Meet Jeanne Whited

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeanne Whited a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeanne , so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?

My ability to take risk I guess came a long time ago. At first when I was in my late teens, early 20’s, I moved cross country with my boyfriend not knowing what was in store or how we were going to make a living. After years of abuse and a child, I left. I moved out on my own and had to work 2-3 jobs, pay rent and bills, and no child support.
I developed a strong will to survive and with survival, you have to take risks.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m about to turn 67 years old and I don’t want to stop working. I recently sold my restaurant business in December of 2024 after 5 years. It was a long time dream of mine to own a small cafe/restaurant. In 2018 my husband and I stumbled into a small town (population 1000) in northern California and found a run down cafe that had been closed for 12 years. Next to the restaurant was a historic Inn and the owner wanted nothing to do with running a restaurant, so we stepped in and poured a year of blood, sweat and tears into tenant improvements and created, The Drifters Table. I wanted to create an intimate space for people to come together, enjoy a good meal, and appreciate the beauty that the Sierra Valley provides. I collected antiques, mix & match napkins, plates, silverware and reclaimed building supplies. We had a budget and we also had no idea if our restaurant would make any money.
The Drifters Table opened up in May of 2020 (the height of COVID). I wasn’t going to let that stopped me after all the time, money and work we did. We couldn’t open inside, we couldn’t seat outside. All we could do is take out. So I came up with the idea of, “A Whole Pie & A Bottle of Wine” $29.00. Yes, we basically gave away a bottle of wine to every customer. But, to our surprise, it worked! People drove to our little town in the middle of nowhere to get pie and wine. And, they kept coming because it was an outing for them, a way to get out of town. They really couldn’t do much, so it worked and it created an interest in what we were about to become.
In June we were able to open our patio and serve dinner outside, and again people drove out to the Sierra Valley to dine and see what else we had to offer. It grew and every year we had new faces, new stories and pie remained on the menu. Customers would ask what flavor pie we had on the menu before even sitting down for dinner.
Restaurant business is hard work, especially owning your own. Our lease was up and we decided to see if we could sell the business and semi-retire.
My work ethic came from hard work in restaurants as a single mom. It was flexible hours and cash on hand. I did it all, dishwashing, hostessing, waiting tables, kitchen prep and cooking. I started catering on the side for extra money. I even started backyard dinner parties at my house called, “5 Tables”, because I only had 5 tables to seat people at. But that was limited and probably a little illegal??
After my husband retired we made to move to Northern California and opened The Drifters Table.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Everyone wants to own a restaurant. Right? If you want to do it right, you have to work your own business, get your hands dirty, wait on people, cook for 40 people at a time, get burned, mop floors, wash the dishes and then start all over again the next day. My job at the restaurant was everything in the back of the house, creating the menu, buying the food, prepping, baking, payroll and scheduling. My husband ran the front of the house, reservations, ordering wine and beer, seating customers and selling wine (his specialty).
The restaurant was open for dinner Friday, Saturday, Sunday from May until December. I took winters off, mainly because the majority of our customers left for the winter. But it also gave me time to recover. We traveled to get new creative ideas on food, wines and service.
If you pay people to do everything, first of all, you’re not going to make a lot of money. Second, quality control and attention to detail. If you are not present in your business, then you don’t care about these two things. And, the most important part of a restaurant in the experience people leave with. It has to be a whole package, the greeter, the service, the food, the atmosphere.
Every week before I opened the door for service I was nervous. I wanted everyone that walked through our doors to have a great experience.
If you think you want to open a restaurant, work in not just one, but many and see if you want to do this kind of work.
I was always improving the menu, the service, the wine list and the quality of food.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

When you find something in your life that your passionate about and it brings you not only joy but a purpose, then I say go for it!
One chef/restauranteur that I worked for many years ago once said to me, “you won’t learn a good palate in culinary school, that’s something you acquire.” She also taught me to create with what you have. Sometimes you run out of a product and need to improvise, she was great at it, because she has an amazing palate. She was probably my stepping stone to go off on my own.

My favorite quote is from Julia Child, “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a
what-the-hell attitude.”

I always felt that if a job never worked out, I would move on the something else.
Building restaurant skills helped me also develop customer service skills, along with being able to multi task.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: jeanne_whited
• Facebook: Jeanne Whited
• Other: private chef services, small intimate dinner parties and events.
  Jeanne.whited@gmail.com