Stir’s Beginning: How it All Started!
In order to understand how Stir came about, one has to know the story of myself, Katy Foster.
I am the Chef & Owner of Stir.
I began cooking at a pretty young age because my mom was always creating something home cooked for dinner. Generally it would be considered “new night” which was usually delicious but sometimes it was just that, “new”. Throughout middle school and high school in Texas, I was definitely an involved, busy girl and I didn’t have a lot of time to cook. But when I did, I always got in trouble for not cleaning up after myself. Let’s just say, I have grown past that!
Because of my involvement and good grades in High School, I ended up graduating top of my class and in turn attending The University of Texas in Austin in their Red McCombs School of Business. It’s not that I didn’t have a good time in Austin, how couldn’t I, I just realized that the direction I was going, wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to sit in an office all day.
I remember distinctly sitting in my incredibly small dorm room at UT when one of my friends asked me “If I could do anything in the world what would it be?” I said without even thinking…
“I’d own my own restaurant.” It was at that moment that my focus changed.
I did my research of the best culinary schools in the country before calling my mom. When I did call the first thing I said was “Mom, I’m quitting business school to go to the CIA.”….PAUSE….Mom: “But honey, you have to have an college education to be a spy.” I laughed and said “No mom, The Culinary Institute of America”. My parents were incredibly supportive, so I finished out my semester at UT and I began my adventure at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY in April of 2001.
I couldn’t have asked for a better experience than the one I had at the CIA. It taught me not only the fundamentals of classic cooking techniques but it also helped me learn even more about myself. I realized that cooking really is what I love and I couldn’t wait to begin a career in it. After graduating with an Associates Degree from the CIA, I was selected to be apart of the Teaching Assistant Program in one of the restaurants at school, also known as the Fellowship Program. I decided that focusing on front of the house in a restaurant would be beneficial because I had never really experienced it before.
I learned that I really enjoyed both aspects of the culinary world; cooking and interacting with customers.
When the opportunity to move from NY to San Francisco came about, I jumped on the it because I really wanted to experience California cuisine. San Francisco is a great city, actually one of my favorites to visit, but it was just too expensive! I couldn’t live the lifestyle that I loved so much, ie: going out to “fancy dinners”. So I randomly applied for a Chef Instructor Management position at Sur la Table in Dallas. After several interviews, I got the job and moved from California back to Texas!
For the last three and a half years, I have been running the culinary program at Sur la Table in Dallas. It was an amazing experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to learn the ins and out of one day running my very own cooking school. After being in Dallas for quite some time, I reached a point where I needed a change. I had a great job, that I loved but the next best thing I could do was to open my own cooking school. So here I am, in Denver, closer to my family and very excited to be apart of the adventures of small business!
And Along Came Stir…
I have been working on this project since February of 2010. Whoa, has it been a learning experience. From deciding on the perfect location to handling everything with the city…I can’t thank everyone enough who has helped me. It wouldn’t have been possible without you. I’m very excited to be a part of such an amazing neighborhood and I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of new people from all treks of life. Please stop in to say hi…something new is happening everyday!
I greatly appreciate our staff, clients, and experiences Stir brings every day. I can’t wait to host your next experience at Stir and give thanks every day for the continued patronage and camaraderie the adventure of Stir has provided.
Proprietor
Stir Cooking School & Stir Events
