Marking 2 Years of Camella’s Kitchen
Karen and Nyana back in September 2018 on the day they came up with the idea for Camella’s Kitchen. They ended the day with a trip to Tysons Corner, VA.
To say it all started with an idea would not do us justice. Just like a seed needs more than just water to sprout, we needed an idea and more. With culinary skills that would impress even the pickiest of taste buds, the idea of opening a restaurant or something of the sort had come up from time to time. But we were used to home cooking, and were content to stay in that realm. But the something extra that we needed was the encouragement and support of family and friends. After years and years of hearing such positive reviews of our food, well, we decided to take a day and think about what that meant. That fateful day in September 2018 took place on the 1-year anniversary of the passing of Ms. Camella, Karen’s mom. And so, reflecting on how much she taught Karen about cooking, and the legacy we wanted to continue, it was only natural that we created a business that not only reflected our Caribbean roots, but reflected her too. And so, the idea for Camella’s Kitchen was born.
Our Beginnings
We first operated out of our home in Hyattsville, and made sure to keep it simple. Mindful of our capacity, we naturally turned to the things that helped us most with making our meals: our seasonings and our sauces. And boy, has it been a journey since we decided to make Camella’s Kitchen official!
We’ll skip all the details about the paperwork, because we’re still wrapping our heads around it. But it’s through the selling that we were able to grow as entrepreneurs. We officially opened two years ago in March 2019. We were so excited!! And our family and friends came out to support, and helped us to get our first set of sales. But after the original excitement died down, we were pretty much left to our own devices. And even though we had an online shop from the very beginning, let’s be honest, we knew nothing about selling online. So, like any good entrepreneur would do, undeterred, we put our feet to the pavement – literally.
We decided to show up where the people were and took advantage of pop-up events near our home. This meant flea markets and local community events. It eventually expanded into festivals in nearby counties. Our days started to get earlier and earlier, and our weekends started to get filled up pretty quickly. We endured long and hot days, but it was all worth it to see the smiles on our customers’ faces. We loved the energy and were thrilled to share a bit of our culture with new folks. We had so many awesome moments. Such as bouncing into past customers at a new event – it was like meeting an old friend! Or the cute kids who would always stop by our table, bringing their parents along with them. As a family-owned business, nothing made us smile more than seeing families together. Those events brought such a sense of community, and we were glad to be a part of the community fabric.
A Pandemic, Pivots, and Partnerships
Nyana with the folks from Queen of Greens and Tallawah Farms.
And then, 2020 happened. When the pandemic first emerged, we didn’t realize that it would be the start of an unpredictable year. The first few months of the year were hard. Sales slowed down to a trickle, and it seemed like everybody was going through a rough time. Since we could no longer do in person events, we decided to pivot and really boost our online presence. We had to find ways of reaching new customers. We started by developing recipes and posting cooking demos. In a time like 2020, when isolation was at its peak, we also had to really expand on what community meant for us. That meant connecting virtually with folks we had never met before. As two introverts, that was no easy feat! We were able to connect with an awesome community of food bloggers, and created some amazing collaborations. We even took it back to our roots and started sourcing ingredients directly from farms – creating a farm to table experience. Working with farmers who have their hands firmly planted on what’s going on at the local level, not only allowed us to source the freshest ingredients, but also allowed us to become even more embedded with the local community.
This partnership with local farmers is something that we’re building slowly and intentionally. While we’ve always been a supporter of our local farmers, sourcing locally didn’t happen right away and it was a slow and gradual process. In late 2019, we were able to source herbs from one of our favorite local farmers. From there, we grew our relationships with the local farming community. We are so proud to say that during 2020, we got to partner with six small Black-owned farms in Washington, DC and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Moving forward, it is our hope to work with even more farms, and to deepen the relationships with our current partners, and continue to make an impact on the local (green) economy in the region.
Continuing The Journey
This journey of ours has been years in the making, and we’ve still got ways to go. 2021 one is just beginning, but we’ve got so much hope for the future. For our co-founders Karen and Nyana, this business means so much. As Trinidadian immigrants coming to America, we’re so proud that we could share a bit of our Caribbean culture and amazing flavors with you all. For Karen, starting a business was never her dream. But having previously worked with her mom and sister to sell baked goods and sauces, that entrepreneurial spirit was within her. The encouragement from those around her allowed the seed of an idea to sprout into what it is today. Our plan moving forward is to continue to go in faith. We hope to reach all 50 states and beyond. We’ll continue to make our flavors with love – crafting them in small batches, and imbuing our flavors with excellence.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us on the journey since our inception. And welcome to those who have newly come aboard. Our journey is not just for us, but it is also for you too. By sharing our journey, it is our hope that you too are inspired to pursue your dreams – whether they’re entrepreneurial or remain a hobby. The honest truth is that pursuing our dream of entrepreneurship is not easy. It’s a very uncomfortable experience, and we meet challenges on the daily. Going into this from the beginning, we had done so much research and yet still ran into struggles that come up in the nature of running our business. We emphasize community, because entrepreneurship can be a really lonely journey. What we’ve found to be so helpful time and time again is the importance of having mentors, peers in our industry, and continual encouragement. They say teamwork makes the dreamwork, and that is so true. Entrepreneurship is not a journey that anyone should do alone. For any aspiring (or current) entrepreneurs reading this, our advice to you is to do it with community.
And that’s it for now. In writing this, we realize that we could’ve included so much more from the past two years. And indeed, we had started to. But we quickly realized that this was turning into a novel, and decided to keep it short. If you’re interested in reading more about our journey, you can read some of our blog posts from the past. It’s still not a comprehensive reflection of everything that we’ve done, but there are snapshots of some key moments that have happened for us. Know this, we’ll continue updating you all as we go along the journey. Take care.
Camella’s Kitchen is run by two ladies from Trinidad and Tobago. Based out of Prince George’s County, Maryland, we’re living our sauciest lives by bringing our bold Caribbean flavors to you! How will you #BeCamellaSaucy? Tell us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube!
