Today we’d like to introduce you to Olga Benoit.
Hi Olga, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Chez Olga started off as a way to make ends meet for my family and me. After an injury at the workplace, I decided to leave the automotive factory Industry and decided to pour my passion into cooking. With the help of my family, we made it become a reality.
My family and I used to get together every sun, go grocery shopping and cook an assortment of foods. From there, we would create a menu for the possibility of owning a beautiful restaurant one day. During this time, we started our small family-run catering business out of our family home. Having to learn to how cook for huge groups of 150 to 300 people on a 4-topper stove.
We started doing everything from small events like anniversary dinners to weddings. While at a lot of these events we were always being asked who catered or where they could go to place individual orders. So that struck up the idea to start a brick-and-mortar store.
In 2010 we officially opened, with my 3 kids and my husband, and we’ve been here ever since.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s been the furthest thing from being a smooth operation, but all the work and struggle makes us look back and appreciate everything we’ve been through and how far we’ve come. Some of the main struggles in the beginning were getting people to trust our food since it is completely different to what they’re used to. Another main struggle was finding a way to take our comfortable, homemade cooking that usually is very time-consuming, and finding a way to cut down the time it takes to prep it, cook it, and serve it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Chez Olga LLC.?
We are a small family-run restaurant. Located at 1441 Wealthy St. SE Grand Rapids, MI 49506. We’ve been in business for 13 years 5 months 5 days lol.
I’m a mother to 4 kids, a doting wife, Owner of Chez Olga, and a full-time Chef. At Chez Olga, we specialize in Caribbean Cuisine with a twist.
My Family is originally from Port-au-Prince Haiti, so a lot of our dishes are definitely inspired from our love for our culture and our amazing food. What sets us apart is that you literally cannot find most of the dishes we have on our menu anywhere else, because they were created specifically by us for you. Because of that, we have people who drive hours away to come give us a try or to be returning customers.
What I am most proud of is our dedication. We’ve experienced a lot as individuals and as company to be where we are today. The road wasn’t easy and still isn’t easy, but we always keep our heads held high and continue to keep pushing. Especially during the Pandemic. That was the biggest test on rather or not we would be able to continue serving our community, and we refused to give up and eventually made it through all the craziness.
We want the readers to know that everything we do and serve is made out of love. So, from the moment you walk into our doors, to your first bite to your final goodbye, you will experience how much we love and appreciate our customers.
Our main goal as a company is make people feel welcomed and loved when they walk through our doors. So hopefully, everything we do resonates that.
We offer dine-in, takeout, and catering options.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My biggest supporter and advocate is my daughter, Dodlie Benoit. She’s literally the reason why Chez Olga exists, let alone has been thriving as long as it has.
She not only has been here since the beginning but she’s also the reason for all the behind-the-scenes work of Chez Olga. She’s done everything from creating the company name, logo, slogan, and image. To doing caterings at the measly age of 14, to running the business full time at the young age of 18. She’s our General Manager and our head chef, so you can imagine her workload. She does everything from hiring, firing, bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, daily operation requirements such as cook, clean, prep, take orders, answer phones. She also caters customer events, coordinate our company events, and deals with customer relations such as concerns, questions, or request.
So, without her, there would actually be no Chez Olga.
Pricing:
- Chicken Entrees: $15 +Tax
- Goat Entrees: $18 +Tax
- Pasta Entree: $15 to $16 +Tax
- Caribbean Fried Rice: $13 to $15 +Tax
- Shrimp Entrees: $16 +Tax
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chezolgarestaurant
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063538931857
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chez-olga-grand-rapids
