Tuesday, March 19, 2024

A recipe for success: Ellen Woods opens Morristown’s Ellie Michellie’s Eatery and Catering at 18

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Photo courtesy of Ellie Michellie’s Eatery and Catering / Facebook

While many millennials choose to pursue higher education directly after high school, some — such as Ellen Woods, the owner of Ellie Michellie’s Eatery and Catering in Morristown, Tennessee — prefer to take a different path: a path filled with hard work, goal-oriented passion and a healthy dose of her famous grilled chicken.

“When I decided to do this, I was coming into my senior year (of high school),” Woods said. “And that’s when everyone is like, ‘What are you doing with your life? What do you want to major in?’ And, I was just like, ‘I don’t know.’ At that moment in time, I knew I did not want to pursue college … I didn’t want to go to college, spend all this money and have no clear vision of what I wanted to do.”

The tall, kind-eyed Morristown resident said that she then looked for options outside of the “traditional path.”

Eighty-one percent of students who attended high school in 2013 graduated, which was an increase that put America on track to meet a goal of a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020, according to a research consortium at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Members of the consortium include the Alliance for Excellent Education, America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center.

While it is apparent that many students see the worth of a high school diploma, a large number choose to forgo higher education after high school. According to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of high school graduates who enrolled in college directly after graduating from high school dropped from 69 percent in 2008 to 66 percent in 2013.

Woods was home-schooled by her parents for the entirety of her high school career and developed an interest in cooking at an early age.

“I wanted to start a restaurant,” Woods said. “I’ve worked in the food industry, and I thought it’d be fun to cook. I wanted to be my own boss and give this a shot. And luckily, with really supportive parents, they were like, ‘Cool. How do you want to do this?'”

Woods explained that she spent the entire summer before her senior year of high school and the fall semester of that year getting the restaurant ready to be opened.

We had to spend time decorating, getting all the utensils, meeting with suppliers, and even purchasing things like a commercial dishwasher. We soon realised that washing up by hand was unpractical and time consuming so we went on the hunt for a dishwasher.

We went to an auction and started bidding on lots of products that would be perfect for our restaurant and get it up and running! We did find a commercial dishwasher, however it did need some Dishwasher Replacement Parts as it wasn’t in great working condition. Later that week we moved all the new equipment in and we were ready to go!

“I took part of my college savings and bought the business with my own money,” Woods said. “And my mom was like, ‘I’ll help you run it’ … All we knew how to do was turn on the lights, and it just kind of grew from there.” Regardless of age or experience, everyone has to start somewhere. Once you have a vision in mind, that is your first step in aiming for a successful business.

Woods said that her mother was known as “The Greeter” in the eatery thanks to her love of conversing with the customers.

“She would go around and talk to people and make sure everyone was having a fun time,” Woods said.

Woods took ownership of the restaurant on her 18th birthday in November of 2013 and opened Ellie Michellie’s Eatery at the beginning of 2014. Woods stated that customers from Morristown and across the country ventured to the restaurant quickly.

“Everybody wants to see young people succeed,” Woods said. “There’s a few grouchy old people, but generally in life, you’ll find that if they see a young person trying to better themselves or trying to have a career, they’re gonna help. So, a lot of people said, ‘Oh, you’re young. We’re gonna check you out.'”

Despite Woods’ apprehension for college education, she is now enrolled in courses at Motlow State Community College in Smyrna with a major in business management. Woods began classes in August of 2017, and due to this change, has transformed the eatery into more of a catering business than a restaurant.

“I started thinking about going to school the first of this year,” Woods said. “I love (the restaurant). I knew it was something I wanted to do, but I thought that if I did decide to relocate somewhere, what would my resume look like … I thought, ‘If I do go somewhere else, I want the education to back up the experience.'”

According to Woods, one of the challenges of returning to school after her three-year absence included feeling old.

“One of the first classes I went to at the end of August, I walked in and a kid that I had taught in Sunday school was in there,” Woods said.

Woods added that the transition into a catering business has been smooth due to being able to get quick catering equipment hire and the eatery having some previous catering clients. That aspect of the restaurant had become much more popular in recent months.

“I was like, ‘Maybe if I advertise it more towards catering, it will open up more time to go to school,'” Woods said.

Running a catering business is a difficult job, and there are always many moving parts that have to be accounted for at all times. Catering companies constantly require field specific equipment such as fridge trailers due to the mobile nature of their work, and while this kit can be found by catering businesses at places such as https://www.icecooltrailers.co.uk/, it can be difficult to keep track of all of these pieces of equipment.

Despite the modern push for young minds to enter the world of higher education, Woods believes that a dream or path outside of college is just as worthy as pursuing a degree.

“I think the idea of, ‘You’re never gonna get a good job unless you go to college’ is ridiculous,” Woods said. “If you’re driven and you have an idea and you have goals, you’ll be successful no matter what you pursue. If you know that you want to do something, then do it. There’s not many (eighteen-year-old) restaurant owners … You have to be willing to work.”

For more information on Ellie Michellie’s Eatery and Catering, click here.

To contact Lifestyles Editor Tayhlor Stephenson, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.

For more updates, follow us at www.mtsusidelines.com, on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on Twitter at @Sidelines_Life.

1 COMMENT

  1. I like that this article illustrates that going to college is not the only option for graduating high school seniors. Entering the workforce or even technical school are often overlooked. However, it appears that the lead is portraying college students are not hard working, goal-oriented, passionate and lacking in grilled chicken. Of course, I fully understand that is not the intended message, but upon first read it appears to be so. I am glad to hear that Woods pursued her dreams and hope that she continues to be successful in life. Perhaps, she will journey into the college classroom as a guest speaker about entrepreneurship. Pursuing a formal education and transforming her business from restaurant to catering company is great! It is different from the standard “I want to own a restaurant.” Not that there is anything with owning a restaurant, but the catering company is different. It has a different tone to the idea. I love the quote in the closing paragraph. I agree it is ridiculous to think that college is the only option, it is definitely an option. The youth of America should investigate all of their options before jumping into a decision. Basically you should decide (or try to) what you want to achieve in life and come up with various strategies on how to achieve your goals.

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