… And then I just started taking the cooking thing like more seriously,” Onequa shared.
And it seemed like not only that Onequa enjoyed cooking but also people enjoyed her food. One of her greatest passions was turning into a business! She also said, “then people started buying stuff and I’m like ‘Oh [snap] people buying stuff, so it must be something good!’”
“I Was Down Bad Before I Came Up”
What you would do when you are in the deepest bottom of something? Well, you would try doing certain things first, but ultimately you would leave with one way; to go up. And it was the case with Onequa as well. “I was down bad before I came up. It was crazy,” Onequa admitted.
Three years at a stretch she tried to find what was meant for her. “Cooking was something that I always knew how to do, and it just came so naturally, and it was like, I might as well just make it a career,” Onequa explained. Yet, she had no idea that her hard time was not over yet.
Opening an Instagram Account
“Cooking was literally the only thing I did well and [I] knew people would actually support me doing it. [I started] cooking for my friends and posting it on my Twitter[,] and people [wanted] to see more,” Onequa posted on Instagram.
Onequa started a social media page to showcase all her delicious work in April 2018. She got around 400 followers just after two months. She was not prepared for how would this number increase.
The Next Big Step in the Business
Most of her Instagram followers included her friends, family, and other acquaintances, yet it seemed like this passionate entrepreneur was getting some orders online. Fascinating, right?
Then something big happened two months later, in June 2018. She was hired to cater a wedding! So, a big deal! Onequa knew that catering to a wedding is not easy but she was so excited to take the next step on her business.
A New Client Reaching Out
Someone noticed that Onequa’s food that was posted on Instagram look so delicious and then they wanted to hire her for the wedding. She gave them her phone number as it was easy for them to keep in touch.
First, she understood that her new client wanted something too simple, not special and extravagant. The client needed a few items catered to the wedding. Yet, when the customer sent her the customized food order, it made Onequa worry so much.
The Menu Request List
The list started with some breakfast/ brunch items and first Onequa thought that it was a cute idea for a wedding. Yet, they started to send all types of food items that seemed to be too much to take on a single order. It included an omelet station with “basically every breakfast meat” and the list went on with shrimps, swordfish, and turkey sausage. And all of them were just for breakfast!
Also, they wanted a wing station with “all flavors you think of” including a waffle station, macaroni, and cheese along with her signature stuffed salmon dish and an assortment of cooked vegetables. Was Onequa able to do all these things by herself?
Reaching Out to a Pro
Even though Onequa loves cooking and she was so motivated and passionate about it, she felt like this order was too much for her. Yet, she was not that girl who give up on challenges.
She realized that she needed help from someone who had experience than her. Onequa was greatly influenced by her sister who was in the catering business for many years and Onequa decided to get help from her sister.
The Wedding Details
According to the client, the wedding was about to happen in about a month on August 10th, 2018. And there would be roughly 175-200 guests. Onequa got all the information from her client.
Then she calculated the particular budget and cost sheet for this extravagant wedding and sent it to the client. As it was her first order, she wanted to be as professional as she could and thus she even got her sister’s help for quoting prices.
Too Little Too Late
Onequa took consideration into the menu items, total food cost, work hours required, and the headcount and her sister was able to get the estimated budget for the order. Yet something unexpected happened!
The problem was with the text message she sent to her sister. As the list was too long, the message was sent in two text messages. So by mistake, Onequa’s sister only sent a quote for the first half of the list and by the time she realized that it was a mistake, Onequa had already sent it to the client.
$5,000?
The quote for the first half of the list was $5,000 total for $28 per person. When the client got the estimated budget, she responded “$5,000?…” as it was too low. It seemed like she was to dismiss the offer and she didn’t use any other word.
Onequa stayed calm and she replied politely, “Yes, I’m purchasing all food and making it, correct?” Yet what the client next said to Onequa made her go off her limits and all her character as a professional.
Just an “IG Caterer”
The client did confirm that Onequa was responsible for purchasing and cooking all the food but, the client made the conversation a total mess. She suddenly responded Onequa with a pungent comment saying: “Why that much[?] You’re an Instagram caterer[,] it’s not like you have your own legit restaurant lol.”
Can you believe that she did say that? She was insulting! But Onequa tried to stay calm and responded with a plain and logical question: “What does that have to do with me purchasing all the food products for 200 people and making it?”
Burning the Kitchen Down
You should be aware of the price of fancy food at a wedding if you have ever taken part in wedding planning or any special event and $28 per person is indeed a bargain! According to The knot, the popular wedding site, the national average is around $70 per person for a headcount of 130 guests.
Well, Onequa’s estimate was less than half of that amount even though there were double the amount of guests. So it was obvious that the client was exaggerating over the price. Onequa was getting advice from her sister as well in the meantime and would get to know about the mistake!
From $5,000 to $12,000
As we mentioned earlier, Onequa’s sister did the estimation just for half of the list as she got it through two messages. Well, $5000 was the quote just for half of the order! And her sister then sent her the actual estimated budget of the order.
Onequa said to the Tidewater Waves, “When I sent [my sister] list it said $5,000… [later when she got the full list] my sister literally called me and was like, ‘Yo that’s like a $12,000 menu, she wants.’” Onequa realized that it was the time to be strong and make a decision to handle what happened.
