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Copyright 2000 Dayton Newspapers, Inc. Dayton Daily News

August 19, 2000, Saturday,

LENGTH: 822 words HEADLINE: 'CHEF SUSAN' PUT FORMER CAREER ON BACKBURNER TO PURSUE COOKING BYLINE: JIM NICHOLS BODY:

What's for dinner? Or lunch? If you can't decide, you might want to get help from your own chef. Yes, your Chef Susan offers an alternative to coming home and finding the shopping not done and no meal prepared. Susan M. Kathol, 28, who lives in Dayton's McPherson Historic District, just across the river from downtown, has a business called "My Chef Susan." She left a promising career with NCR to pursue her passion for cooking. Kathol didn't start out to have her own business. She began her career studying engineering at Purdue. But along the way, starting when she was in high school, she was also involved in cooking and the food industry. "I have had passion for it, always," she said. "In my teens in Omaha, Neb., I worked for a chef," she said. "She taught all the techniques of cooking, baking, using equipment, serving and catering. But the most important thing she taught me was to experiment and create. These things are the basis of my business today." After college she went to work for a business-forms company in Vermont and then came to NCR, where she once spent eight months managing a facility in France. "I learned not only the language, but also the cuisine and the wines." Kathol was offered the position with NCR permanently. "It was at this time," she said, "I decided to rethink my goals. I resigned and, in May of 1999 opened My Chef Susan." What can My Chef Susan do for you? "I know right off people think it sounds expensive," she said. "But I can do full meal planning and preparation, including grocery shopping and preparation of the meals, so when you come home from work you have a freezer stocked with meals. In fact, you can get about two weeks worth of meals for about $ 285." She also will prepare salads and homemade salad dressing, fresh bread and special homemade desserts. Her business is growing since it started more than a year ago. Growth has come mainly because knowledge of her service moves by word of mouth. "I don't want to get too big," she said, "because I want to give quality service." Getting Kathol to be your chef starts with a phone call (776-0353) or a check of her Web site (www.MYCHEFSUSAN.com).

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