Megan is truly honored to receive the September Pacesetter Award from PCN. It is es-pecially rewarding as this month marks the 2nd Anniversary of her business, Catered Class Personal Chef Service. Megan has loved experimenting with food her whole life. Starting with family recipes from her Italian-Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, Eastern European influences from her grandmother’s and mom’s upbringing in western Pennsylvania, to living in Southern California for a time and raised on Jersey tomatoes in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Chef Megan’s palate was always open to new flavors.
While living and going to school in West Chester, PA, Megan met her future husband, Andreas, an Austrian expat working in the Philadelphia area. At the time, Megan had been wavering between getting a degree in restaurant management, nutrition and di-etetics or graphic design and photography. But the real decision was made when An-dreas decided to move back to Vienna, Austria and Megan joined him, never looking back!
Megan immersed herself in full-time German classes and worked at several odd jobs, including as a clerk in an original language video store that catered to the international community in Vienna. She found out about a restaurant degree program offered at a school about an hour away. Megan made the move to Krems on the Danube and at-tended The College of Tourism and Hospitality for two years, with an internship at the Villa Strafford Restaurant in Wayne, Pa. After earning her diploma in Gastronomy Business Management in 1997, she began working in the kitchen of Restaurant Eckel, in Vienna’s posh 19th District. It was an eye opening and rewarding, though strenuous experience.
Two years later, Megan and Andreas welcomed their daughter, Hannah, to the world. Before Megan’s maternity leave was over, they made the move back to the United States in September 2000. Once located in Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, Megan kept her-self busy with Hannah and Christoph, who was born in 2003. She enjoyed cooking for friends and family alike on holidays and special occasions. Feeling the need to get back into the kitchen and cook for other people, but not interested in restaurant hours, she began looking into starting her own business in March 2006.
Catered Class began with encouragement from Megan’s friends to start offering demos, dinner parties and classes. One event flowed into the next and by September of that year, the business was official. Providing good food to so many people was a highly satisfying experience, but Megan still felt that she needed guidance in managing this business on her own. She researched various organizations and decided to join the Personal Chef’s Network in November 2006. PCN offered more ideas and helpful support than Megan could have dreamed. Taking her time and starting slowly, Megan has built her business to fit in her busy schedule as a mom of two school-aged children with activities of their own. She understands the needs of stressed out families and enjoys providing them with wholesome and delicious meals. Without this network of enthusiastic chefs, foodies and entrepreneurs, Catered Class would not be the success it is today.
To her surprise and disbelief, Megan was honored with the Golden Whisk Award for ‘Newbie of the Year’ in July 2008. “I am thrilled to be a part of this terrific organization and for the amazing support I have received and continue to receive in improving the quality of my service and my business. Thank you!”
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