Over a 50% Discount
A few people assume the best about others when somebody comes out saying something inconsiderate. Indeed, even with messaging, here and there things come out the incorrect path on the mishap. In any case, it would appear that this customer was simply not having it, and was prepared to do anything other than taking a cut of some unassuming pie and show the cutting-edge cook the regard she merited.
Before Onequa could additionally clarify what an incredible arrangement the customer was getting – particularly in the wake of conversing with her sister and acknowledging she cited them over half not as much as what she should’ve – the appearing to be prurient woman’s next reaction was similarly as off-putting as her initial one.
Take It or Leave It
“I’m pretty sure you have a good plug lol every good cater does. [My godmother] said $2,100, take the opportunity or leave it (her exact words),” the client wrote to Onequa. This client was asking for a price of $10.50 per person even though the average rate is $70.
Onequa shared what she first when she first saw the message, “Honestly, I laughed. I was like… ‘You don’t have to go to me. Like, I didn’t come to you, you came to me.’” She was left with an opportunity to settle things down before it started spreading.
A Low Budget vs. High Self-Value
Guess what she did next? Would she give up her self dignity and provide service for these clients who expect high demands for a ridiculously low price? Or would she give up on the whole order?
Even though Onequa wanted to take her career to the next level, she understood that it was not the best way to do it. So she decided to let this order go. Just think what would this say in the future with her high attitude?!
“Tell Luv I’m Good. Enjoy!”
Onequa described on Instagram, “I quoted a price that was completely WRONG for her menu & still got downplayed as an “IG CHEF” but really she played herself because ‘IM GOOD LUV, Enjoy!’” Onequa just used five little words when she responded to her client. She said, “Tell Luv I’m good. Enjoy!”
You always don’t get what you want and you get what you fight for. That’s life! Onequa was so proud of herself as she kept her self value. Yet what happened next ensured Onequa that she professionally handled the matter and that she made the right decision.
Sending the Message Around
After rejecting the offer of her potential client, Onequa shared what happened with some of her friends. After sharing the story, what her friends made her post it on social media just for other people to know.
So she posted the incident with screenshots on her Twitter account. She had no idea that her story would go viral and that people would react to it. She was shocked by what people told her on social media.
An Overnight Sensation
When she posted the story and her battles, people were left similarly as staggered as Onequa and her sister were. Different tweeters were so confounded at how the potential customer treated Onequa and was motivated and moved by how the best in class culinary expert and beginner financial specialist knew to characterize her incentive with certainty.
Which lead her to actually turn into a short-term sensation. In no time, Onequa got 147,000 preferences from her photos and huge amounts of steady reactions. What’s more, alongside the entirety of this positive criticism, individuals began to request her Instagram account to follow her.
From 300 to 40,000
“When I gave them my Instagram name, they just went to my page and just showed me love. like it was overwhelming,” Onequa said. She was not prepared for what happened next.
When she started her Instagram page, there were only 300 followers. But after she posted her story on Instagram, her followers became 40,000. Fascinating, right? It was obvious that people believed in her as a chef. This gave Onequa more confidence to carry on her business.
“This Can Be Something Crazy”
To state that her day was a rollercoaster brimming with feelings would be putting it mildly. She went from the fervor of somebody needing to enlist her for a wedding, to being disregarded by said customer, to feeling enabled for going to bat for herself.
“That first day, I think I was crying all day… then, something popped in my head. And I was like, ‘Yo, this can be something crazy.’ Like [I] got all these people supporting [me] or following [me].” And people weren’t simply supporting her sincerely on the web, they really began to make a few gifts to help launch her business, as well!
So Much Support from the Social Media Community
“What people don’t realize is like, social media, that can change your life. You know what I’m saying? It has changed my life. It has changed my life in a matter of months,” Onequa excitingly expressed.
She got about $600-700 in donations just from one social media alone! Getting all this recognition boosted up Onequa’s confidence and she never thought that frustrating incident would give her this much courage to run her business even better! Above all, this whole incident showed Onequa another version of herself.
“My Plan B is Just Another Way to Make My Plan A Work”
It made Onequa look back at herself and see how well she managed such an incident even though she was a newbie to the industry. “It took me to really, like, do some soul-searching for me to find out, like, who I am. And I still, like, look for parts of me,” she confessed. Also, it made her realize that one ought to fight for what he/ she deserves.
On July 23rd, 2019, about a month after the incident, Onequa tweeted: “I think I’m so sensitive about my work because it’s all I got. If this doesn’t continue to work for me I gotta pull out my plan B, and my Plan B is just another way on how to make my plan A work. Literally by any means!”
The Growth of Her Business
When she set her eye on the prize, her fantasies began to bloom in manners she never envisioned. “The past 6 months have been insane (AMAZING) still building my brand and having the amount of support I have from you all is incredible and I’m so happy everything happened the way it did,” Onequa endearingly composed on Instagram in late 2019.
Through the span of a couple of months, her business developed to excess! She’s even delivered her own cookbook recently that is accessible for buy on Etsy. How astounding! Yet, her business isn’t every one of that has developed since the episode.
From Zero to Hero
“I feel like you always grow more as a person. You really never know who exactly who you are until, you know, [you] sense certain situations, certain things [like this] come up,” said Onequa. Even though her career started lost and depressed, what happened made sure that Onequa was strong enough to handle anything.
She further said “[This client] made me who I am today… I don’t know who she is, I don’t even know the real lady’s name…’cause I was texting her through her goddaughter… But, shout-out to her!”