Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Steger.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My husband Trevor and I have always loved to travel. A year into dating I quit my day job as a dietitian and we bought a one-way ticket to Europe. We returned to the US, and to reality, nine months later, but the travel itch still wasn’t fully scratched.
After two years of working back home, we decided it was time for another trip. This time we booked a one-way ticket to Asia, with definitive plans to visit China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India.
It was a few weeks into our visit to India while visiting Rishikesh that I decided to take a local cooking class. The instructor was wonderful, we learned how to make paneer butter masala, palak paneer, and lastly, chai.
Chai is a staple in India, it’s like coffee in Seattle, or milk in Wisconsin for that matter (I’m from Green Bay. Go Pack!). They drink it in little 1-2 ounce clay cups every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, oh, and about a dozen times in between. You can’t walk 30 paces in India without running into a little chai stand with the local chaiwallah ready to serve it up hot for you.
While we were in India and Nepal, where chai is also rather popular, we consumed it like the locals, so when covid forced us home after three months (we caught a flight out of Nepal literally the last day before they closed their border), we had a real problem. With our plans upended, and little else to keep me busy, I made it my priority to recreate the traditional Indian masala chai I learned to make in my cooking class in India.
What I thought would be a fun afternoon project became months of spice blending, but finally, hundreds of cups of chai later, I had a spice blend to satisfy my inner stickler and transport me back, if only in memory, to our travels.
I never had any intention to turn chai into a business, but after making it a few times for family, and after some urging from a friend of mine, I decided to try selling it at farmers’ markets. Three years later, here we are, selling at farmers’ markets across Minnesota and Wisconsin and working on getting into coffee shops and grocery stores.
While this was never the plan, I’m thrilled to be making a traditional Indian masala chai and introducing people to an authentic spicy chai that they simply are not getting at their chain coffee shops. By providing the spice blend and instructions for people to make traditional chai at their own homes we are slowly making chaiwallahs out of people throughout the midwest. We may not yet be able to find them every thirty paces as we could in India, but give it time, I’m hopeful!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
All things considered, I think it has been a fairly smooth road. Like any business there were hundreds of bumps along the way, we have been forced to change course many times, and we’ve made dozens of “mistakes”, but I think we’ve gotten relatively lucky so far.
We were new to the small business world, as well as the farmers market world, but we have been welcomed with open arms and have found an abundance of helpful friends among the other vendors who have been happy to teach us the ropes. Without their guidance, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a dietitian by trade, that doesn’t really describe who I am. I love to travel, I love to create, I love to meet new people, and learn new things. Trevor and I have traveled to twenty-five countries together and attempted multiple other entrepreneurial ventures (including two apps and a book). We are always looking for ways to grow and are always dreaming.
We have aspirations one day of opening a modest nature retreat for people to come to reconnect with themselves and the life that goes on around them. We have never approached life the traditional way, and I believe most of our blessings are the result of that, so I expect us to continue building and dreaming together our entire lives.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and are any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Life is full of silver linings.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @sofullchai
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086184870576
