Ryan Tiller, owner, Dining by Design

I opened in September 2001. I’ve got two employees who are full time. I have a lot of part-time employees, because it depends on what events we have going on. I’ve got 20 people who I can call on for part-time situations. We have our own full serving staff. We do everything from the event planning as far as tables, chairs, tents, linens. Typically, we go to Springfield and a 100-mile radius, but I’ve got clients in St. Louis and Arkansas, so we do go outside of that. But it costs more once you throw travel expense in there.

How did you get into the catering business?

I started when I was 24 years old. My anniversary was the 23rd of September. When I started, I was traveling, doing (industrial equipment) sales, and I was on the road every week in a hotel room by myself. I was miserable. I had done cooking at the church that I went to then. We did a meal twice a month for the college students, and I helped out with that, and began cooking that on a regular basis, and other ministries in other areas of the church would call and want me to do food for their events. That’s kind of where I realized that I had the abilities and the talents to do it. I’ve always been entrepreneurial. When I was a kid, I had a lawn-mowing business, of course. When I was in high school, I took care of cars for corporate businessmen. I would go pick their car up, fill it with gas, wash it and bring it back and leave it at their office on certain days I had set up. I was the only high school kid that they were giving their Jaguars and BMWs to. I had a vending business, too.

How has your latest business changed?

When I started out, we did strictly catering. At one point, we actually had our front retail area open and people could come in and buy casseroles and pies and things of that nature. We did that for about a year. At this point, we don’t have it open on a regular basis, but people can always call in and come pick things up. We’ve moved from catering into food service. We have started doing bottled products, selling through Dean & DeLuca Gourmet Food Store in Kansas City. A three-pack of sauces that we (make) was just released in Sam’s Club. Catering is still the majority of what we do.

What kind of catering jobs can you handle?

We do lots of weddings. We do all types of different parties. We do corporate events. We do small events, a lot of in-home catering. We’ll do fancy in-home parties for four people, eight people (and then) we go up to 1,500 people. It varies from month to month, but on average, I would say we do 80 to 100 events each month. We’ve also gotten into convention catering.

What are some goals that you’re working on?

I would like to open a new facility that houses a reception hall. Springfield has a few good reception halls that you can actually bring caterers into. You have to use the hotel, or you have to use the restaurant, but (there aren’t many places) to actually bring in the food that you’re wanting. I’ve thought about building a facility that houses a 300-person reception hall. I’m looking for property (where) the setting outside is beautiful as well, and we could hold outside events, weddings, things of that nature. I don’t have a timeline. I’m really just searching for the right piece of property. I’d like to do something within the next year. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll happen that way.

Do you have any time for other interests?

This is the only business where you can work hard all week long to prepare so you can work all weekend. My father, Roger Tiller, is a contractor here in town. He has been for 35 years. I spend a lot of time with my family. I’m single – starting a business at a young age doesn’t leave a lot of time for a personal life the first few years. Church is very important to me. I go to Seminole Baptist Temple now. I do every bit of catering that goes on there, but that’s not where I started. I’ve been working on my pilot’s license. I love to just go up and fly. It’s a place (where) I can kind of escape everything and everybody. Cars, boats – I love toys. I go to the lake a lot.

I take all of my employees to Florida once a year. I’ve got a house down in Destin, so we all will go down and stay there – any employees who can go. They work hard … I just feel that it’s necessary to give them time to just get away.

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