The Passion Plate

Kymberly Wilbon had lived many lives before she founded The Passion Plate. Following her passions led her to the fashion world and exclusive clubs in New York City; then to the music industry and backstage catering gigs for headlining musicians; and finally, the restaurant industry, where she thrived under the pressure and eventually built a burgeoning business that caters to high brow clientele, literally.

Chef Kym’s first few clients, a high-profile bunch, shared her name with their friends, family and colleagues, which expanded her clientele to include even more NFL players, doctors, and the like. “I have a network of clients who I covet, because they pass my name around. That’s why I’m so fanatic about how my food should look, the quality, and everything,” Kym says. Although she’s in high demand, she’s not intrigued by scaling her business. 

She and her small core team of three pump out up to 150 meals on their busiest days of the week. They cook for a handful of NFL players as well as the Xavier men’s basketball team all while fulfilling orders placed through their online store. Her connections with the NFL are how Kym met Sam Hubbard, a client of six years. Years ago, Sam invited her to collaborate with his foundation to cook and pack hundreds of Thanksgiving dinners to supply to individuals and families in need during the holiday. “Unfortunately, each year the number of meals we produce increases, meaning more families are in need. We typically prepare about 400 meals,” Kym says.

When they’re not personal cheffing or collaborating with NFL players, The Passion Plate team brings elevated catering to their clients’ special events. Kym enjoys delivering service and artful catering spreads that match the elegance of her clients’ events, drawing inspiration from her days in the fashion industry. 

But something she’s grown into over time has been a passion for investing in and building up her team. “The greatest thing a chef can do is teach your staff to become better than you,” Kym says. “Your employees are only as good and efficient as you make them, and proper training and leading by example is key.”

Magnificent Morsels Catering

crystal render, chef-owner of magnificent morsels catering

Magnificent Morsels Catering is a catering company that serves Southern and Midwestern classics with a twist, and they’ve seen tons of success in the Queen City over the lifetime of the business despite a series of ups and downs at the outset. Today, they cater for big names like the Cincinnati Reds and the Aronoff Center for Performing Arts, they have an exceedingly popular line of retail spice blends, and just this year they opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Clifton.

But Crystal Render hadn’t always planned on owning and operating an incredibly successful catering business. “It wasn’t my dream,” she said. “It was my mother’s. She was a good cook, but she wasn’t business savvy.” What her mother lacked in business savviness, Crystal made up for in spades.

Fifteen years ago, Crystal was working full-time as a hairdresser while Magnificent Morsels was a popular storefront in College Hill until it was forced to shutter due to a lease disagreement. “It was utterly devastating to build something and have to let it go because you can't resolve a contractual agreement,” Crystal says. 

After picking up the pieces, Crystal relaunched Magnificent Morsels a decade later as a catering company and joined Findlay Kitchen to produce her food in a commercially-licensed kitchen without having to sink her savings into another brick-and-mortar space or the equipment necessary to keep her business afloat. 

At first, Crystal was recruiting family and any available people she could to help her keep up with her catering clients. “[It] started with just me and any random helping hand I could get, which was usually my oldest sister, Valencia,” Crystal says. “Now we have the ability to flex up to 26 people when needed for our larger accounts.”

Growing her staff not only provided more jobs for people in her community, it allowed her to continue strategically growing her business into diverse markets. She and her team launched a line of Magnificent Morsels spice blends, a venture four years in the making. “I would work on it, table it, work on it, table it, because I couldn’t get my mind to wrap around how I’d actually make this happen,” Crystal says. “I just remember writing a memo to myself that I wanted it done by a certain date, and we got close to that date and I hadn’t done anything. I think it was a little bit of that God-given divine alignment, because I came across the cohort with Goldman Sachs.”

Crystal took part in Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses course to accelerate the launch of her spice blends, and two weeks after graduating, she received a $15,000 grant from Main Street Ventures, which allowed her purchase the necessary equipment and ingredients to usher her idea over the finish line. Later that year, her spice blends became available for purchase at ETC Produce & Provisions, Jungle Jim’s, and the Findlay Market Shopping App, among other retailers.

