Mar 19, 2019
About Maddie Purcell:
Maddie Purcell is the founder of Fyood Kitchen, an
award-winning startup that puts on cooking competition parties –
absolutely no experience required.
As a food lover who felt relegated to the culinary
“audience,” Maddie decided to take matters into her own
hands by flipping the script and creating an environment in which
anyone can cook creatively and have a ton of fun doing it. In the
process, she built an experience that brings people together around
food in a new way, fostering deep connections and creating
hilarious memories as they tackle the Fyood challenge together.
In the past year, Maddie has been nationally recognized
as the Outstanding Young Entrepreneur of the Year by SCORE and
named to the 2018 Mainebiz Next List, while Fyood Kitchen was named
an American Small Business Champion and the SCORE Maine Innovative
Business Award winner.
Recently, Maddie launched the Experience Maine Gift Guide
to promote the quality and variety of experiential businesses in
Maine. As local and national spending shifts toward experiences
instead of things, Maddie saw an opportunity to grow the
experiential side of the Maine economy by promoting other providers
across the state and expanding the connotations of the #madeinmaine
brand.
A frequent speaker on entrepreneurship and
experiences, Maddie also coaches and mentors other
founders and aspiring leaders. Outside of business, you can find
her on the Ultimate Frisbee field or hiking on a mountain.
In this episode:
4:31 – How Maddie got started in the food business
6:03 – The fun of seeing the behind-the-scenes of a kitchen
7:25 – How Maddie navigated her career and got “unstuck” and started her business sooner
8:43 – The importance of gratitude and perspective in your career
11:21 – How public relations has played a role in the success of Maddie’s business
16:00 – What marketing techniques have worked the best and the value of search engine optimization
17:36 – Why Maddie loves Instagram stories for promoting her business
19:32 – How Maddie has overcome obstacles in her career and used therapy to help her career
20:35 – How Maddie had to get out of her DIY mentality and her example with gift certificates
25:02 – The types of parties and events that Fyood hosts
26:06 – The story behind why Maddie started Fyood
29:26 – Why Maddie values inbound leads through website and social media
31:03 – How the TV show Greenlight Maine inspired Maddie to start her business
33:46 – Why Maddie loves Slack and Drive for working on business projects
34:21 – The book that Maddie recommends for business owners and how it gave her the confidence to start her business
36:05 – A personal board, and how Maddie looks at entrepreneurship and developing a board through relationships
37:35 – Nancy and Maddie celebrate becoming part of each other’s personal boards
38:03 – The value of finding a third option and how Maddie has used it to grow her business
Quote:
“Ask a question that leads to something that’s better than on the table.” Maddie Purcell, founder of Fyood Kitchen.
Mentioned in this episode:
Colby College – https://www.colby.edu/
Fyood Kitchen – https://www.fyoodkitchen.com/
Fork Food Lab – https://www.forkfoodlab.com/
Greenlight Maine – https://greenlightmaine.com/
Julene Gervais https://www.facebook.com/greenlightmaine/photos/a.1673423569553649/2010835919145744/?type=3&theater
SCORE – https://www.scoremaine.org/us/
Maine Centers for Entrepreneurs – https://www.mced.biz/
Looking to connect?
Email
maddie@fyoodkitchen.com
LinkedIn URL
linkedin.com/in/madeleinepurcell
Twitter handle
@mpurcell123
Website
www.fyoodkitchen.com
www.experiencemainegiftguide.com