Adrienne M. Fudge’s love for cooking developed after her mother was diagnosed with Lupus when Adrienne was just seven years old. At a young age she desired to help her mother make meals for her dad and sister. This led to her love of cooking, and created an amazing bond between she and her mother. Although Adrienne obtained a MA in Corporate Communication from Seton Hall University and worked in Corporate America for many years, she still yearned to feed people. After a layoff in 2009, and attending culinary school, Chef Fudge launched her catering business. She loves how her business has evolved, and feels that she is blessed to serve senior citizens and disabled adults throughout New Jersey.
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Alka Bahal: Welcome to The Think Factory’s podcast powered by OGC Solutions. My name is Alka Bahal. I’m a partner with Outside General Counsel Solutions and the chair of our Corporate Immigration Services Group and I’ll be your host today. I’m very pleased to have with me Adrienne Fudge of 40 Dreams Catering and Cooking Time. Welcome to the podcast, Adrienne.
Adrienne Fudge: Thank you so much. I’m so glad to be here.
Alka Bahal: We’re so pleased to have you here. Can you start off by telling us a little bit about Cooking Time and 40 Dreams Catering?
Adrienne Fudge: So 40 Dreams Catering provides meals to senior citizens and disabled adults throughout New Jersey. Up until this year, which is our 10th year, we have been primarily focused on the Medicaid population through a program titled Manage Long-Term Services and Supports. And that program allows 40 Dreams to partner with insurance companies who pay for the meals. And then we basically cook, package, and deliver the meals to the homes of the members of the insurance companies. So that’s what we’ve done for the last 10 years.
This year, in our 10th year, we are extending our reach to private paying senior citizens. So our focus will still be on seniors, but we will start to deliver to people who are not Medicaid eligible and still want the meals because they’re delicious and they’re cooked with no added salt or sugar. So they’re really healthy and good for people. So that’s the business I’ve had for the last 10 years.
So we offer cooking classes to anyone in the community who wants to take them. We also have children and adult birthday parties here. And we are soon to partner with a company called Zing Train, which is out of Michigan, and they will be running some of their leadership development classes right here in Westfield, New Jersey.
Alka Bahal: That does sound very exciting. So you’ve actually had a very interesting career journey leading you into sort of the catering services, very specialized, healthy meals for seniors. Tell me about where you started, what caused you to switch paths?
Adrienne Fudge: I was working in the pharmaceutical sector in human resource management, and it just wasn’t a great fit for me. I had a great job. I loved what I did but the corporate culture just didn’t mirror my values. And so I opted to leave. So when I started the business, actually, when I went to culinary school, I turned 40, which is why the name is titled 40 Dreams Catering.Click here to listen to full podcast
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