Heather Mohr is one of our clients at Dancing Elephants Achievement Group. SAVOR HOSPITALITY provides lunches for our Seminars at the Cary Chamber of Commerce each month. http://www.deagsales.com/calendar
Soup or clients. 
Heather and Todd Mohr
The homemade soup had to go.
At one point Cary chef Todd Mohr realized that if he wanted to grow his catering business, he needed to spend the hours each day he was preparing homemade soups on making sales calls.
That was just one of the many decisions he has had to make along the rocky road of entrepreneurship.
Now, some six years later, Mohr has moved into a new building and brought wife Heather full time into their business, which has evolved over time and now includes catering and cooking classes.
The Mohrs, owners of Savor Hospitality on West Chatham Street in Cary, are one of the small-business success stories in Cary.
Small businesses have long been the backbone of the American economy.
Who hasn’t at one time dreamed of telling the boss to “take that job and” — well, we’ve all heard that song.
But trading a 9-to-5 career for the keys to the building, say those who have been there, is a lot of work. More like 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. or longer.
Path to independence
“There are plenty of people with ideas,” Mohr said. “Taking action is the hardest part.”
Mohr worked for years running radio stations and billboard companies. “I had a revelation that I wasn’t going to own a radio station any time soon,” he said. “I always felt there was a better way to do things than the way my bosses did it.”
He sold everything, went from earning six figures to $6,000 a year steaming oysters in a Baltimore restaurant. At the age of 33 he went to culinary school.
After spending time as an employed chef, Mohr saw a need for more upscale corporate catering — someone who would come in with white-linen tablecloths and silverware rather than boxed lunches, and who would clean up after lunch.
He studied, read books, wrote a strong business plan and shopped banks.
He also started small. In the summer of 2002 he opened a lunch shop in Regency Park, doing corporate catering from the kitchen.
He was proud of his homemade soups, which took about three hours each day to make. When surrounding offices began emptying, Mohr realized he needed to be proactive in shifting his business to stay successful.
He found his niche with corporate catering. Savor Hospitality also does weddings, special occasions and offers cooking classes in their building, a former restaurant.
What they’ve learned
Mohr says he sought out anyone with expertise in catering. He found a caterer in Raleigh who was willing to share his knowledge.
“Out of the kindness of his heart he opened his books ... and guided me in lots of respects,” Mohr said.
“We’ve tried to carry that spirit and do the same for others,” wife Heather added.
He and Heather can’t stress enough the importance of sales and networking as well as understanding the actual business end of “selling widgets,” or whatever business an entrepreneur is considering.
Mohr has read countless books, attends seminars and said, “Be a student of the career.”
thats it, dude
Posted by: Saffiewp | March 26, 2008 at 03:48 PM