Bootstrap entrepreneur Mary Miller cooked up the perfect menu for success with her string of Creative Concepts Café's in Northern California according to this story at MercuryNews.com.

Her sumptuous recipe can be boiled down to a few key ingredients:
• Know your business-Without the financial means to hire the talent she needed Miller was forced to be an expert in her business from day one and built her model on a skill she already possessed
• Keep your day job-Instead of turning in her notice and striking out with no more but a vague idea, Miller kept her job selling parts for Mercedes Benz until her business became sustainable
• Start small-Miller, in fact, started so small she launched her larger restaurant chain after beginning her venture as a hot dog vendor with a cart on weekends.
• Do it yourself-From refitting a Pepsi Cola trailer as her first restaurant to knowing the "secret ingredients" in her marinated chicken, Miller has been hands on from the beginning

Order up!

Photo Credit: cesstrelle, MorgueFile