Health care exit plan leads to home cooking business – Journal

A family’s lifestyle and labor of love brings culinary classes to Farmington

After working as a paramedic for 17 years, spending the pandemic as a flight nurse with AirCare and giving birth to her fifth child two years ago, Katrina Sharp was ready for a change.

Her exit plan led to a family effort to open Measure and Make.

The jump from the medical field to the culinary field may seem unexpected, but a glance at Sharps’ busy schedule clears it all up.

Katrina and Christopher Sharp and their five children are an active bunch, juggling work, dance classes, sports, school activities and family time. Having dinner at the table means everyone goes inside.

As her children grew older, Katrina involved them in food preparation and cooking. She said she relies on her older children on busy nights to help with meals and feeding the younger children when she and her husband run errands or escort the children to and from activities.

Her children’s desire to help in the kitchen was not the only source of inspiration for the business. Katrina said her younger daughter is a big fan of Blippi, the TV personality who teaches kids how things work. The parts about bakeries and restaurants got Catherine thinking.

If kids enjoy watching shows that teach them how to cook, they will likely enjoy learning to cook.

Katrina began researching what it would take to start teaching cooking classes in Farmington. She researched chain and similar types of businesses to learn about room types and costs, local socioeconomic demographics, and community support opportunities.

When she explained her idea to friends and community members, enthusiasm for the idea was immediate.

Change of location

Turning an idea into reality first requires an environment. Katrina and Chris had never rented commercial real estate, but they lucked out and found a great location and supportive landlord in Star Plaza, she said.

After signing the lease for the space at 3836 E. Main St., Suite B, a five-week run to fix the place began.

Formerly a party supply store, the space has been vacant since 2018, which Katrina said was in dire need of updating.

Her husband, Christopher, is a retired firefighter and now works in construction management. His experience was vital to Katrina’s efforts to renovate the site as they completed most of the work themselves.

Besides hiring plumbers and electricians for tape and text work, the family spends evenings and weekends tearing up carpets and replacing floors, painting new fixtures and fittings.

“There were many nights,” Katrina said. “Oh my, my kids practically lived here. … We were here until one or two o’clock in the morning. It was a “real labor of love” for her family, she said.

Apart from a few delays – they needed a fire extinguisher before installing the stove – Katrina said the process was surprisingly smooth. Although she hopes to never replace the floor tiles again in her life.

The Sharps’ community involvement showed them the importance of supporting small businesses. They chose to work with as many local businesses as possible, printing their postcards at Nick’s Print Shop and relying on local artists.

A mural of the Measure & Make logo takes up most of one interior wall. The mural was painted by Deane artist Luke Paul, whose work can also be seen at local businesses such as Lauter House, The Grass Station and on the outside wall at the corner of Orchard Street and Main Street.

“He came and did it in two days with a garbage can,” Katrina said. “Wow. I wasn’t attracted to him at first. He literally stood back and looked and … came up with this in two days. It’s amazing,” he said.

The classes begin

Measure and Make opened during spring break this year, holding week-long youth cooking camps, followed by camps with individuals cooking air fryer chicken, making Lepchaun gingerbread houses, and decorating cookies and cakes.

Classes are offered on a membership and individual basis. The spring break camps were all ages, but Katrina said membership classes are divided by age groups and classes can be tailored by skill level.

Mommy & Me offers a variety of private classes for parents and preschoolers, including day-night classes with BYOB adult beverage options, multi-age classes, and kids-only evening classes that allow parents some free time.

They also plan to bring in special chefs to guest-teach classes and offer a more diverse array.

The schedule of classrooms is still a work in progress, Katrina said. In each class they assess how well the offer works by age, time and day and how parents can balance the time required to drop children off and pick them up from class. They plan to adapt as they move forward.

Katrina said that one aspect of the classrooms she asked questions about was that most classrooms have a drop-and-go policy for children participating in the classroom. Some parents questioned the policy, but Katrina explained that the policy came from a safety perspective.

Because you cannot background check every parent or guardian who wants to stay and attend a class, only students who have approved the guidelines can stay for the class.

She said she and Christopher’s background as first responders made safety a priority, and their goal was “a safe and fun place to come and do something that’s different.”

One exception to that policy is when families or groups book for birthday parties or private events. Only the birthday child’s parents can stay for the party, but it’s up to the group that rents the venue to decide who attends private events.

Trying to market the new business is a learning experience, Katrina and Christopher both agree. Not an avid social media user, Katrina says she is learning how to make promotional videos for Facebook and manage business accounts on various social media platforms.

Christopher added that not being part of a chain makes building brand awareness more challenging, but they are seeing word-of-mouth from friends and students’ families working to get the word out. As with everything they do, they both plan on learning and developing their skills.

Future plans for the business are to make it successful enough for Katrina to run the business full-time. Not only is the epidemic weakening Erkern in various ways, but the stress it has caused her family is starting to take its toll.

Katrina said her older children are afraid of flying because of near-death experiences in airplanes and feel anxious whenever she leaves for work. Christopher is also concerned about flight risks and I hope Measure and Make will be her main work in the future.