Meet Jillana Miller | Chef and Co-owner of Miller Butler with my husband Ahmad Butler

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jillana Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jillana, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Both Ahmad and I have put in many years of work in the service industry. I worked as a private chef in the entertainment industry for about 10 years and he in Hotel management. We connected on our passion for food and service, early on in our relationship. We quickly understood that with our combined experience and gifts we had something special. We began diligently taking notes and workshopping concepts while we both still had full time jobs. Our ultimate goal has been to create something for our family. Family is everything for us, even our company name reflects the joining of our two family names- Miller Butler.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think working as a private chef in so many unique settings really cultivated a strong sense of adaptability. Every single client’s diet, preference, attitude toward food, personality, house hold, entourage etc is unique. That being said, encountering unfamiliar territory and navigating it effectively is an integral part of being successful in that career. Constantly being presented with new challenges with no notice can be intimidating and test your endurance, but when you have to consistently move through them for the sake of preserving the job that you love, over and over again you start to develop a this adaptability muscle that just gets stronger and stronger. I think that adaptability muscle is crucial for success in any arena- most especially running a small business.

We started Miller Butler in height of the pandemic when we had a tremendous amount of financial pressure on us. We were really slangin’ pizzas and pasta to make rent. As most folks know the early stages of running a small business are rarely profitable enough to survive on. But we hung in there, rooted each other on and utilized that adaptability to pivot like never before. Then when I became pregnant,the pivoting and pressure increased.We set our intentions to adapt and flow and build with and for our new family member. That sounds really beautiful and it is, but it is also really challenging. We had to and continue to have to make a a lot of sacrifices. Ahmad took on two jobs and helped maintain the business when our daughter was a newborn. I strapped our baby girl on to me just one month after birth for our so that I could shape pizzas until we built up enough income to hire some help. We had to juggle a lot to try to keep our business active and pay our bills and be the best new parents we could be. We just kept saying, and continue to say in our household – “Ok, we got this, or we can do this.” Believing in each other and believing in ourselves has been key.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, we are a little partial to San Pedro these days as it is where we have made a home for ourselves, so a lot of our favorite spots are here. First order of business when someone is visiting is to take them up to the coast around Point Fermin. We have some of the most spectacular and not overly crowded views here.

Next if the weather is good, we love to go grab a beer at Brouwerij West and enjoy some fresh air and visiting in their big open courtyard. When it’s time for coffee we love grabbing a Cortadito from Distrito Coffee. Go get one, you can thank me later. When it’s time for dinner Tranis has our hearts. It’s local Italian spot that has an amazing legacy and yet still the menu is never tired. The chef is always bringing beautiful thoughtful dishes to the table. The service is outstanding. Start with the calamari and a cocktail.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Honestly, we feel like we have so much support, coming from so many different angles that it can be tricky to pick one source. First of all our community has been extraordinarily responsive to the work we put in as we build our business. We feel so much love and encouragement from our community that keeps us going. We have also been blessed a lot of guidance and a tremendous amount of support from my father Chef Frank Miller. As a matter of fact, my father built the pizza oven that we currently use. I grew up in the kitchen with my dad in so many different restaurant and catering settings… it is amazing to sort of be full circle with him and have his support, expertise and insight while we grow our business. We also have family coming from all sides supporting in so many ways.

Website: Millerbutler.com

Instagram: @millerbutler_sp

Facebook: @millerbutler

Image Credits
Jillana Miller, Nicole Galasso- Nicole Elizabeth Photography