Today we’d like to introduce you to Dantia Downer
Hi Dantia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My grandmother was a caterer. She ran a family catering business so cooking and servicing people comes naturally to me. I got my love for making delicious tasting food from her, although it didn’t really take hold of me till 2017 lol. Thru the years I honed my skills trying different recipes seeing what worked and what didn’t, making dishes for family events and close friends events. At one of those events, my cousin’s birthday party, her husband said “You should start selling your pastas. Only the pastas nothing else, they can order everything else from other people and you just sale the pastas.” I thought about it for awhile..a long while..and then I thought about my daughter. I was tired of not being with her; feeling like someone else was raising her, having to work full time, and being a full time single mom. I refused to put her in daycare so I chose to do something different. That next month I bought my LLC and named the business “Just Pastas”. I debuted my pastas during an invite-only tasting, and a month after that, at the 2019 Taste of Black St Louis, I sold out all three days!!!!
Once I accomplished that, I hit the pop up circuit with fury lol. I was heavy on the pop up circuit for about a year and a half but my heart wasn’t really in it. I wanted to reach bigger so I started doing more pop ups that were business oriented. I do a lot with Delmar Main Street, I’ve catered for the Air Traffic Control, the city of Jennings and the School Board to name a few. My goal today is to move into the corporate catering sector. My business is accredited to work with government entities and so I’m really focused on driving sales in the corporate sector. My 4 year old princess Zari expressed interest in running the company so I have started to bring her in on events so that she can engage with the public and talk about our product. The ultimate goal is to have her ready by 7 so that she can run our fundraising sector! In the midst of all of the cooking, I have furthered my culinary skills and flavor profiles; learning to farm, going from the ground to the table, taking up business classes, leadership courses and networking in the areas where I would like to do business. The business is headed in the right direction and will be extremely successful. The success will lead to Just Pastas starting a project that will be a community farms and village! I’m really excited about everything we have in the works. The future is bright for us!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh absolutely not lol. I have pivoted more times than I can count. If something’s not working I’m quick to switch to the next method. It’s hard trying to make a name for yourself in a heavily saturated market. Marketing and preparing for my events have been the hardest for me. With not having a large following and not knowing the best way to market on social media, I struggled with reaching a large crowd of people. But I stayed the course and now my following has grown quite a bit. With event prep, it’s the setup that I was struggling with. Not having any help to set everything up, loading and unloading – it was a lot. It actually made me slow down on the pop up circuit because of the lack of help. Don’t get me wrong, I do have familiy members that help me A LOT. My mom and sister have been lifesavers, but when it comes to the heavy lifting that’s a man’s job lol and I didn’t have one of those. But now I choose the events I do more wisely and my support system has grown in more ways than one.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Just Pastas ?
Just Pastas is a catering company that serves a line of specialty pastas. We pride ourselves on having creamy delicious pasta dishes with unique flavor profiles. Our saucy seasoned pastas bring a new flair to catered pastas that leaves you wanting more. We are firm on providing the best customer experience possible everytime. Just Pastas is a catering company that provides high quality, fair cost, deliciously unique pasta dishes. The funds from the catering company will be used to further our progress on our fundraising sector and “Kahu Village and Farms”, our community village project! We can be found on
Facebook- Just Pastas
Instagram- Justpastasinc
LinkedIn- Just Pastas
Tik Tok- Just Pastas
We cater pasta pans for any occasion!
We also offer homemade desserts and Teas !
Order by invoice !
support our efforts while enjoying a delicious unforgettable meal!
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
My ability to serve people. I feel it’s extremely important because I want to provide my customers with a memorable experience everytime, not just with delicious food but with happy pleasant human interactions as well. I take pride in what I do and I want that to be felt through my communications
Pricing:
- Prices starting as low as $50
