Baltimore caterer raises $30K in 48 hours

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]A local caterer, who almost lost her entire business, was able to get into her first commercial kitchen with the help of her community. For the last 6 years, Breonna Chase has been catering in Baltimore, cooking from inside her home.

[00:00:12]>> So, originally, it actually started as like selling individual platters back when the pandemic started. May 3rd, she participated in a pop-up, and someone called the health department on her, despite her doing nothing wrong. That next morning, I got a call from the health department, and he was like, "Hi, I just was making sure that you had your licensing to operate at the pop-up shop at um and then listed the address of the pop-up shop." And so, he didn't even mention like the the selling platters or anything, but he just mentioned specifically the pop-up shop.

[00:00:43]>> After the call, she decided to shut down her business and make sure she had the proper licensing.

[00:00:48]>> Everything that I needed to do to be legit, I got it done. She also felt it was time to leave her home kitchen and expand. But, because it was her only income, she decided to ask for help to get a food truck. I had my GoFundMe in my bio for months, like maybe almost over a year. And it always said the same thing about making a food truck and everything. And then, I just decided to post it.

[00:01:09]>> Within 48 hours, the GoFundMe she had raised over $30,000.

[00:01:14]>> I never ask for help. Everybody sees how hard I work. I document everything. I record everything. Me serving plates, me helping people. I give people free recipes. You name it, I do it. I record it and post it. They got me to $30,000 in less than 48 hours. Within a week, she was able to rent a commercial kitchen space inside of Le Chao in Baltimore City. Chase says her goal is still to get the food truck, and she's keeping the GoFundMe active until she's able to reach that goal. Just got to keep going. Keep going. It may not be the best enduring, but the reward after is is very it's worth it. And we have information on our website on how you can help Chase get closer to her goal of getting her first food truck. Janay Wrights, WJZ 13 News.