Beyond being head chef and main visionary behind Magnificent Morsels Catering, Crystal’s job is a melange of many things. She’s the head chef, quality control, and she’s a whiz with logistics. She has to be in order to juggle multiple big events weekly while also making time to strategically grow her business and invest in her community. Crystal makes time each summer to participate in SUN Meals, an Ohio program that provides free meals to kids ages 1-18. “In our first year we did a whopping 42,000! We’ve averaged anywhere from 18,000–24,000 meals over the last few years, all distributed in only 10 weeks,” Crystal says.

In between catering large events for high profile clients, cranking out a line of spice blends, or feeding hundreds of local children, Crystal has been working toward opening a brand new brick-and-mortar, Magnificent Morsels Kitchen, a resurrection of the original storefront, this time in Clifton. This year, Crystal and her team surpassed a huge milestone by purchasing, renovating and opening a restaurant on Ludlow Avenue where they will continue to serve the food their catering clients have come to know and love.

The Empanada's Box

left to right: fabiana, lucas, and diego nunez

Diego Nuñez has worked in restaurants all his life, and owning his own food business had always been in the back of his mind. Out of all the cuisines to focus on, Diego chose something close to his heart. His family owned a pizza restaurant that also sold baked goods and empanadas when he was growing up in Argentina. He learned how to expertly make empanadas from his parents and older brother Gustavo, a trade he would perfect and use to launch an incredibly successful business many years later.

He immigrated to the US from his home in Argentina in 2000 and continued working in restaurants in the states, perfecting the art of the empanada over the next 20 years. In 2020, Diego, his wife, Fabiana, and his nephew, Lucas, launched The Empanada’s Box. 

At the outset, their business functioned around outdoor markets, where they quickly developed a band of guests who turned to loyal customers and eventually regulars who would see The Empanada’s Box through many milestones and an impressive amount of growth in just a few short years. “In the beginning, it was just me, Diego, and Fabiana,” Lucas says. “We were doing everything ourselves. Now, we have about 10 employees across our locations.”

In their first big step forward, The Empanada’s Box joined Findlay Kitchen, which gave them access to licensed commercial kitchens, equipment, and lots more space. This allowed them to increase their production as they continued to see more and more traffic at their booth on the weekends. Not far down the road, they took their next step by securing residency in the Findlay Launch Storefront Accelerator Program.

As a Findlay Launch Resident, The Empanada’s Box gained access to a storefront they would operate out of for the next year. Their time in the accelerator program gave them a glimpse into storefront life—how to staff a restaurant, engage their customers, expand their product selection, and so much more. Most of all, it gave them a proof of concept that would be the key to open many doors down the road.

“After graduating from the Findlay Launch program, we really wanted to stay at Findlay Market, but most of the spaces we found were white-boxed,” Lucas says. We didn’t have the resources at the time to do a full buildout—we needed a working kitchen—and eventually found the perfect spot in Covington. We’ve been there for over three years now, and it’s been the foundation of everything.”

Since opening their shop in Covington, they’ve returned to the Findlay Market District to open a permanent storefront here on Elm Street, just a block down the street from Findlay Kitchen. Scaling twice in three years is a testament to The Empanada’s Box’s commitment to their product, their customers, and creating spaces where people can feel at home. In turn, their customers have shown up for them every step of the way.

“Our growth has been pretty organic,” Lucas says. “We’ve stayed focused, reinvested as much as possible back into the business, and leaned heavily on word of mouth and community support. We try to be super consistent with our product and customer experience, and I think that’s helped us build trust. We also stay really hands-on with everything—from operations to marketing—which keeps us connected to what’s working and what needs to improve.”

As they’ve continued to grow, the Nuñez family has stayed connected to their roots. They still regularly pop up at Findlay’s Outdoor Market on the weekends, an homage to their humble beginnings, but they’ve also diversified their revenue streams over the years to create a more balanced structure. “It has helped us grow in meaningful ways. While our storefronts are the core of our business, these other channels have allowed us to reach more people and add stability to our operations,” Lucas says. “Each one plays a part in keeping our business dynamic and resilient year-round.”

The Nuñez family has worked incredibly hard to bring this dream to fruition. Not only have they built a successful small business that honors their roots, they’ve created a community that has supported them from day one.

“The Empanada’s Box has changed our lives in so many ways. It’s been our creative outlet, our livelihood, and a source of pride,” Lucas says. “It’s also given us a stronger sense of purpose—something that’s ours, that we built from the ground up. While running a small business isn’t always stable or easy, it’s given us a kind of security we never had before. We’ve grown so much personally and professionally through it.”