#WIB – Q&A With Entrepreneur & Cookbook Author Chantal Lascaris
1. Can you please tell us more about your business?
A. I originally owned a corporate clothing company that made uniforms for hotels in Africa and the Middle East. I then decided to change careers and follow my passion into food and writing cookbooks.
2. When, how and why did you start your business?
A. I guess I’ve been a bit of a serial entrepreneur, having started selling my home-made lip balms at the age of 13. I always loved fashion and as a little girl I wanted to be a fashion designer, so it was a natural progression to start my own clothing company. I never really felt comfortable working for someone else and had always seen myself having my own business. So, I took the first opportunity I could to find a unique angle and I saw a gap in the corporate clothing arena where most corporate clothing looked the same. I took my sense of fashion and started a factory where we designed and manufactured uniforms, mainly servicing hotels in the Middle East and Africa, trying to bring a sense of style into the industry.
But then I realised that this wasn’t really what I wanted to do anymore as I was travelling far too much and spending very little time at home. I had also started experimenting with food. So, I sold my business and decided to try something completely new and different. I published my first cookbook in 2015 called All Sorts of Salads which turned out to be a best seller because no one had ever done a South African book on salads.
3. What is your role in the business?
A. I am the writer and conceptualiser of all the recipes in my books as well as on my website and newsletter.
4. Where did you study and what did you study?
A. To be honest I didn’t study for any of this. In my clothing business, I had done a short course on pattern making and when it comes to the food business, I’m a self-taught home cook. Although it’s hugely important to study I don’t believe that you can’t be successful if you haven’t got a degree or diploma behind your name. It’s more about your own drive and determination that will help you to succeed.
5. How did you finance your business?
A. I self-financed both businesses. When I first started my clothing business I remember looking at the (admittedly at the time) small factory floor thinking that I only had enough money to pay the salaries and the rent for one more month and hoped and believed that a new piece of business would come my way …. which thankfully it did. I looked for slow organic growth at the beginning as I had very little money.
6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists?
A. I always joke that I don’t have a job but I work every day of the week.
Every day starts with something small to eat followed by an hour of exercise. I then attend to any issues that might arise on our small farm (I live in Franschhoek) and then it’s off to my computer to check on emails. I chat daily to my website team who help me with my social media and we brainstorm articles for the website and my newsletter.
I’ll follow this with a touch of writing whether it’s articles for my websites or about places I’ve been to, or I’ll spend some time catching up on new food themes and ideas. Thereafter you’ll find me in the kitchen, experimenting with new recipes which I then test on anyone available and willing to taste.
7. How do you balance your home life and your work life?
A. I believe that since Covid it’s become even more difficult to balance your home and work life. I think it’s important to create boundaries. Prior to Covid the office provided literal boundaries for us and driving home from work or taking public transport home gave us the ability to ‘de-stress’ or extricate ourselves from work. Now we need to do that ourselves. Personally, I don’t check or reply to emails after dinner. I also won’t send any work-related messages after 6 pm which is my work cut-off time. I believe it’s important to set aside specific time for family too and give them your undivided attention.
8. What drives you and inspires you?
A. I really enjoy the creativity around food and writing cookbooks. It’s a creative process from beginning to end. It starts with the ingredients, deciding on flavour, texture, and colour combinations. Then it progresses to how the food is actually put together – is it fresh, roasted, pan-fried, etc. The next exciting process is the photography and styling of the food for the books. I love this part as it fascinates me how a stylist interprets my recipes, how the photographer knows just how to catch the light and how together they create what I think are beautiful works of art.
Then there is my husband Reg, who isn’t a foodie at all. He inspires me and he’s also been my rock and shoulder I cried on when I first started my clothing business. He encouraged me to take bold decisions, like change careers and write cookbooks.
9. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
A. I’m an early bird, I guess this comes from years of having a factory. So my best ideas come to me in the morning. I often wake up with new ideas or solutions and I can’t wait to put them into action.
10. Where and how do you market/advertise your business for sales leads?
A. The first and most important step in my marketing programme was of course distribution and here I was lucky enough to have Penguin Randomhouse for this. Secondly, I worked with their publicity department to drive PR which included articles, personal interviews, and some demonstrations. Then I decided to seriously pursue the use of social media, setting up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and my own website.
11. What is next for your business?
A. Book number 5 is going to be released in October. It’s a new format and doesn’t form part of the All Sorts Series. Following the success of my first salad book, I wrote a new book, also dedicated totally to salads and it’s called “The Ultimate Salad Book”.
12. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs hoping to start their own business?
A. Having been in both the clothing industry and now writing cookbooks, I’ve found that no matter what business you’re in, you need certain qualities. I believe that you need to have focus and determination in everything that you do. I think young women need to accept that success doesn’t happen overnight, that it takes hard work, and to realise that you are going to get knocks along the way. You need to believe in yourself, especially during tough times. It’s important to trust yourself, listen to your gut, and follow your heart because often, they’re telling you the correct thing. Don’t always listen to others but be true to yourself.
Contact details:
Email: chantal@lascaris.co.za
Instagram: @Chantal_lascaris
Twitter: @ChantalLascaris
Website: https://chantallascaris.co.za/