Angelic’s Kitchen & Catering Entrepreneur Profile

Angelic Jenkins is the owner of Angelic’s Kitchen and Catering, a family owned catering business offering southern soul food at festivals and gatherings. Angelic’s history with cooking is a long one, she grew up cooking with her mother as a child and later attended CATEC’s Culinary Program where she won second place in a bread baking contest. Angelic has always love to cook for family and friends at special gatherings. She started to become increasingly inspired by the compliments on her cooking and decided to give Angelic’s Kitchen and Catering a try. The African American Cultural Arts Festival is near and dear to Angelic’s heart, as she grew up going with her mother. She thought this festival would be a good chance to test her business idea. The festival was a success and the rest is history, Angelic’s Kitchen and Catering had launched. Angelic’s Kitchen and Catering now does over 20 festivals during the spring and summer along with catering events. They recently launched a fish fry breading, which is packaged through a manufacturing company and is sold during festivals and events. Angelic is currently working on getting the fish fry breading sold in stores.

Angelic currently runs her business out of a rented kitchen space through Bread and Roses at Trinity Episcopal Church. In the future, Angelic envisions having her own restaurant, a true family affair, with her kids and grandkids helping her run the show. Angelic enjoys interacting with the community and feels that catering and festivals will always be a part of her business.

Angelic heard about CIC through an entrepreneur who had attended the Entrepreneur Workshop. Angelic explains that, “without CIC I would not be where I am today. CIC helped me realize that I actually do have a business that can be successful, that it could become more than just a dream. Being around other entrepreneurs and business leaders helped me see a clear path to starting and growing my business”. During the Entrepreneur Workshop, Angelic participated in many of CIC’s events to help expose her business to the community. She showcased at Whole Foods, Charlottesville City Market during the Tom Tom Founders Festival, catered events for CIC and got referrals for festivals from CIC’s network. Angelic feels that “attending CIC was one of the most rewarding steps I’ve ever taken toward growing my business, though I’ve graduated, I am still part of the CIC network and can always pick up the phone to call for advice or resources”.

When giving advice to other entrepreneurs, Angelic feels that “if you have a passion for the business and it makes you happy, go for it”. She claims that entrepreneurs can’t do it alone and recommends that they build a support network for encouragement and feedback.