{"id":18030,"date":"2018-09-28T10:54:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T14:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/?p=18030"},"modified":"2026-01-29T13:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:21:27","slug":"shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/","title":{"rendered":"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Food, designing, teaching\u2026Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. She\u2019s cleverly found ways to combine her many passions, and this led to her opening her own Spreadshop, Chef Shirts<\/a>. Due to her compelling background, we chose Chef Shirts<\/a> as our Shop of the Month. Take a look at our interview below for some valuable lessons, tips, and insight into the Shop owner experience\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"You\u2019ve got a clear passion for culinary arts. Where did this passion come from, and what ultimately inspired you to open your own merch store?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been really interested in food since I was 16 or 17. After that, I became a quintessential foodie. Since that time, I\u2019ve collected around 600 cookbooks\u2026 so yea, I\u2019m really into food. I just started to learn how to cook myself, and I\u2019ve started checking out restaurants and becoming interested in chefs.<\/p>\n

I resisted going to culinary school because I wasn’t sure how else to use that training other than to become a restaurant chef, and the hours and the physicality were daunting. When I first graduated high school, I went to art school, and that\u2019s kind of translated here into Chef Shirts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m a high school culinary teacher. That\u2019s really been another way for me to embrace my passion for food, and I\u2019m actually going to school part-time to finish a culinary red seal to be a certified chef.<\/p>\n

Is that like a black belt in Karate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Not quite as cool. It\u2019s basically the government certifying me as a trained chef. I\u2019m kind of doing all of that at the same time, and that\u2019s where my passion for food has taken me.<\/p>\n

In terms of opening a print on demand shop with you guys, the designs came from me designing handouts for my students in my culinary class. I was looking for these visual images to use as a teaching aid, but I couldn\u2019t find access to them. So, I started relying on that art school experience (I told my parents I\u2019d use it one day). I kind of used these designs to showcase things that I wanted to teach, and I guess they turned out cooler than expected. People started saying \u2018that would be so cool on a t-shirt.\u2019 I was like \u2018oh, okay, I guess I could do that.\u2019<\/p>\n

When I first decided that I was going to be producing and selling these shirts, I just posted something on a whim on my Instagram account. Then I started getting this international buzz; people were messaging me from Italy, South Africa, Portugal, Mexico. They were just like \u201chey, I want these, how do I get them?\u201d That\u2019s when I started seeing that international interest, and I figured out that I was going to have to think outside the box.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to keep a bunch of t-shirts in my garage and only sell them to friends, and I didn\u2019t want to sit on that inventory and stock. I figured if I wanted to have that international reach, I needed a way to get the product to those customers. Spreadshop was the solution for me because it was like a low-startup platform for me to start selling and focusing on the designing.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Food, designing, teaching\u2026 they\u2019re all pretty different. How did you end up finding the perfect way to combine these interests?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve always been a perfectionist, and that lends itself well to food. My art background has also played a role in my love for food. It\u2019s about color, it\u2019s about design, but then it\u2019s so much more. It\u2019s about taste, balance, harmony, textures\u2026just playing with all those and making sure this idea that you\u2019ve built up in your head translates to the plate. It\u2019s the same thing when it comes to my shirts. It\u2019s playing around with the design on paper and seeing that final product that you can share with people. It\u2019s really cool.<\/p>\n

Your designs have a hand-drawn look to them. Can you elaborate on the process that sees your designs going from paper to digital?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m pretty old school. Even while I was at art school, I really resisted going digital. I would always find those sneaky shortcuts so I could do everything by hand. That\u2019s just how I worked best.<\/p>\n

These designs started as sharpie doodles on paper, like a piece of printer paper or something I ripped out of a sketchbook. I had never even opened Photoshop. Eventually I realized that I needed to learn how to use the software.<\/p>\n

I kind of taught myself how to use it and asked some people around me for tips and tricks. I was just trying to make sure they were crisp and sharp and had that graphic quality that I was looking for while still maintaining that kind of hand-drawn aspect.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re active on social media. What platform have you found the most success on?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s definitely Instagram. Being such a visual person, that\u2019s how I communicate best with others. Instagram is pure visual content. It\u2019s in your face, you see it in your feed, you\u2019re scrolling through before bed\u2026I think that\u2019s helped people get exposure to my brand.<\/p>\n

Another nice thing about Instagram is the opportunity for collaboration, which is something I\u2019m very interested in pursuing.\u00a0 I want to reach out to other accounts, have them repost my images, and then I can get exposure from a different cliental. That will let me reach different audiences and different people in different time zones.<\/p>\n

How often do you post to Instagram?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t automatically set a posting schedule. I didn\u2019t find that it was as authentic.<\/p>\n

At the minimum, I\u2019ll post once a day. At the maximum, I\u2019ll post three times a day, but that\u2019s a rare case. Then, depending on what I\u2019m posting, I\u2019ll be pretty selective about the timing. If I think it\u2019s something that\u2019s going to be popular, I\u2019ll save it for those peak times.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve used your social media channels for promotions. Have you found that any particular strategy works best?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I put a lot of effort into that, because it\u2019s another way for me to showcase my love for food, not just my shirts. I think the thing that\u2019s been most successful with promotions (especially through Instagram) has been the fact that the people who follow me are my exact target audience.<\/p>\n

