A Michelin-starred chef has detailed how she went from suffering a career-shattering injury at 21 to building a million dollar business in a rental home where she lived with five roommates.
Jordan Hartley started working in the kitchen at just 15 after leaving school — before securing a job at world-renowned chef Brett Graham’s three Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury in London.
The apprentice was working 65 to 80 hours a week trying to carve out a culinary career.
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At 20, she landed her dream job as a pastry chef at Sydney Opera House’s fine dining restaurant Bennelong.
But she had no choice but to hang her apron up after being told she could no longer work as a chef due to a crippling back injury, prompted by “relentless hours” on her feet.
“My dreams felt like they were being crushed at a pivotal moment in my life being 21,” Jordan, now 30, tells 7Life.
“Being told I could no longer follow my passion for cooking was devastating. At that young age, it was inconceivable to me that my passion could be so abruptly taken away.
“Cooking was the first area in which I truly felt I excelled, having battled depression from a very young age.
“It was my solace, the one thing that seemed to mend all my troubles. To have it ripped away from me was utterly heart wrenching.”
Jordan always knew she wanted to pursue a career in cooking — with her journey starting from humble beginnings.
It didn’t come easy. She faced scepticism from male teachers who doubted her success and “belittled the profession for its lack of financial reward”.
Her hard work finally paid off after spending years working alongside top chefs from around the world.
“I returned to Sydney after years of working in London, feeling as though I had the golden ticket after being Michelin- star trained,” Jordan explains.
She was part of the Bennelong opening under the helm of famed chef Peter Gilmore in 2015.
“During the setup phase, I started to feel pain but chose to ignore it, often hiding in the cool room where I could cry unnoticed,” Jordan recalls.
“Eventually, one of the chefs discovered me in agony. Following this, the team at Bennelong was incredibly supportive, doing everything possible to aid my recovery.
“Unfortunately, I discovered I had three bulging discs, a tear and arthritis, which made it extremely difficult to continue working on my feet for the long hours that were required.”
After being dealt a devastating blow that ended her career in the kitchen, Jordan turned to health and fitness for rehabilitation.
The idea to start her own business came when she saw a gap in the market for a meal prep service — delivering fresh, nutritious food cooked by professional chefs, to homes across Sydney and Newcastle.
But building the business was going to be challenging without financial backing.
“I sold many of my possessions to afford the essentials like labels and some key ingredients, and I began cooking in my shared house late at night to avoid disturbing my roommates,” she says.
“To drum up interest, I created a free eBook and used it to pre-sell a meal prep cooking course on Instagram.”
She made $30,000 in sales — enough to launch her business, Jordan Hartley Health, at the end of 2018.
“We were able to have one really amazing year before COVID hit and we essentially lost all our business overnight,” she says.
“Two years ago, I made the decision to invest my own money into the business to save it and we rebranded to Hartley Health, starting from scratch.”
Jordan went from working out of a shared home with five roommates to renting out her own apartment — equipped with a larger kitchen and two fridges in the garage to keep up with the demand.
“Eventually, space for storing meals became a critical issue,” she says.
“I found myself cooking until 3am, then immediately packing and delivering the meals to avoid running out of storage space.”
Working around the clock, she also welcomed her first child, a daughter, in June 2023.
“As a single parent from the beginning, I underestimated the challenges of balancing business growth with motherhood,” she says.
“This journey has been incredibly challenging, a path I might have hesitated to embark on had I fully understood the workload involved.
“However, I hesitate to label it as ‘hard’ because pursuing business is a choice, and I consider myself fortunate to be able to work from home and spend time with my daughter.”
In reality, the young mum says she “hasn’t taken a break since giving birth”.
“I was working at 3am on the day I went into labour, had my father assist the chefs by 8am, and by 5.04pm, I was giving birth at home, soon after checking in with my chefs,” she says.
“By 11am the following day, I was on a Zoom call managing my team.”
As she navigated through motherhood, the revenue of her business grew by 42 per cent.
Jordan says her chef-cooked meal delivery service makes her stand out from the Australian food market.
“We prioritise working with our clients to personalise their meals to their lifestyle and nutritional needs, from tailoring to macros, dietary requirements or even medical requirements,” she says.
“Our approach involves simplifying the cooking process; crafting meals by skilled chefs, ordering local produce and cooking twice a week to ensure meals are delivered fresh.
“Our meals are made with 90 per cent wholefoods and are free from gas, preservatives, additives, refined sugars and unhealthy seed oils.
“Our goal is to expand our meal offerings further across NSW and hopefully across other states in the near future.”
After only 18 months in business, Hartley Health made $1 million in revenue.
Now it is on the verge of surpassing $3 million within the next six months — with more than 35 per cent of the growth occurring post COVID-19 pandemic.
“I feel immensely proud of saving my business and successfully launching a minimum viable product twice,” she says.
“Reflecting on it now, I didn’t fully grasp the amount of effort I had invested to reach that initial $1.5 million mark.
“Replicating the process post-COVID with new strategies, all while stepping back from the day-to-day operations, stands as my greatest achievement to date.”
For those looking to start a business, Jordan says: “Know your own needs and desires first, work backwards from your ideal lifestyle and money goals.
“Timeline it into the now and calculate the revenue you need to make before starting the business.”
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