Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Sue Snape.
Hi Chef Sue, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
It’s never too late.
After 16 years in the Medical Illustration/Animation industry, I was no longer being fulfilled by my work and decided it was time for a change. I left my job and went to culinary school. I was 40 years old at the time with two small children at home. A big, bold move and I never looked back.
I was the Chef and Kitchen Manager for a cozy little Cafe for five amazing years. Then it became time to work for myself, and Leaf and Loaf was born. In 2015, I started building my personal chef clientele, teaching adults with cancer diagnoses and inspiring and motivating people to eat real food. My world of nutritious food exploration began.
Why am I a Personal Chef focusing on NUTRITION and REAL FOOD? About 15 years ago I felt sick all the time. I mean all the time, all day, every day. I was taking so many over the counter medications that eventually stopped helping and didn’t even touch my agony. I was working a full time job, had two small children at home and I was out of energy when I got home. I was not being a good mom, wife or person for myself. It was not the way I wanted to live my life.
I met with a Dietician who recommended I stop eating gluten. I didn’t even know what that was, but turns out that was literally destroying my body. It was consuming everything- my energy, my thoughts, my focus, my life….
I said farewell to gluten and that one dietary change CHANGED my life.
I want people to know how great they can feel. All the time. Do you even know how great you can feel?
Food is important. If we are fortunate enough to eat food multiple times a day, shouldn’t we make sure it’s making us feel energized and fantastic and not sluggish and brain-fogged? FOOD IS MEDICINE.
My days are full and filled with gratitude as I carry out my mission, help people nourish themselves, spend time with husband and adult kids, laugh a lot, eat simple and nutritious meals, nap in the sun, and spend time outdoors.
SHARE. LISTEN. GIVE THANKS.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being an entrepreneur is amazing, fantastic and definitely not without its challenges. There are slow periods of business and really busy ones. Feast or Famine. (No pun intended here.)
The flexibility that I have with running my own business is worth all of the stress about where my next client may come from. I have been doing this long enough that I KNOW when there is a slow period, or a client moves away, or there’s a shift in the need for my work, I KNOW that this is a time to get creative. It’s a time to try and rest (which I am NOT good at) and a time to KNOW that something bigger and better is coming. I don’t worry as much as I used to in the beginning. There’s still a little stress to be sure I can keep payroll going, but it always works out.
COVID was its own story about how my businesses saw challenges, but that was a learning and growing time and I will only look forward with those lessons in mind.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Leaf and Loaf, llc was created in 2015. It was the parent company to Fun with Food until that became its own entity and llc in 2023. Leaf and Loaf combines Personal Chef Services, Food Consulting and Catering. I am known for being creative with humble ingredients, lots of produce, AAAALLLL the colors in my food and my LOVE for helping people find foods that make them feel amazing. Food should give us energy and life and health. If it is not doing that, you are not eating food. Lots of clients come to me with a medical diagnosis. Diabetes, Cardiovascular challenges, Kidney disease, Mold Intolerance… so many situations which require an attentiveness to the foods that they eat. Their health and LIVES depend on what they eat every single meal, every single day. That is an overwhelming feeling and so I am grateful to be able to relieve some of that overwhelm by preparing custom menus for the home that will allow people to focus on their families, their work and their health. Some of my clients are short term while they recover from surgery, and I have had the privilege of cooking for some of my clients for almost five years.
My brand has just gotten an overhaul and I could not be more excited and more in love with it!!! My family is full of creatives. My designer son and I came up with the concept, my creative daughter produced the illustration and my designer husband put it all together. I mean really… how can I not be in love with this?
What makes me different from other Personal Chefs? My education, interest and love for nutrition and the effect good and “not-so-good” food choices can make on our bodies, minds and energies.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
It is a gift and a privilege to serve people great food. Food that makes them feel good, physically and emotionally.
– When people walk away from my meals with smiles and light bellies, my mission is accomplished.
– When clients can significantly reduce and eliminate medications because they are fueling their bodies with delicious and nutritious foods, my mission is accomplished.
– When I can support those in my community and educate people of all ages how to equip their bodies with food as medicine, my mission is accomplished.
Pricing:
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leafandloaf.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leafandloaf.llc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558846153650
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suecoraggiosnape/
Image Credits
Photography credit to Sue Coraggio Snape 2024
