Building a tech platform for chefs isn’t just about coding software; it’s about solving deeply human problems. Chefs are visionaries in the kitchen, but their businesses often operate on the edge of confusion. The tools we create at SOUS are designed to bring confidence, but creating them has been anything but simple.
The road has been filled with personal sacrifices, impossible choices, and a relentless belief in our vision. But beneath these challenges lies the heartbeat of SOUS: a mission to instill confidence in culinary entrepreneurs ability to run their business in today’s digital landscape.
What Truly Matters
Startups live in the realm of struggle, but real challenges often lie outside the office. For our team member Giri, the battle wasn’t just about shipping features; it was about surviving. Diagnosed with lymphoma within his first year on the team, he endured surgeries, chemotherapy, and months away from home and family. Yet, through it all, he remained not only committed to his faith in God, but even committed to what we’re doing at GetSous.com.
Giri’s strength taught us that perspective is everything. Building a business is tough, but it pales compared to fighting for life itself. That realization fuels our work—we pour everything into SOUS because every obstacle we face isn’t to achieve some arbitrary goal, it’s an opportunity to honor the talents and gifts God has given each of us and is a response to the gift of life itself.
The Courage to Kill Your Darlings
Early on, we built features we thought chefs would love: a website builder, a menu designer, and a recipe database that generated grocery lists. While a bit clunky, our users did in fact like them, and we all of course planned for improvements to them overtime. Unfortunately the reality was that they were consuming resources at an unsustainable rate, jeopardizing our ability to also attend to the core functionality chefs needed most for their businesses.
It was painful, but we made the decision to sunset those features. Some users were upset, but it allowed us to double down on what mattered most: CRM, event management, and payments. Tough decisions like these have shaped SOUS into a platform that focuses on the highest-impact solutions for our users while maintaining an eye on the future of bringing those features back in time.
Building in the Face of Constraints
Every founder dreams of infinite resources, but startups live in the real world. Financial constraints forced us to make sacrifices—sometimes personal, sometimes professional. We’ve had to part with valuable team members and streamline processes. Each loss has been a hard lesson in focus and resource allocation.
Yet these constraints have also fueled innovation. Without the luxury of excess, we’ve developed a rapid-release approach: ship, learn, iterate, repeat. This mindset has driven SOUS through several iterations, each one closer to the vision of a platform we envision to truly empowers personal chefs.
Why We Keep Going
SOUS won’t just be software—it will be a dynamic platform that empowers culinary business owners to confidently embrace technology, seamlessly integrate with industry tools, and connect with experts and peers to drive growth, innovation, and success. In just a few years, we’ve processed over $1.5 million in transactions for a small number of users. We’ve seen chefs take on more clients, save precious hours, and grow their businesses with more confidence.
But we’re not stopping here. Our vision is expanding to serve food trucks, caterers, and even small restaurants. With every new feature, every new user, we’re building a future where culinary entrepreneurs have not just the tools but confidence to build a business in a digital world.
Join Our Mission
We’re hosting monthly Roundtable meetings and their open to the public! (Signup for Reminders Here) Held on the last Monday of each month, we’ll dive into features, tools, business ideas, and the vision for SOUS. These sessions are your chance to share insights, give feedback, and collaborate with fellow culinary entrepreneurs to co-create the platform that serves you best. We know that by creating a space where culinary experience meets business experience meets technology experience, we can create something truly impactful and sustainable for everyone.
For more behind-the-scenes stories and to follow our journey, join us on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. Let’s empower each other to reach for the possible—one tool, one connection, and one Roundtable at a time.
