We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristen Threatt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is very important! Playing it safe is not exciting at all lol! Risk allowed me to start my business and not worry about the current setback of taking a pay cut but thinking about the future. Once you understand that everything we do in life is a risk you understand life! The risk that I have taken has created a foundation that I couldn’t see when I took it initially but it is all paying off for sure.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am in the Food and Beverage Business. Our food business is called “Eat Up” & our Beverage business is called “Gorilla Lemonade”. I am not the chef, Brian Burkett Thompson holds it down in the kitchen. I Kristen Threatt am the marketing, sales and drive of the business. Me and my business partner are like Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Lol we both switch roles where I’m Jordan one moment and he is Pippen and Vice Versa. Eat Up LLC has been around since 03/20/2019 & Gorilla Lemonades were established on 05/04/2022. What sets our businesses apart from others is that we have the full package. We are 2 black Handsome Men, we are gifted in our craft, we love God, Community comes first to us, we are so Selfless and we WORK HARD! We are so excited about the direction we are going. We have been in the media news like over 8-9 times in the last 2 years. The reason why we are here now as far as our businesses is because we are resilient. There are doers and then there are dreamers. We are dreaming and then doing! Nothing about business is easy. However, if you love what you do and you have a sense of purpose you are on the right track. You have to truly be ready to invest in you and work long days and nights. Along the way I’ve learned the true business is the paperwork lol. You are not scaling if you don’t have the paperwork to prove such. I want the world to understand that our business foundation is “Community over Competition”. We love our Community and we will never overlook our people for no dollar amount. If it wasn’t for the people there wouldn’t be any dollar amount 💯.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
New Haven, Ct has great food and also a lot of history here. From good pizza, to a nice night life depending on what it is the current state my friend is on. Being that New York City is about a hour and a half away we would definitely take a trip to the city. See if we can a concert, basketball game, or football 🏈 game depending on what season we in. New Haven Ct tho is a very unique place. I would take my friend to the museum to learn more about the history of the city. As I get older I am getting alot more wiser and my definition of fun is changing lol. I’m also eating foods that I would have never eaten back when I was a teenager and in my early 20s

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a Shout out to the City of New Haven for supporting my business and seeing the true Value of Me and my Business partner Brian Burkett Thompson. I also would like to Give a Shoutout to Daymond John for writing the book “Powershift”. That book inspired me on so many levels and allowed me to scale and continue to believe in my vision.

Website: Eatupcatering.com

Instagram: Eatup_ct

Facebook: KrisEatUp

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