Des Moines Mom Movers & Shakers is an annual series celebrating local moms who are thinking outside the box and making a difference in the community through the businesses they own, organizations they are involved in, and the work they do. Check out the rest of the series and read profiles from previous years here.
Sue Honkamp is the owner of Real Food 4 Kids, where she teaches hands-on cooking and food education classes for kids and teens. When she’s not cooking, she loves exploring Des Moines with her family.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family
My name is Sue Honkamp, and I live in Des Moines, with my husband, Nick, our four teenagers, and the dog I never wanted and now love! I’m originally from New Jersey, and I met my husband at the University of Notre Dame during our undergraduate studies. He’s from Iowa, and “we’re going to live in Iowa” was pretty much part of the proposal. After moving around the Midwest for grad school and work, we’ve called Des Moines home for the last 18 years. I started my career as a Chemical Engineer and then got an MBA. If you had told my 26-year-old self that I would someday start a food business, I would have been shocked!
What do you consider the biggest challenge of motherhood to be? Biggest joy?
My greatest accomplishment of both motherhood and life is teaching my youngest daughter how to eat. She was born with Heterodoxy Syndrome, which means her internal organs are misplaced, malformed, or missing. She went through two open-heart surgeries and five abdominal surgeries early in life. She was tube-fed from birth. Until her first open-heart surgery, she was too tired to eat, and she required stomach bypass surgery to make her digestive system workable. I conducted research and began making all her food from scratch in a Vitamix, then feeding it directly into her G-tube. By the time she was seven months old, her surgeries made her physically able to eat, but she had forgotten how. I spent the next four years working with her multiple times a day. At first, she would gag when a dry spoon touched her tongue. It wasn’t until she was 4 ½ years old that she could consume all of her food by mouth and have her feeding tube removed. The improvement in her health with real food in her tube and the breadth of her palate when learning to eat was a significant inspiration behind my founding Real Food 4 Kids. She’s 14 now and has assisted with our after-school cooking clubs, summer camps, and virtual classes, and she has led many how-to cooking videos.
What is Real Food 4 Kids, and how did it come to be?
I founded Real Food 4 Kids in 2016, the day after my youngest daughter went to kindergarten. The “4” in Real Food 4 Kids is a reference to my 4 kids. Throughout my adulthood, personal and professional experiences ignited a passion for educating children, teenagers, and their families about food. In 2006, driven by discomfort with processed food marketing, I left my job as a Brand Manager at Oscar Mayer. I made a 180° turn and shifted to working in local food advocacy for the next decade while also having my four children.
I learned a great deal about food when I started making all of my youngest daughter’s meals from scratch for her feeding tube. Feeding her concoctions of whole grains, colorful fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean proteins significantly improved her health, highlighting the power of real food. I recognized an opportunity to share my knowledge with others, which led me to found Real Food 4 Kids in 2016. Since 2016, we’ve taught over 1200 hands-on food education and cooking classes to kids and teens, bringing our mission to life: to help kids develop healthy, lifelong habits while allowing them to explore, eat, and enjoy.
What’s the best part about being your own boss?
The best part of being my own boss is having the opportunity to do work that I’m passionate about, while allowing me to be present for and engage my family. From the beginning of my business, I created ways to engage my kids in my work, both as a learning opportunity for them and to give them the chance to inspire other kids to cook and learn more about food. All four of my kids have helped in numerous ways, from washing dishes and testing recipes to brainstorming class ideas, filming cooking videos, and assisting and teaching classes. Now that they are pursuing their own passions, I’m shifting the business model to focus on expanding the reach of my food education curriculum, which is a fun way for me to engage the “business” side versus such a hands-on approach. It also allows me to be more flexible to travel and see my kids as they begin to leave the nest! Don’t worry, we’re still offering after-school and evening cooking clubs during the school year, and some special classes throughout the summer.
What’s the hardest part about your job?
The most challenging part of my job is having to wear all the hats. There are times when I miss not having the large staff of a big corporation to help with all the things: when the printer stops working or an entire batch of muffin batter lands upside down in the middle of class, or when I want to figure out how to write a curriculum.
What advice do you have for a mom who wants to start a business?
First and foremost, you have to be passionate about what you do. There’s no roadmap, and your passion will have to carry you through when you get lost. Second, it’s incredibly beneficial to have your family on your side. In addition to my kids helping with all aspects of my business, my husband has been my biggest cheerleader and has washed countless dishes and schlepped many bins of equipment at the end of his own long day.
What do you love about raising a family in Des Moines?
Des Moines is such a friendly, caring, and safe community. And for as much chauffeuring kids as I’ve done in the last 18 years, it’s so nice not to have to deal with East Coast traffic!
Quick Takes:
Favorite local restaurant
My husband and I love to walk to Eatery A on Ingersoll Ave. and grab a cocktail and bite to eat at the bar.
Best place to take kids
It’s so easy to take kids anywhere in Des Moines: the numerous Farmers Markets, hiking the trails behind Ashworth Pool, biking the trails to Grey’s Lake, and we spent countless hours at the Ashby Park wading pool when the kids were little. We live near the Shops at Roosevelt and are frequent visitors to La Mie and the Juice Co.
Favorite summer activity
Every summer, I eagerly anticipate the Des Moines Arts Festival. I have a year-long tradition of going on Friday afternoon with a girlfriend, going one evening to listen to music with my husband, and again over the weekend with any willing kids.
How/where do you relax?
I started taking piano lessons a couple of years ago after my mom passed away, and I enjoy working through her old sheet music.
If your life had a hashtag, what would it be?
#explore-eat-enjoy I use it for my business!
Connect with Sue, Real Food 4 Kids
Know a Des Moines mom we should feature? Let us know! Email [email protected] with details and we will be in touch.
