EO Wonder Podcast: From Culinary Curiosity to Franchise Success

On the latest episode of the EO Wonder Podcast, host Kalika Yap (EO Los Angeles) welcomed entrepreneur Erin Fletter (EO Colorado), founder and CEO of Sticky Fingers Cooking. Erin has grown the business, which offers fun and informative cooking classes to kids, from an idea that started at her kitchen table to one that has impacted more than 200,000 children.

In their conversation, they dig into how constraints sparked creativity (including running classes without kitchens) and why franchising became her path to growth. They also dive into empowering women entrepreneurs and how to build a business — and a life — via strong support systems and tactful delegation. The following are excerpts from that conversation: 

Kalika Yap: I love that your business literally started at your kitchen table: Take us back.

Erin Fletter: It did. It was back in 2011, and we just had our third child. It did not make sense for me to go back to the wine importing business. I put my entrepreneurial hat on: I have started multiple businesses over the years, and I thought, wow, to have a business outlet in every school in my community could be really a powerful model. So that is where it started.

Kalika Yap: You also figured out how to run these cooking classes without kitchens, right? How did you make that work?

Erin Fletter: I find myself to be the most creative when there are a lot of constraints and there are a lot of “no's.” I reimagined how a cooking class would go: The kids make everything from scratch in an hour-long class without using a kitchen. I created what we call a “cooking kit,” so we cook in libraries, we cook in hallways, and we cook in classrooms. We cook anywhere that has a sink, an outlet, and a table.

Kalika Yap: Franchising can be quite corporate, but it works for you. Why do you think it works for you and why did you choose franchising?

Erin Fletter: I started looking at the statistics of women business ownership in the U.S. Less than 2 percent of female-run-and-owned businesses gross over a million dollars a year. I could not believe that. I had just those numbers staring at me, and I was horrified. I thought, “Look, we are also a tech company. We have our systems airtight. We give back to schools. We do all of these amazing things.” Then if you can also create female business owners along the way, that sounded like a win-win. We started franchising in May of 2023. We are now in 10 states and over 40 percent of our franchise owners are people of color, 80 percent are women, and over 15 percent are military veterans.

Kalika Yap: What have you learned about working with your spouse? Any advice for couples who are building businesses together?

Erin Fletter: I think it is not for everybody. Having that open communication is vital. We love to travel. Sitting around the dinner table is very important to our family. We make sure that we talk about things other than business as well. I think you have to be intentional about it.

Kalika Yap: In EO, we talk a lot about growth and reflection. What is something that you have had to unlearn as your business is scaled?

Erin Fletter: I have to be the one who has to do it all — I had to unlearn that. I had to learn to let go and be able to delegate. I think delegation is a superpower. In that first phase, maybe even the first the first three phases of growth in your business, you have to be that person. You have to be the energy; you have to do everything. Then, at some point, it is going to hold you back and you need to step out of your own way.

That is something that I have had to unlearn; I am always reminding myself to delegate. I even have a little sticky note on my computer that says exactly that: “In order to grow, you have to let go.”

Listen to the full EO Wonder interview with Erin Fletter on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.