Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Bernier.
Hi Nicole, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
A graduate from Johnson & Wales University, Nicole has taken her passion with her both locally and around the world. As a personal chef in Italy, she found her love for different shapes of pasta, elegant bread markings, and layered flavors of sauces, which still fuels much of her inspiration in food today. She’s baked at popular Atlanta eateries, like A Piece of Cake and Joy Cafe, where Atlantans flocked for her quirky pop tarts and decadent cookies. She has also worked alongside well-known chefs at restaurants, like C. Ellet’s Steak House and By George at The Candler Hotel, where her festive Yule log dessert was featured nationally on CBS “This Morning.”
It was in 2020 when Whisked Away was created after the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the hospitality industry. Rather than letting that defeat her, she took it as a sign from the universe to start what she’s always wanted: her very own business. With encouragement from her number one customers–friends and family–and her many secret recipes and ingredients, Nicole created Whisked Away ATL.
Whisked Away ATL is a local meal delivery and pick-up service where everything is homemade using beautiful, fresh ingredients from local farmers and distributors. When you eat Nicole’s food, her hope is that you will be Whisked Away to a lovely place of vibrant flavors, warm comfort, and love.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Starting your own business is definitely not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of research and patience while you navigate countless licenses, rules and regulations all in the middle of a pandemic. However, once you figure it all out, you have a business!
Gaining customers was the next hill to climb. I started with word of mouth. I would tell anyone who would listen about my business, and my friends and family did the same. I am very lucky that I have such a great support system to help me share about my business.
While there are so many learning curves, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I feel so fortunate that Whisked Away has been open over a year and has grown to what it is today! I started with 10 followers and now have 1,000 on Facebook and Instagram!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Whisked Away ATL?
My goal in starting Whisked Away was to help make people’s lives easier. When I realized I wanted to provide easy, pre-made, fresh meals, the thing I heard the most about meal delivery services was they weren’t really 30-minute meals as promised. You use every pot and pan in your house to saute and cook countless ingredients. Then at the end, you have all this plastic waste leftover and a mound of dishes to wash. I wanted to offer something easier, cleaner and less wasteful. So I decided to make pre-made meals with little effort needed by the customer. All you need to do is heat and eat. I’m very proud of the quality of meals I can bring to people’s tables with this business model. We recently began offering family meal options with sides and I often sell snack packs on request.
Being a business that started during the pandemic, I also thought about things differently than I would have prior. Just like many food businesses, Whisked Away’s menu changes weekly and varies based on seasonal ingredients. I always like to support my local markets, but I wanted to support even more knowing I wasn’t the only one struggling during the pandemic. So cooking with seasonal ingredients provided locally was a perfect way to support my local farmers, markets and businesses. Every weekend, I wake up to go to Grant Park Farmers Market, Freedom Farmers Market, and other local locations so everyone who eats my food is also making an impact on our community.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For me, part of being successful is being happy with what you do and who you are while doing it. I obviously want my business to be a success, but to me that means people enjoying my food and my services while also wanting to share it with their friends and family. But it also means enjoying what I do and having more balance in my life. That to me was my biggest success-decided to put myself first.
Pricing:
- Weekly meals $8-$13
- Family style meals $30/$45/$60
- Charcuterie Boxes $25-$100
- Private Chef varies per customer
- Charcuterie Boards $100-$425
Contact Info:
- Email: whiskedawayatl@gmail.com
- Website: whiskedawayatl.com
- Instagram: @whiskedawayatl
- Facebook: Whisked Away ATL
