Join us in welcoming Annette Littlefield of Jacksonville, Florida to Sticky Fingers Cooking! She is the latest franchise owner to the brand this summer.

“I wasn’t even thinking franchising would be for me until I realized what it was,” Annette says. “I liked the idea of being my own boss and building my own business.”

Her excitement was clear to everyone she met through Sticky Fingers Cooking.

“Annette doesn’t just talk about her passions, she radiates them,” says Erin Fletter, CEO and founder of Sticky Fingers Cooking. “We are ecstatic to have her join this business and fulfill her own dreams as a franchise owner!”

From Buyout to Education Franchise Business

Hailing from the Peach State of Georgia, this 35-year old mother of three had ambitious plans of going into the music business as an entertainment lawyer after college in Atlanta. Instead, through friends of friends, she veered into a career in the tech industry. She went from project manager to managing the customer support team and on to sales and account management before a layoff in the summer of 2024.

“My corporate career was very successful, but my passions were parallel and not intersecting with my job,” Annette says. “At home I’m really passionate about teaching my kids how to be well-rounded and having a garden to cook from. When COVID hit, I saw a big shift in the world and people finding more things to do and starting their own businesses.”

Annette and her husband, Dexter, share two kids: 6-year old Dexter, and 3-year old Charlie. She also has a stepson, 12-year old Jonathan. Her family inspires her choices, including this one into franchising.

Her first foray into business ownership happened when Annette took the plunge in an attempt to combine her interests with her income and got certified as a health and wellness coach. As she began to build this new business on the side of her full-time job, she realized how hard it was to start up a new business.

“I realized it wasn’t doable for me because I didn’t know enough,” she says simply.

Sticky Fingers Cooking Franchise Opportunity: Too Good to Be True?

Around the same time as she was navigating the buyout at work and could still taste the brief encounter with business ownership, Annette was searching online for summer camps for her kids when Sticky Fingers Cooking popped up in her results.

“It wasn’t in my area at all, so I started looking into everything and was thinking, ‘This should be in my area,’,” she recalls. “Then I saw the little button to click about franchise opportunities and it felt like my combination of what I was passionate about and what I had become good at—managing people and sales—culminated in exactly what I wanted to do. It was the exact perfect thing for me!”

Franchise Development Director, Julie Scher, received Annette’s initial inquiry email and responded the same day. “I was so impressed with Annette’s experience and passion,” Julie says. “I wanted to hear more because she sounded like such a good fit.”

For Annette it was a pinch me moment. “I kept saying, ‘It seems too good to be true’,” she says with a laugh. “All the stars aligned and I went all in!”

On June 3, 2024, she worked her last day at her job and before the end of August 2024, she completed her first franchise owner training in Denver.

“I didn’t know what franchising was other than my neighbors across the street opened a franchise restaurant,” Annette says. “I didn’t realize that franchising is so much more than fast food restaurants. I like that I have autonomy and flexibility along with an amazing support team. It’s a win-win!”

Her time spent in training only reinforced her initial sense that she had found what she was searching for in a career.

“It felt like we were with friends and family,” she says. “I could be my authentic self around these people, not corporate me.”

She says that she also noticed a difference in how she felt returning home from training: exhausted but also very excited, which was different from how she had felt at other work events where she says she just returned drained.

“I think the biggest thing was there is an answer to every question,” Annette says of working with the support team. “We couldn’t stump them in five days! And there’s always a why behind every answer.”

What’s Next for Sticky Fingers Cooking of Jacksonville, Florida

Annette plans to open her business by October 2024 so she is currently immersing herself in recipes and more details about the business.

“My son was anemic and through that experience I realized how much food affects your mind and body,” Annette says. “It’s important to understand that and it’s why I was drawn to healthy eating that tastes good.”

She says her favorite Sticky Fingers Cooking recipe (so far) is Savory South African Sweet Potato Stew. “I went to a few classes and I saw how it worked with the kids cooking it and then eating it ravenously,” she recalls. “It was so exciting to see how every single kid in that classroom was like, ‘Give me more!’.”

Her boys are showing interest in working with her—or least being taste testers.

Maybe Annette’s story of aligning her passions with her work are relatable to you? See if your values are the same as ours in this article, and if so, get in touch today.