A Spring Bank Small Business Feature

Running any small business is difficult, but the food industry especially comes with its unique set of hurdles, including tight regulations, ingredient costs, labor challenges, and steep rents. Even so, Ayala Donchin faced these head-on, launching Evelyn’s Kitchen in 2009 with wholesale baked goods and private cheffing services. Sixteen years later, Evelyn’s Kitchen has grown into a beloved New York City brand, known for its signature Pudgies (delicious soft doughy cookies) and top tier catering services, and unwavering commitment to the community. We are so glad to be part of their small business journey beginning in 2020. 

Behind the Brand: Meet Ayala

Ayala didn’t start her career in the food industry. When she launched Evelyn’s Kitchen, she was coming off a successful career in working in Sports and Entertainment, but cooking, baking was a deep-rooted passion for her. Her love for cooking grew when her godmother, Evelyn, became terminally ill and she unexpectedly became her caregiver. While Evelyn was sick, Ayala started cooking for her and her friends, often hosting dinner parties at Evelyn’s Upper West Side apartment. It was a way for Evelyn to connect with friends in a low stress environment.  After Evelyn’s passing, Ayala knew it was time to finally follow her foodie dreams. She launched her business and named it in Evelyn’s honor.  The success that followed transformed Evelyn’s Kitchen into the powerhouse it is today.

From Home Kitchen to Retail Storefront 

Ayala leveraged her existing network from her 15 years working in Sports and Entertainment and was able to rapidly grow the business.  

“It was easy to have high profile clients because of my network, and people trusted me. I started the business with a wholesale division, baking blondies and brownies for Madison Square Garden. I also did private chef gigs for different athletes and entertainers,” says Ayala. “And we also did a lot of gifting that first year, managing all of the Corporate Holiday Giftings for the NFL, Def Jam, and several other companies.”  

Evelyn’s Kitchen began in Ayala’s small home kitchen, and within a year, she needed to move into a new location to accommodate the growing business. Within the first year Ayala realized that wholesaling wasn’t the future of Evelyn’s Kitchen, and with the help of Goldman Sachs 10KSB Program, she created a growth plan to open a brick-and-mortar business. By September 2012, Evelyn’s Kitchen opened their storefront in East Harlem. 

“At our storefront, we phased out wholesale and were focusing on retail and catering,” Ayala tells us. “I also joined a two-year small business development program through Columbia University’s Business School, and we just focused on growth.”

Ayala didn’t stop with the storefront, though. Her ambition always pushed her to aim higher and that’s exactly what she did with Pudgies.

How One Pudgie Ramped Up the Business

What’s a Pudgie? It’s a delicious, soft, doughy cookie; their nostalgic, handheld versions of beloved childhood desserts like Banana Pudding, Devil Dog, S’mores and Coconut Cream Pie.  Pudgies are not just a cookie. They are a whole experience and stuffed with fun ingredients like white chocolate and nilla wafers for the Banana Pudding Pudgies and Teddy Grahams, Milk Chocolate Chunks and Marshmallows in the S’mores. And it’s the key product that helped to expand Evelyn’s Kitchen. What better way to branch out than with a unique cookie? It didn’t take long for the word to spread and for Ayala and her team to receive national recognition. 

“Our banana pudding Pudgie was featured in Oprah’s ‘O’ Magazine on the ‘Favorite Things” list which got the attention of QVC,” says Ayala. “We were focused on growth, and this was an incredible opportunity. As most entrepreneurs do, we just say yes to everything and figure it out after.”

Evelyn’s Kitchen launched on QVC in 2015, just weeks after Ayala gave birth to her daughter, and the momentum didn’t stop there. Two months later, Ayala opened a second storefront in Midtown and started daily catering for the Trevor Noah Show, all while caring for an infant. 

“QVC gave us incredible visibility,” Ayala shares. “It was less about the immediate revenue and more about marketing mileage — we gained exposure, new customers and connections that would have cost far more through traditional advertising.”

Bouncing Back from Near-Bankruptcy

Just one year after launching on QVC the first time, the fast growth of Evelyn’s Kitchen outscaled capacity. She was in a moment that could make or break her business.

“By February 2016, I was at the point of declaring bankruptcy. The business had grown so fast, but I just couldn’t manage everything,” Ayala recalls. “I spoke to somebody who wanted to buy the business a year prior and after reviewing our financials, he told me that I should just close the business and go be a mom for a while.”

But with a 10-month-old daughter and a team to support, giving up on Evelyn’s Kitchen wasn’t an option for Ayala. The business had come so far, and she felt that saving the business would be just as much work as filing for bankruptcy. Ayala came up with a plan to save the business, which meant discontinuing catering services and closing down the newly opened Midtown storefront. From then on, the focus was on the East Harlem storefront, which was open for lunch and dinner every day, six days a week.

“By January of 2017, we were out of debt, and we were moving forward again. We started taking smaller catering jobs again, and by March 2020, we were a seven-figure business and doing in-house catering for Moet Hennessy and the National Basketball Players Association,” says Ayala.

Had Ayala shut down Evelyn’s Kitchen then, she would’ve missed out on new growth opportunities. Even with the pandemic eventually affecting the catering business once again, her resilience always pushed her to find new ways to grow the business.

Plans for the Future with a New Banking Partner  

Like most other food businesses during the pandemic, Evelyn’s Kitchen was pivoting every other day to keep the lights on and take care of the community, including daily meal deliveries. After a difficult time with a big bank, Ayala found her way to us in search of a PPP loan.

“The value of banking with a community bank became clear to me during the pandemic. Josefa and her team understand me and my business. They know that sometimes we have larger deposits or cash flow challenges, and they are accountable to us and us to them. It’s really made a difference in the last five years to bank locally,” says Ayala. 

Now with four small business accounts with us, Evelyn’s Kitchen is organized to continue to scale and grow. Just this summer, they hosted a second campaign on QVC, featuring their beloved Pudgies. We are so excited to support Ayala and her team at Evelyn’s Kitchen as they continue to expand. Check out all the Evelyn’s Kitchen has to offer this holiday season including fully catered Thanksgiving dinner delivered to your door and seasonal Pudgies gift boxes which include ginger snap and pumpkin spice latte flavors.

Learn how we can support the growth of your small business, too. From business checking accounts to SBA small business loans, our team is here to help you navigate your best path forward so you can stay focused on what matters most—your business! Get in touch with us here.