“Ever since I was young, I”™ve always been fascinated with the kitchen,” Felicia Nowling said. “My mom has stories of me at the age of six preparing a full-on breakfast for her and my father. Instead of watching cartoons on the weekends as a child, I would watch cooking shows, and some of the cooking shows highlighted the Culinary Institute of America. And I told my mom at a very young age that I was going to that school and be a chef.”
And, indeed, Nowling”™s childhood dream became a reality, receiving an associate”™s degree from the Hyde Park-based school before receiving a bachelor”™s in restaurant management from Johnson & Wales University and a master”™s in hospitality management from Florida International University.
Nowling landed in a corporate management training program with a major hotel chain and launched on a two-decade career in restaurant, banquet and hotel management, pausing only for three months after the birth of her son.
But when her daughter was born, she made the decision to put her career on hold to become a stay-at-home mother.
“I pretty much stayed in the kitchen and redeveloped my love for food cooking without the pressures of the work” aspect, she said.
When her second child started school, Nowling acknowledged that transitioning back to her career would create a shaky work-life balance that she did not want to pursue.
“My husband and I talked about what I could do and how I could do it,” she said. “And that”™s where this idea came about for starting my own business. I”™m still able to rediscover who I was after being with my daughter all day for six years straight, but on my terms in regards to flexibility and scheduling and being at home for my kids when I wanted to.”
In 2018, as Nowling was preparing to launch the business named Creative Meals by Chef Felicia, a serendipitous bit of good luck came her way: She became aware of a family looking to hire a private chef.
“That was a way for me to get my foot in the door, reestablish myself as a chef and get my confidence back in regards to knowing I can do this,” she said. “And then while I was cooking for them, I branched out and started to focus on serving families with meal prep.”
Nowling and her family were living in North Salem at the time ”” they”™ve since moved to Ridgefield and Creative Meals by Chef Felicia now serves families in Westchester and Fairfield counties. With her clients, Nowling brings different culinary strategies to each home.
“I”™m different in the aspect that I customize menus to each individual family,” she said. “I don”™t have a standard menu that I send out to everybody and they get to pick and choose. I”™m able to take any dietary restrictions or concern and adjust it towards them.”
Nowling handles the entire food preparation process in her clients”™ kitchens.
“I bring all of my equipment with me: I bring my own pots, pans, knives, cutting boards, spices, and I do the grocery shopping,” she continued. “I take over the kitchen and I”™m there for about three or four-and-a-half hours for cooking, cooling down, packaging, leaving the refrigerator stocked with the food. And then I take everything with me, including my trash.”
Nowlings”™ clients primarily focus on dinners, although some have also requested lunch preparation as well. She cited her zucchini ravioli, enchiladas and quesadillas as being among her most popular dishes, noting that one client family “requests 70% of the menu to be the same with some variation.” She has also adjusted her meals to meet specific client dietary needs.
“I know how to cook gluten-free, how to cook low sodium and how to prepare items paleo,” she said.
Nowling has grown her business through word of mouth, referrals and online advertising. While the Covid-19 pandemic found many families moored at home, Nowling did not experience a drop in business.
“Being that everyone is at home and there”™s a lot more on their plate, I”™ve definitely been blessed that my services have been utilized,” she said. “Because it”™s just one less thing that they have to worry about. And being that most of the restaurants were shut down, you could still get a restaurant ”” quality meal without having to go out.”
