10/25/2022

Small Business Spotlight: Nicole Jordan’s catering and consulting businesses show “you can be small but not small-minded”

Nicole Jordan

After a decade working as a consultant, UChicago alum Nicole Jordan, AB ’96, found herself at a crossroads.

With a degree in economics and aspirations to be an entrepreneur, Jordan could apply to business school. Or she could nurture her love of cooking and entertaining and go to culinary school.

Jordan opted to take the path less traveled, and in 2005, completed coursework  in culinary arts and management at the Illinois Institute of Art (now defunct). Eventually she launched Nicole Jordan Catering, which prides itself on its high-touch service as much as its food.

Now Jordan, an alum of the Polsky Center’s Financial Fundamentals and Small Business Growth programs, is launching a second business, Urban Operation, that leverages both her business consulting experience and culinary skills to help fellow small food businesses grow and become economic engines of their communities.

“I want to put seven-figure businesses on the block,” said Jordan, a Chicago native who lives in the historic Pullman district on the South Side. “You can be small but not small minded.”

Click here to read the full story.

This story was first published by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

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