Lately, I\u2019ve been into really naturally-colored foods, so I\u2019ve been making rainbow dumplings and rainbow sushi. People follow me for that because it\u2019s eye-catching, and that provides me with an opportunity to expose them to my shirts. It\u2019s really about understanding my target market, connecting with them and keeping the engaging content coming.<\/p>\n

What is your experience in terms of shop promotion and what do you have planned?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I want to dive deeper into Instagram, particularly with stories. I predominantly do my advertising out of my personal CulinaryCalgary page because I have more followers there, and then I\u2019ll link it to Chef Shirts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about having that branding. It\u2019s funny because we\u2019re talking about all of these terms, and besides being a high school culinary teacher, I also teach business classes. I teach management and marketing. This knowledge helps me a lot, and it\u2019s cool because this little pet project of mine is starting to grow and expand. I can basically use it as a case study to show students some of the real-world experiences of actually using those techniques.<\/p>\n

Outside of social media, I\u2019d like to have physical business cards and post cards. I\u2019ve also been producing stickers with some of the imagery from my shirts, and that\u2019s been going well.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Where do you envision your brand going in the future? Is there a plan or strategy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My first strategy was having a passion for what I\u2019m doing, and then combining all of those interests. I kind of have that foundation by using the things that drive and inspire me. I have a contest idea that I want to pursue on Instagram where I\u2019d ask followers for design suggestions. If their idea is selected, they\u2019ll get a custom printed shirt.<\/p>\n

Finally, do you have any helpful hints for those who may be starting with Spreadshop?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I think it\u2019s important to have a strong foundation of designs before launching a Spreadshop. Make sure that your images are crisp, clear and honed in. Five designs is a good place to start. On top of that, I\u2019d make sure that everything\u2019s cohesive. I\u2019m talking about making sure that the branding is solid\u2026making sure that there\u2019s a cohesive package that will make sense to the customer.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, and this might sound corny, is being able to see that your heart is in it; just that you care about what you\u2019re doing and you\u2019re passionate about it. The internet is what it is, and once you put your designs out there, you can\u2019t take them back. You want to make sure you\u2019re putting forth a quality product, whether that be your shirts, yourself, or your business.<\/p>\n

Thank you for participating in the interview, Erin. For more of her designs, you can visit her <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a>. Also, make sure you tune into the Spreadshop Merch Cast<\/a> for more insightful interviews with Shop owners.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Food, designing, teaching\u2026Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. She\u2019s cleverly found ways to combine her many passions, and this led to her opening her own Spreadshop, Chef Shirts. Due to her compelling background, we chose Chef Shirts as our Shop of the Month. Take a look at our interview below for some valuable lessons, tips, and insight into the Shop owner experience\u2026 Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":707,"featured_media":18033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"21","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"58810","discourse_permalink":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/forum\/t\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/10547","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"categories":[48665,18615],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nShop of the Month: Chef Shirts - The Spreadshop Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. Read our interview for valuable lessons, tips, and insights on being a shop owner.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. Read our interview for valuable lessons, tips, and insights on being a shop owner.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Spreadshop Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-28T14:54:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-29T18:21:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.spreadshop.com\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1538144597\/blog\/Featured_SoM_Blog_Teaser_EN_hwkodn\/Featured_SoM_Blog_Teaser_EN_hwkodn.png?_i=AA\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/\",\"name\":\"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts - The Spreadshop Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-28T14:54:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-29T18:21:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/745fe0d5dddffae06131adf3b6b0356f\"},\"description\":\"Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. Read our interview for valuable lessons, tips, and insights on being a shop owner.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Spreadshop Blog\",\"description\":\"Spreadshop Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/745fe0d5dddffae06131adf3b6b0356f\",\"name\":\"Sara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/412aa34a871f6f68e0c5043bc81a9f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/412aa34a871f6f68e0c5043bc81a9f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sara\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/author\/sara-heimolinna\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts - The Spreadshop Blog","description":"Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. Read our interview for valuable lessons, tips, and insights on being a shop owner.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts","og_description":"Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. Read our interview for valuable lessons, tips, and insights on being a shop owner.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/","og_site_name":"The Spreadshop Blog","article_published_time":"2018-09-28T14:54:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-29T18:21:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/images.spreadshop.com\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1538144597\/blog\/Featured_SoM_Blog_Teaser_EN_hwkodn\/Featured_SoM_Blog_Teaser_EN_hwkodn.png?_i=AA","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sara","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sara","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/","name":"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts - The Spreadshop Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-09-28T14:54:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-29T18:21:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/745fe0d5dddffae06131adf3b6b0356f"},"description":"Erin Boukall is a woman of many interests. Read our interview for valuable lessons, tips, and insights on being a shop owner.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/28\/shop-of-the-month-chef-shirts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shop of the Month: Chef Shirts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/","name":"The Spreadshop Blog","description":"Spreadshop Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/745fe0d5dddffae06131adf3b6b0356f","name":"Sara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/412aa34a871f6f68e0c5043bc81a9f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/412aa34a871f6f68e0c5043bc81a9f1c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sara"},"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/author\/sara-heimolinna\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18030"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29828,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18030\/revisions\/29828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadshop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}