Sharing a Love of Food: TEDC Client Curds and Whey Thrives at Mother Road Market

Table of Contents:

A Childhood Love for Being in the Kitchen
Early Success, Followed by an Unexpected Pivot
Building a Menu That Draws People From All Over
Mastering the Art of Business Ownership
The Next Step: Funding Growth Through Help From TEDC
Passionate About a Promising Future

Curds and Whey is in its fourth year at Mother Road Market in Tulsa, and chef/owner Faith Walker is excited for what the future holds for her small business. She’s serving up delicious comfort food and planning to expand into catering events and more, all with support from the financial team at TEDC Creative Capital.

A Childhood Love for Being in the Kitchen

Originally from California, Faith Walker moved to Tulsa in 2019 with a background in culinary arts. “I’ve always loved cooking my entire life. My mom taught me how to cook,” she says. As the youngest of four children with three older brothers and two parents who worked a lot, Faith quickly discovered the importance of cooking for herself, learning to make eggs at the age of five. 

Faith has fond memories of cooking huge Thanksgiving meals for her church family alongside her mother as she grew up. “My mom would give us different nights of the week where we put something in the oven or in the Crock-Pot. She made it really easy for us. She always allowed me to be in the kitchen.”

Early Success, Followed by an Unexpected Pivot

At age 19, Faith attended Riverside Culinary Academy, where she learned how to put together different flavors. After completing her studies, she found a role at Panera Bread, serving at different locations for over 13 years before moving to Tulsa. When she arrived in 2018, she landed a position on the kitchen team at Vista at the Boathouse in the Gathering Place.

Switching from the fast-casual dining experience of Panera Bread to a more traditional restaurant line cook setup made her a little nervous at first, but she quickly adapted. “There was a lot of creativity,” she says of her position at the Gathering Place. She moved up from working the line to becoming a lead in the kitchen.

“We were busting out things all the way up until COVID,” she says. “When COVID happened, it all shut down.”

Fortunately, Faith had been accepted into the Kitchen 66 program at Mother Road Market around this same time, and she was able to pivot her career plans. As she learned the ins and outs of running a business, she launched Curds and Whey as a charcuterie company. The name, she says, came from her experiments with making cheeses like fresh mozzarella and fresh ricotta in her kitchen.

“I did my first event with Tulsa Remote, making a huge charcuterie board for their Halloween party. And then the business took off from there,” she says.

Building a Menu That Draws People From All Over

Still, Faith had her challenges, just like any other business owner. At the time, she was a bit ahead of the curve regarding charcuterie’s popularity in Tulsa. She thought about opening a cheese shop. However, through the Kitchen 66 program, she was challenged to consider what she could offer people on a daily basis.

“I thought, I am into sandwiches. I’ll look into doing sandwiches,” she says. Then she was challenged to think about how to speed things up in order to serve customers successfully. She tested panini presses and found them too slow.

Eventually, she landed on a comfort food menu, items that feature cheeses but that are tweaked to be healthy and different. Curds and Whey serves up loaded fries, fresh salads, and wraps like their signature shrimp po’ boy and Baja grilled chicken wraps. All of the sauces are made in-house to bring even more fresh flavor.

She says one of her best sellers is her shrimp scampi fries, which she tested out and found great success with at an early pop-up event. Then she expanded to Cali Girl chicken fries to serve those who wanted a chicken option, featuring Monterey Jack cheese, grilled chicken, candied bacon, tomatoes, avocado, and fresh-made Baja ranch sauce.

“People come from all over to have them,” Faith says. “Every time they’re in town, they say, ‘I have to stop by here and get these fries. I’ve been thinking about them.’ They come in when they’re having rough days and want something comforting. I tell them, ‘You’re in a judgment-free zone.’”

Mastering the Art of Business Ownership

Another challenge Faith has faced has been learning to be her own boss. “Running a business is very challenging,” she says. “As chefs, we’re so creative, and we want to make things happen. But it’s really different to be the boss. No one puts all those things in perspective in the beginning, and it’s very challenging, but there are things that you just learn along the way. And because of your love and your passion, you keep going. You start figuring it out, and you start getting your groove with those challenging things.”

Looking back, Faith sees that working at a place like Panera Bread helped her gain skills essential to running Curds and Whey—details like paying attention to how many minutes it takes to prep meals and serve customers, and how to ensure a flow of food service that makes sense for the business, employees, and customers. At the Gathering Place, she trained for management and learned how to interact in the front of the house, another set of skills that are serving her well at Curds and Whey.

“You learn every day,” she says, “and you work things out.”

The Next Step: Funding Growth Through Help From TEDC

Connecting with TEDC Creative Capital was a natural next step in Faith’s entrepreneurial journey. “In the Kitchen 66 program, they had a class on different loan companies and things of that nature,” she says, and that’s where she first heard about TEDC.

Once she connected with the TEDC team, Faith became excited about the possibilities that funding would open up for her business. “It was really easy working with them,” she says. “They said, let us know how much you need. And at the time, I didn’t realize how much I needed.” She suggested a number, but she hadn’t fully considered factors like paying herself as an employee and the equipment she would need to invest in. TEDC encouraged her to account for all those costs and needs upfront, which helped to set up Curds and Whey for sustainable success.

“I realized I had to envision what the business could look like and what we needed,” Faith says. “Everyone at TEDC was so nice and easy to work with. I’m very thankful for TEDC.”

Passionate About a Promising Future

Faith is ready to expand what she offers as she looks toward the future. She plans to move into catering events with her current menu and meet unique catering needs beyond what Curds and Whey serves at Mother Road Market. She’d like to create specialty menus for weddings and other formal events, as well as private chef opportunities.

“I did a couple of events last year, and these things make my soul happy,” Faith says. “Being able to create foods and have people trust me to do it—that’s what gets my head spinning in a great way. So, that’s what I want to do.” And of course, these events will give her opportunities to return to where she started on her entrepreneurial journey—beautiful, tasty charcuterie boards.

“Putting together charcuterie is my happy place,” she says. “It’s like art, designing, and putting different flavors together. You make it look beautiful, and the taste is so crazy and on point too. It’s a huge deal. And I love it!”

TEDC Creative Capital is a community-based funding organization that helps educate entrepreneurs in business skills and provides local financing options ideal for Oklahoma small businesses. Discover how TEDC’s flexible, non-traditional funding vehicles and educational programs can benefit your entrepreneurial venture.