Sharing What We Love About Running a Family Business with Ramon Ray of SmartHustle
Our Interview with Ramon Ray
Why family is central to our Caribbean flavors.
Recently Camella’s Kitchen had an opportunity to speak with Ramon Ray of SmartHustle. As it was our first podcast, there were some nerves, but it was a thrilling experience overall! We appreciated being able to speak on what we do at Camella’s Kitchen – which is making our bold Caribbean flavors accessible to those in the DC metro area and beyond. See below for some highlights from our interview.
Putting the Us in Family Business
We are a small family business owned by two women from Trinidad and Tobago. Our inspiration for starting our business was the lovely Ms. Camella. Our mom and grandmom respectively, she was the original entrepreneur, and sold her homemade goods in her local hometown market. We are continuing her legacy here in the United States, and we are proudly based out of Prince George’s County, MD. Working together as a family is a blessing, and we are investing in ourselves and our community – we are our greatest assets!
Operating from Our Hearts and Then Some
We are passionate about our flavors, and that’s what drives our business. However, it’s our combination of skills that helps us to get the flavors from Camella’s Kitchen from the kitchen to you. A little more about us: Karen is the chef in charge, having honed her craft over many decades. She started cooking from a young tender age, and helped her mom out in the kitchen, starting with just one to two dishes. She worked her way up to prepare many meals, and eventually was able to help her mom prepare snacks and other delicacies to be sold at a local market in her hometown in Trinidad. While Nyana does cook, her focus when it comes to Camella’s Kitchen is making sure the operations go as smoothly as it can. From figuring out which events we should attend, to which online platform to use to promote our flavors, it’s on her. If you’ve ever ordered from us online, you’ve had a direct line to Nyana. As we are a family business, we try to make ourselves as accessible as possible – so say hi to us online or in person. We don’t bite and we think we’re pretty friendly 😊
Connecting with Our Community
As we are located online, we don’t have daily interaction with our customers. Community connection is super important to us, so we value being able to connect with members of our local community, and you – our saucy fans! Our primary way to stay in contact with you all is through Instagram, our newsletter, and in person events. So, all summer long (and into the fall), we’ll be vending at events so you can see our friendly faces and get to meet us in person. We’re constantly on the lookout for more places to go to, so if you have a suggestion, please let us know.
Our Hope for the Future
We craft our flavors in small batches to ensure quality. We currently have a limited run of flavors, and plan to adjust depending on the feedback we get from you. Our hope is that through feedback, we can improve our offerings, and expand on the flavors we offer. As we’re still in our beginnings, one thing we can say so far is that it is a pleasure working with family. That is core to our existence. As a family business, we hope to become a staple in our local community, so that we can give back, and inspire others who want to embark on a similar journey.
Our Way of Life - #BeCamellaSaucy
If you follow us on Instagram, you may have noticed our hashtag is #becamellasaucy. What does it mean? For us it is our way of life. As new business owners undergoing this journey of entrepreneurship, we are living our sauciest lives. We encourage everyone to be bold and take steps towards living a life full of adventure – remember to keep it saucy!
Click below to listen to the episode. Or if you prefer, click here to listen to the episode on Soundcloud. Like what you heard? Drop a comment below, or on Soundcloud to let us know what you think!
