08/30/2026
Sunday Thoughts 🤍
Sometimes I think back to how all of this started, and it still makes me laugh a little because owning a restaurant was absolutely not the plan.
Before The Butcher’s Daughter, I worked for a large company and traveled quite a bit for my job. Then one day, about 400 of us were laid off all at once.
Just like that, the job I had known was gone.
At the time, I was also baking from home for people. Custom cakes, cookies, whatever somebody needed. I had my real estate license too and did some of that on the side, but after I got laid off I remember looking at Derek and saying, “Well… now what am I going to do?”
He said, “You’re such a good cook. Why don’t we do something where you can bake for people?”
And somewhere in those conversations, The Butcher’s Daughter was born.
But y’all, it was never supposed to be THIS.
My original idea was a small little bakery and market. I wanted to bake cakes and cookies, sell casseroles and grab-and-go items, and have this cute little place where people could stop in and pick up something good to take home.
That was it.
Then we started doing lunch sandwich specials.
And those sandwiches quite literally changed everything.
People started coming. Then more people started coming. The sandwiches became the thing, and before I really knew what was happening, this little bakery and market idea had turned into a restaurant.
We went from that little building to where we are now, and man, was that a leap of pure faith.
Now I know some of you are going to comment about how much you miss the grab-and-go casseroles, and trust me, sometimes I wish that was something we could still offer too. But the truth is, we quite simply ran out of room.
As the restaurant side grew, every inch of space became precious. More prep, more ingredients, more equipment, more people, more sandwiches. Growth meant making choices, and sometimes that meant letting go of parts of the original idea to make room for what The Butcher’s Daughter was becoming.
The funniest part?
Derek had talked for years about owning a restaurant, and I always told him, “Absolutely not. I do not want that kind of stress in my life.” 😂
And now here we are.
A restaurant in Enterprise. Another one coming to Dothan. A team of people I love. Customers who have supported us beyond anything I could have imagined. And a business that has grown into something so much bigger than the little bakery I pictured in my head all those years ago.
Life has a funny way of taking the thing that feels like the end of the world and using it to completely change the direction of your life.
Getting laid off felt scary.
At the time, I had no idea it was actually the beginning.
And maybe that’s the Sunday thought today…
Sometimes the plan you had for your life falling apart is exactly how you end up finding the life you were supposed to build.
And now that I’ve learned to dream, I dream BIG. 🤍
So let me ask y’all something…
Have you ever thought about having a Butcher’s Daughter in your town? 👀
Because if this journey has taught me anything, it’s that you never really know what could happen next. 😉
Pictured are some of my early baking days creations 😊
