Roping them in
By Mike Mitchelson

First, let’s make one thing perfectly clear: Despite the Western-themed Web site, the owners of Chowgirls Killer Catering company do not wear cowgirl outfits. In fact, neither one of them is from the west. Heidi Andermack is a Detroit native, and Amy Lynn Brown is originally from Paducah, Ky. But they stumbled upon the name, and it stuck. “We went back and forth with names, and Amy blurted out this one,” Andermack said. And they’re not exclusively a catering company—they recently opened their Dinkytown kitchen for lunch, Tuesday through Friday.

Notable for the company is how much business it’s been drumming via their Web site, www.chowgirls.net. Once they decided on the company name, they purchased the Web domain name and, in exchange for an iPod, had Brown’s brother design the site. And then they really didn’t do anything with it, but by a stroke of cyberspace luck, found that typing in “Minneapolis catering” into Google brings up Chowgirls on the first page (No. 5 on the list, to be exact).

“At first our business was about 90 percent word of mouth,” Brown said. “Now I’d say it’s about 85 percent from the Web site. It’s remarkable what the Internet has done for our business.”

Brown and Andermack didn’t do much with the Web site since its launch, but now they are taking steps to develop and protect their Web site’s standing on search engines. “And we revamped it a bit, listing events, recipes and news,” Andermack said.

The Web site has allowed them to promote an attitude for the business—Chowgirls delivers that “killer catering” with “sass” and “style.” A Western font spells out the company name and the list of options, with old black and white photos of cowgirls (including one of the owners—the only time you’ll see them in that costume). That attitude fit well with the clientele Andermack and Brown thought would be their predominant client base: the arts community—Brown worked in book publishing for about 12 years and Andermack was a freelance writer and was close to the graphic design community.

Clients listed on the Web site also reveal a political slant, such as the event they catered last month for Art for Choice fundraiser for Pro Choice Resources, a non-profit organization offering reproductive health services to women and youth, and a gallery show for Poster Offensive, an organization that promotes peace and democracy with local artists’ use of the poster as their medium.

Were they worried that revealing their politics might drive away business, particularly with today’s volatile political landscape?

“I did think about it for a minute,” Brown said.

“But we don’t mind being supportive of causes we believe in,” Andermack said.

Neither do they turn away any business, no matter what end of the social and business spectrum it comes from—everyone’s gotta eat, and their food appears to have overcome any potential boundaries.

“We just did something for (defense contractor) BAE Systems—they make bombs, and the week previous we did something for Women Against Violence,” Brown said, laughing. “So that balances us out, doesn’t it?”


Start-up

Speaking with Andermack and Brown, one could easily assume the relationship developed over many, many years—conversation flows. In truth, they met in 2003, in a roundabout way through Brown’s brother. They became friends, sharing a mutual interest in cooking. “And we said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have a catering company?’” Brown said.

Both had their share of business experience. Brown had a decade-plus in publishing, where she became an experienced event planner. Andermack worked as the business manager for her husband’s Internet typography company, Chank Company.

“We did it as a fun thing first (in 2004) to see if it would take off,” Andermack said. And take off it did, to the point that they moved from the kitchen they shared with Jitters Café in Minneapolis to their own space in Dinkytown this past July. The space included a small dining area that gave them the idea to serve lunch, which they did on September 11. And the catering business keeps rolling. “We’ve done a corporate event for 1,500 or dinner parties for five,” Andermack said.

“We’re usually in the 150 range, but doing we’re doing one for 250 right now, and did a wedding recently for 500,” Brown said.

And the menu? Eclectic, with Southern favorites jambalaya and pulled pork alongside items with Italian, Asian, Indian and French influences.

“It’s comfort foods,” Andermack said. “We want to make good food accessible.”

“We’ll do a glamorous buffet—nice presentation,” Brown said.

“It’s a food adventure, there’s safe things for people, but then there’s (things) for the more adventurous,” Andermack said.


Origins

Andermack moved to Minneapolis in 1993. “I was a freelance writer, and worked for public radio,” she said. “I had to get out of Detroit. I love Detroit, but Minneapolis is a yellow brick road for people who want to do their own thing.”

Brown moved to Minneapolis from Chicago in 1999, and soon wanted out of the publishing game. “I started having children,” she said, with a laugh. She also wanted job security. “There were a lot of layoffs in the field.”

Neither had formal culinary training before they started the business (Andermack recently traveled to Italy for training), but learned their craft from growing up in their family’s kitchens, cooking their first meals at early ages. Andermack’s grandmother ran a catering company in Detroit, so she was not unfamiliar with the business.

“I was a latch-key kid,” Brown said, cooking for herself and family when parents were out of the house. “And in my 20s, I had the odd jobs in restaurants,” she added. “I was always told I should go to culinary school. But I knew I didn’t want to do that. Or becoming a cook and then a sous chef—that didn’t appeal to me, it seemed intimidating.”

“We bypassed all that and became the boss,” Andermack said.
They quickly created a niche with bridal catering—“especially those brides that don’t want to pay $18 a head for bad chicken,” Andermack joked. The company also moved to feature organic food from local growers.

Now that they’ve moved into their own kitchen, Brown and Andermack want to branch out further into boxed lunches for the corporate world. “And we’re glad to be close to the University of Minnesota, that should give us some opportunities,” Brown said.

Opportunities they’re ready to handle—they have a steady staff of about 10 people, two of whom have been with them since they started. “We got smart early on and paid well from the get-go, so no one says they can’t show up on a night because they have a date,” Brown said.


The restaurant

The restaurant was an afterthought. “We were looking for a kitchen to rent, and this one happened to have 15 seats,” Brown said.

The lunch service promotes the catering business. The menu changes weekly, but there are staples, such as quiche and panini. “We’re attracting students and staff,” Andermack said, “and the neighborhood businesses have been very supportive and enthusiastic.”

It’s had the added benefit of telling clients to “come on down and meet us,” Brown said. “Now that we’ve got a space, it’s branding for our business.”

There are absolutely no plans to begin serving dinner, however. “We have families,” Andermack said—young families. Andermack has a six-month-old baby, and Brown has both a one- and three- year old at home.

“We’re able to mold our schedules and careers,” Brown said.

Cooking for the masses has changed a few things at home, however. “If I have to cook for four now, it’s really no problem—I never get nervous about entertaining…it’s almost as easy to cook for 100 now as it is for 20.” Andermack said. “This has also made me more determined about local and organic ingredients …(and) my palate has refined a bit—things that I would have eaten in the past, I now say, ‘too salty,’ or ‘too this or that.’”

“So you’ve become snottier,” Brown joked. “For me, I don’t feel like cooking at home anymore.”

Andermack laughed in agreement. “My secret at home is Rice-A-Roni, which goes against everything we do here, which is from scratch. But I use organic beef!”Heidi Andermack and Amy Lynn Brown, owners of Chowgirls Killer Catering.