Inside the Tiny Kitchen

Denise Medved loves being her own boss. "I don't have to work for anybody else," said the founder and owner of cooking and entertaining company The Tiny Kitchen. "Being able to see my vision which I had five years ago come to fruition is a pretty incredible thing." 

The mission of The Tiny Kitchen is "to motivate ordinary people to have fun by cooking and entertaining with ease." The office is headquartered in Annandale off of Little River Turnpike because Medved and her husband live in Annandale. "I live about a mile and a half from the office, so that makes life really easy," said Medved.

According to Medved, one of the perks of living in Annandale aside from the convenience of being near her office is the location of the city itself. "I love the fact that we're right by the Beltway and there's multiple ways in and multiple ways out," she said. "I love the fact that during the major blizzard last winter, we were the first streets plowed."

She also enjoys some of the restaurants and shops in the heart of Annandale. "I love Silverado and I wish there were more restaurants like it in this area," she said. "I also love Duck Chang's. And AnnSandra, which is my favorite gift shop." 

Medved said running her own company is not easy, especially during a recession. "It's really, really, really hard," she said. "It's really difficult for small businesses to stay alive in this economy." 

As an entrepreneur, Medved understands the need to keep her business thriving in order to be seen as a competitor. "You have to stay fresh and innovative," she said. "You have to get very creative."

One of the ways she's accomplished this is through the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show, one of the company's biggest endeavors and primary business line. The consumer event attracts approximately 25,000 people at the Washington Convention Center in D.C. This year's show will take place on Saturday, Nov. 13 and Sunday, Nov. 14. "It's just a really fun event for people who love to cook and entertain," said Medved.

The show is in its fifth year and will feature Food Network stars Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray and Paula Deen. Some of the Washington metropolitan area's top chefs including Restaurant Eve's Cathal Armstrong and PS 7's Peter Smith will also give presentations.

Beer, wine and spirits tastings and a food and wine pairing session are part of the lineup. The show will also feature 300 exhibitors with a wide variety of edible treats to purchase including specialty salts, olive oils and lunch kits. 

"It has really taken off," said Medved about the show. "We've had tremendous growth since 2004." 

The Tiny Kitchen also hosts the same event in Atlanta every spring. "This spring was our third year of the Atlanta show," she said. "[Atlanta] has grown nicely and we're getting ready to launch in Houston next September, a year from now."  

Before The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show, there were The Tiny Kitchen cookbooks. Medved was in the trade show industry for almost 20 years on the business and government side. "I had some pretty decent success," said Medved. 

In 2001, she wrote two cookbooks: The Tiny Kitchen and The Bachelor's Tiny Kitchen which inspired the birth of her company by the same name.

"At the time, I didn't have any intention of launching a consumer event," she said. "I was going to do a series of cookbooks and all kinds of other things. I loved writing the cookbooks. It was a pile of fun." 

For the next few years, writing cookbooks and launching The Tiny Kitchen was Medved's hobby as she continued to run trade shows for the security industry. 

"In 2004, I decided that I really wanted to invent the show that I wanted to attend," said Medved. "I was working on Homeland Security events that I didn't really know or care much about and I decided to break out on my own and create the event that I, a consumer who loved to cook and entertain, wanted to attend." 

Medved has also thought about branching out into the local community. She recently sat down with Director of Marketing & Programs Carla Warner to discuss potential plans to host smaller events for 100 to 200 people during the off-season. These events would most likely be high-end tastings featuring some of the area's best chefs.

"We have so many people from the marketplace who love to cook and entertain that would probably come to a smaller event that we produced," Medved said. "When there's food involved, people tend to want to come."

The Tiny Kitchen has already begun some local outreach. "We're always around," she said. "We patronize all of the local restaurants where the chefs present. We also do a lot of advertising in The Washington Post which hits the D.C. suburbs and Northern Virginia." 

To learn more about The Tiny Kitchen, go to www.thetinykitchen.com. For more information about The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show, visit www.metrocooking.com.