Jeremy Brown | @caterprojeremy

CEO, Nameless Catering Company

Jeremy Brown set his sights high and Nameless Catering achieved over $2.5 million in sales in less than 24 months.

This all started with a $500 budget and a 250 square foot kitchen hidden in the back of a frozen yogurt shop in Fountain Square. Much of this growth can be attributed to his non-traditional marketing and sales tactics. Conforming to the norm and following any sort of rules has never been a forte of Jeremy’s, and he’s more than used to raised eyebrows, but it’s the outcome that makes the difference. No matter the reaction, coupling this kind of outside-the-box thinking with the fact that Nameless is on track for another 175% + growth in sales in 2017 is a sure fire way to challenging the catering normalcies in the Midwest.

However it was not all roses and high fives. Jeremy made huge mistakes along the way that put the company on the brink of bankruptcy in it’s first 12 months. Many of these bad decisions were less bad decisions and more lack of decision making due to low risk tolerance. This built in low risk tolerance from childhood was quickly shattered by his business partner when risk was all that was left. 2014 = $60,000+ in debt due to infertility issues with his wife of 7 years and an inability to cash the paychecks from his own company put his back against the wall. Jeremy remembers looking at his bulletin board in his office where he saw upwards of 6 bi-weekly pay checks pinned up, knowing he could not cash them as they would bounce, but knowing he needed the money to pay mortgage and bills. There was an option to give up. His experience in restaurants could easily land a job as an upper level management member at a restaurant chain in Indy, but he was determined to never return to working for someone else. He put his head down, focused on what he knew he was good at, and fought back.