What do you do when the business you started, the one that brought you success, begins to sink? For Onnie Sanford, it meant reinventing her business.
Sanford began and operated Paleo Num Yums five years ago in The Centre at Furys Ferry Road in Martinez with paleo diet meal plans. For four years, she rode a wave of success. Then things changed.
The normal August and fall boost her business usually experienced didn’t materialize, despite tweaks to advertising and scrutiny of P&L statements. Then, the anticipated January spike in business never came.
“In February, I put it on the table to my husband that I was going to have to close down Paleo Num Yums,” Sanford said. “I went through the ‘I’m a failure’ stage. Luckily, I had fantastic people around me who told me I wasn’t a failure.”
Then a joking statement turned into an idea that changed everything.
While talking to an advisor about selling the business’ assets, she joked that she had a whole commercial kitchen to sell. The advisor asked her why she didn’t rent the kitchen to other businesses and the idea of shared kitchen space was born.
“I knew I needed to downsize but it wasn’t until the shared kitchen idea came up that I knew exactly how to downsize,” Sanford said.
Now she’s in the process of turning that idea into reality and already has plenty of interest. The idea is that food-based businesses can rent space for the days and hours they need it while using Paleo Num Yum’s kitchen equipment, staff, and retail space. It allows business start-ups or those who can’t find enough workers or are struggling to keep up with rising costs to continue doing business without the expensive overhead.
“Essentially, it’ll be available 24/7,” Sanford said. “It’s almost like a food court for small businesses.”
She already has commitments from four or five businesses and is pushing for 10. She plans to open the shared kitchen at 60 percent capacity, which will give her and businesses the flexibility to adjust their schedules and to adjust to working in a different space.
For Sanford, one of the benefits is that it means being able to keep her staff employed.
“During the five years I worked to get the perfect staff and now that I have the perfect staff I was looking to shut down,” she said. “The staff didn’t want to leave me and I didn’t want to leave them. This is solving that problem.”
Sanford is also excited for herself because it allows her to get back to doing what she loves best – educating people, networking, and planning events.
“I’m in no job description of the shared kitchen,” she said.
But while she’s excited now, reinventing her business was not an easy process.
“I had to take a step back and think about it,” she said. “I haphazardly got into yoga but that mental part was something I needed. I needed to be able to think about things and prioritize. I read self-help books. It’s a big mental struggle and you have to give the brain time to process.”
For other businesses facing similar challenges in these uncertain times, Sanford said it takes time to process the changes that need to take place.
“You have to look at it as a business, just a business,” she said. “You have to separate yourself from it personally. You have to put your ego aside. It took me about three months. I think I cried for about two weeks straight. But as I started saying it out loud, I started to accept it.”
She encourages writing a list of pros and cons about the business and about the idea that could reinvent it. She also sought help from trusted advisors but because so many well-meaning people will offer their ideas and opinions, she advises keeping that circle of advisors quite small. And, she said, it helps to realize that others are struggling, too, and a collaborative effort could help reinvent several businesses.
Even though Paleo Num Yums won’t look the same, Sanford said the shared kitchen format allows her to continue her true mission – helping people.
“I got into this to help people,” she said. “My way of helping was food. Now, my way of helping has broadened to not just food, but professionally.”
