Jordan Hartley turned misfortune into a thriving start-up in online food delivery

At the age of 15 she had begged her parents to allow her to leave high school to start an apprenticeship at former Newcastle restaurant Nor'east. She had worked for fellow Novocastrian chef Brett Graham in London and had not long returned to Australia for a sought-after pastry chef role at Sydney Opera House's Bennelong Restaurant. 

Languishing on workers' compensation and unable to work, Hartley grew steadily more depressed. 

But as fate would have it, her back injury was a blessing in disguise. It prompted Hartley to work on her fitness and create and cook healthy food. Fast forward 18 months and she is running a successful meal preparation business that helps clients reach their body goals, is a competitive body-builder and, most importantly, she is happy. 

Jordan Hartley Health now services all areas of Sydney and has just launched in Newcastle. Her target market? Competitors, be they "entrepreneurs or CEOs or mums … people who are in their 30s and 40s who want weight loss, they want body composition, they want abs. Successful people who don't have time to do it alone".

The other part of her business is aimed at the younger female market and offers recipe books and online courses through her Instagram page

"I am set to hit the $1 million mark in revenue by the age of 25. The craziest part is I have done this in under two years," Hartley tells Weekender. 

Hartley grew up in the Lake Macquarie Suburb of Eleebana, where her parents still reside today. She attended Eleebana Public School and Warners Bay High School, where she was the only female in her food technology and cooking classes. 

"My teacher - I think her name was Ms O'Keefe - saw how interested I was in cooking and used to make up special challenges for me. She was the one who really got me into cooking. There weren't many other people in the class who really cared."

Another influence was her nan. Hartley spent time with her in the kitchen, baking, from a young age. 

"I have awesome parents but my Dad wanted me to finish year 12. I was very indecisive as a child and used to change my mind all the time so I had to prove to him that I really wanted to be a chef," Hartley explains.

"Dad had a friend at Nor'east so I started working there in school holidays and on the weekends, and eventually I got an apprenticeship there." 

Chef Tony Harrison was in charge of the kitchen at the time. He trained under Robert Molines at Bistro Molines and went on to work at Bar Petite, The Albion and now Bistro Lowlands. He also started Urban Mess, a popular communal dining event.

So, how did a young chef from Newcastle make her way to The Ledbury in London? Determination, hard work and a little bit of luck.

"My ultimate goal was to work for Brett Graham in London. He was my idol," she says.

"I knew about the Brett Graham Scholarship through TAFE but, being me, I didn't want to enter the competition because I wanted to get there myself, without having to win a competition.

"So off I went to London. I didn't have anything lined up but my best friend happened to date Brett Graham's sous chef and then he got me a job at his restaurant The Harwood Arms, a sister restaurant to The Ledbury.

"Then I basically worked my way up to The Ledbury. For the first year at the Harwood I was on sauce, as it was called. When I went to The Ledbury I was on pastry. It was really hard. I used to work 70 to 80 hours a week. There were only two girls and it was, just, really really hard."

When her working visa expired Hartley moved to Sydney and scored a pastry chef position at Bennelong. 

"That's where I planned to stay, too, but then I got a back injury and I couldn't continue to work and I was on workers comp for a year or so. It was a nightmare. I begged to get off it and never wanted to go on it in the first place," she says.

"I got into fitness because they were like 'You can't keep working as a chef if you're not strong, and if you don't fix your back'. I was told to quit cheffing altogether, basically.

"It was very upsetting at the time. It was terrible. But I know now that it's the best thing that ever happened because at the time I think I was quite depressed.

"Being a chef wasn't healthy for me. Even though at the time my injury upset me, I came to realise cheffing wasn't good for my mental health.

"So the injury opened up a new life for me. I am a big advocate for mental health. I love to talk about it, in hospitality especially, and especially if you're a female in hospitality. It's not really talked about but it should be." 

Hartley, a qualified pastry and commercial cookery chef, started thinking about how she could do things differently. It helped that a lot of her friends led healthy lifestyles. Hartley followed suit. 

"I went to work in a health food outlet where I was head chef and made meals that you could take to work. But in reality it wasn't that healthy, I didn't like certain things about the business and I saw a gap in the market," she says.

"I randomly quit one day and then asked all my friends if they wanted me to do their meal prep for them.

"Meal prep is very important if you're trying to lose weight or achieve a desired body composition. I do bodybuilding so I have to eat a certain way when I'm doing my competitions. If you're not ready for competition you're simply not going to get the results you want."

Jordan Hartley Health's kitchen is in Leichhardt, delivers to all areas of Sydney and branched out to Newcastle on February 4. Each client has an individually tailored meal plan.

"Basically, if you were to come on board with me you would tell me how many meals you want from me, that you're allergic to dairy and don't eat asparagus, for example. These people are very specific."

In June it will be two years since Hartley started her business. She now employs eight staff.

To kickstart her business Hartley spent a lot of time reaching out to people in the fitness industry, doing her own self-marketing and taking advantage of Instagram. 

"I built the business slowly, within my means," she explains.

"I started cooking in my house and bought an extra fridge. Then I realised I could afford to rent a kitchen for six hours a week, so I did that. Then I had to move house so I rented an entire house just to do the cooking. I had four fridges in my garage. 

"Instead of diving in I did everything slowly. I would do all the driving myself and eventually, after a lot of hard work, it all began to flow. I could afford to have a kitchen full-time and I stopped doing the driving. Little by little I could start employing people.

"My Mum is on the payroll now too. She is taking care of the book-keeping [laughs]."

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