Jason Myers opened his catering/delivery business, Lil Stuie’s, in December.
Business was slow, but that’s why he chose to open during holidays.
“It gave us a chance to get trained,” he said, adding that the name is derived from his first name, Stuart.
Now, orders are coming in more rapidly from people in the downtown and Red Bank areas wanting freshly prepared meals delivered to their office or homes.
“We’re going a little into Hixson and over to 23rd Street,” Mr. Myers said. “And we’re hitting the Mountain Creek Road apartments heavily.”
Mr. Myers followed his sister and her husband to Chattanooga from the Knoxville area in August 2009.
“I wanted to open a business and thought Chattanooga offered a better opportunity than Knoxville,” he said, explaining that Knoxville was too spread out for the business he had in mind — one loosely based on a business model he learned of when he co-owned a bar/restaurant in Knoxville.
While he and his staff of three part-time employees cook a full menu from their kitchen and deliver it, too, Mr. Myers said he’d like also to focus on catering meals and delivering them to day care centers and assisted living facilities.
“I’m talking to a day care right now and plan to start working with them next week,” he said.
There is no charge for delivery. “Just tip your delivery person,” Mr. Myers said.
In an effort to reduce the carbon footprint left from range hoods and deep fryers that allow pollutants to escape into the air, meals at Lil Stuie’s are all cooked in the oven, even those that are typically fried, including french fries and Buffalo wings.
“We’re not all the way green, but we’re heading in that direction,” Mr. Myers said.
Also on the menu is a full range of main-dish salads; pizza; barbecue, pork and chicken tender platters; burgers; and sandwiches, such as homemade chicken salad, club, chipotle black bean burger and a roasted portobello sandwich.
Other than pizza places, Mr. Myers said he doesn’t know of any other foodservice establishment that prepares its own food and delivers it, too.
“And we have a huge menu,” he added.
The only thing missing from his dream of owning his own business is a storefront. Lil Stuie’s is in the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Business Development Center on Cherokee Boulevard. Thus, no walk-up business. All orders must be phoned in at 702-9030.
Menu sampleThere’s no delivery charge — just tip your driver.* Portobello quesadilla ($7.99)* Chicken Cobb salad ($7.99)* Half-pound burger ($6.25)* Pork loin barbecue potatoes, coleslaw and roll ($8.99)* Buffalo ranch chicken pizza ($12-$14)
But Mr. Myers said it is a loss with which he can live. The Business Development Center gave him a rental price he could afford.
“Everything else in the downtown area was just too expensive and didn’t have free parking,” he said. It also gives him good networking and support systems, he said. “It’s a good thing they’ve got.”
Kathryn Foster, center director, said Lil Stuie’s is a good example of entrepreneurship.
In the four months that they’ve been at the center, she said she’s seen examples of their work. “I’ve used them a few times, and when they said they’d be there at 8 a.m. to cater a Chamber of Commerce meeting, they were there. And they were back to clean up,” she said. “They’re customer service is excellent, and so is the quality of food. They’re marketing is essential to their business model. They’re the kind of client we want here.”
Just as other center clients, Lil Stuie’s can stay for three years, at which time it will “graduate” to its own space outside the Business Development Center.