2016 Economic Impact Awards 6-15 Years in Operation Finalist: Everything Kitchens LLC

Emily Church isn’t only about business. She’s also about how business can serve her community and beyond.

“Everything Kitchens was founded with a focus on helping others and making an impact in our community and around the world,” says Church, who started her company in 2002.

One of her goals continues to be fueling the Ozarks economy as much as she can.

“We always hire locally and have never outsourced (information technology) work or any other department to other countries,” Church says. “We try to keep our dollars here as much as we can.”

In an attempt to support the efforts of other Springfield entrepreneurs, Church also sells products from several local artisans.

“I am very big into buying local and small business as much as I can. I want to encourage small business to grow and compete, and the only way to effectively do that is to spend your money with them,” she says.

Church started Everything Kitchens LLC as an online store with $500 and some web design experience gleaned from helping her parents with their own small business. She was the oldest of nine children barely beyond her teens who started with what she knew: her way around the kitchen preparing meals for her family. She was home-based and the only employee.

Fourteen years later, Everything Kitchens employs 33 people and posted 2015 revenues of almost $21.5 million. The company also has a retail store in the Brentwood Center on Glenstone Avenue. Church expects 2016 to continue the company’s upward trajectory. E-commerce sales so far this year are up nearly 40 percent compared with year-to-date last year, and sales from all channels are up almost 12 percent.

Staying competitive online is a continual challenge.

“The general attitude among e-commerce customers is that they want it now,” Church says.

To meet that expectation and to compete with Amazon Prime, Everything Kitchens started a free three-day shipping program last year for all orders over $49.95.

“We have seen significant e-commerce growth since launching this program,” Church says. “We are always doing our best to stay on the cutting edge of technology doing what we can to improve customer experience on our website and through the shipping process.”

Everything Kitchens had landed on the Internet Retailer’s Second 500 and Inc. 5000 lists and has twice been a finalist for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award.

In keeping with Church’s vision for her company, employees are encouraged to contribute their time to organizations, and last year Everything Kitchens held a charity mixer at its retail store to benefit five nonprofits.

Everything Kitchens offers dollar-for-dollar matched employee contributions as well as a portion of proceeds from every sale to support World Vision, an international humanitarian organization serving the poor. The company also supports Healing Haiti, covering a large portion of operating costs for an orphanage and feeding center, which Church has visited several times.