March is National Noodle Month! And to celebrate we’ve put together an episode for all the pasta lovers out there. Our guest, Stephanie Fees, is a chef who spent a few years working in commercial kitchens before she started Scratch Pasta Company, and she has a lot of great insights to share with us. Scratch Pasta Company was originally conceptualized as a fresh pasta brand, but her main product has become her dry pasta (with the exception of the fresh pasta she sells at farmers' markets) which is all made in Stephanie’s home kitchen. In this episode, we discuss Stephanie’s decision to hire a graphics design team and the benefits she has reaped from this decision, the reasons she chose to leave the world of commercial cheffing, why her brand qualifies as artisanal, the story behind the boxes that her pasta is sold in, and her hopes for the future of her company. After listening to this episode, we guarantee you’ll be going online or to your nearest store to buy a colorful box of her delicious pasta creations!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Stephanie’s journey to find the right graphic design team.
• Things won’t always work out the way you want them to and that’s okay, just keep trying.
• How the COVID-19 pandemic influenced Stephanie to focus on the online side of her business.
• The small team of people who make up Scratch Pasta Company.
• Stephanie shares some of her ideas about the direction she potentially sees her business taking.
• The upsides and downsides of being a chef in a commercial kitchen, as per Stephanie’s experience.
• How Stephanie made the decision to package her pasta in a box (it’s a great story!)
• Stephanie’s original idea for Scratch Pasta and why she changed her mind.
• Distributors Stephanie works with and loves.
• The big dream Stephanie has for Scratch Pasta, which looks like it will soon come true!
• Stephanie’s pasta brand qualifies as artisanal because of the scale at which she works.
• A fable about a consultant and a fisherman highlights the value of small-scale businesses.
• The special products that Stephanie only sells at farmers' markets.
• Why Stephanie recommends that anyone with a food business try out selling their products at a farmers’ market.
• Where you can find Scratch Pasta (on and offline); you’ll be glad you did!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Scratch Pasta Company

Scratch Pasta Company on Facebook

Scratch Pasta Company on Instagram

Stephanie Fees on LinkedIn

Whole Foods

Feast!

4p Foods

Rainforest Foods

Dave’s Killer Bread

Wade’s Mill

VA Foodie on Instagram

VA Foodie on Twitter

VA Foodie on Facebook

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