One day, Laura MacDougall was working in the corporate world, sitting at her desk.
"It was like, I got a great review on Thursday and I was laid off on Monday, she said.
That left her looking for a new job, but instead, she opted for a new career and owning her own business. She has always loved to cook, so Home Plate Advantage was born five years ago. The company serves the Greater Boston and Providence, R.I., areas.
The Stoughton resident brings her cooking into homes as a personal chef, provides special dinners, such as anniversaries, and also teaches cooking to individuals and to small groups. MacDougall meets with her customers and talks about what they want to eat, whether they have any allergies to food, likes and dislikes and what they have in mind. Besides doing the cooking, she also does the grocery shopping and the cleanup effort afterwards.
She says she can cook all kinds of different meals and can adapt to what the people wanted. Most of the time people want "comfort food."
"They want meatloaf and things like that," she said. "It's the food that is comfortable to them."
Like most businesses, the first couple of years was just a matter of getting the word out about her services. Now, she says things are going well and she is enjoying herself.
"When I first started, the economy wasn't that great," said MacDougall. "(The company) got better in the fourth year."
While she says she loves her new job, MacDougall does miss some parts of the corporate world.
"I miss the camaraderie," she said. "You could stand up in your cube and shout out an idea."
At the Stoughton Farmers' Market on Saturday, MacDougall was sharing recipes for items she got from the market, including a potato salad and a caramelized plum crostini.
"I love to cook," said MacDougall. "I want to help people."
MacDougall can be reached at HomePlateAdv.com, hpadvantage@yahoo.com or by calling 508-423-5071.
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