March 20, 2025

A longtime Sioux Falls chef has invested in kitchen equipment and will begin selling items at the Brandon Farmers Market with the goal of expanding the catering side of her business.

Jess Blodgett opened Umami Cafe & Catering in 2022 in the kitchen at Signature Flight Support, which is north of the terminal at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport.

The cafe served breakfast and lunch to the public and the flight crews and passengers who use the business and private aviation services Signature provides, but Blodgett shifted that to a grab-and-go concept in the past year as her catering work began taking up more of her time.

“I still want to serve the public, but I have to be aware of my limitations and find out what works for me,” Blodgett said. “Honestly, I can feed 200 people in six hours of (catering) work, and I can’t do that here ever.”

Her new equipment includes a floor-stand mixer, convection oven and a 10-burner range with a double oven, all of which will triple her capacity, she said.

The mixer and the convection oven will help her expand into the Brandon Farmers Market for its summer season.

“I’m doing my version of tres leches cakes. It will be several flavors but with that general theme,” she said.

“I’ve also launched a spice blend that’s called Umami All-Purpose Seasoning, which is what you put on basically anything you would season with salt.”

With the mixer, Blodgett said she’ll be able to keep up with demand for her cheesecakes and cakes.

“People have been wanting it, but my old equipment could do it.”

While the business has transitioned away from being a cafe, Blodgett has been serving a Sunday brunch buffet a couple of times a month at Signature Flight Support. The menu has been following a different theme each time, like Italian or a barbecue picnic. She also has been doing special meals for holidays.

Blodgett uses her Facebook page to keep customers updated on events.

While the grab-and-go cooler is stocked with meals, snacks and baked goods, customers can place orders in advance for things like family-size meals and whole cheesecakes.

“I always say give me 48 hours, and I can pretty much guarantee I’ll get it done. And if I can’t, I’ll let you know.”

She’s also working on a cookbook that she hopes to publish next year, which likely will include some of the recipes she has taught during the almost two dozen classes she has taught at Plum’s Cooking Co.

The recipes will be comfort food. “I don’t do anything that’s super-hard,” Blodgett said. “I don’t want it to be so hard that you really have to work at it. I make my recipes like a kindergartner can read them. And also my recipes aren’t like the Bible. You don’t have to follow them to the letter, unless it’s baking, and I’ll be very clear of those. I make recipes that are flexible so that people can use their own creative juices to do what they want. Mine’s kind of like the skeleton and you can flesh it out.”

By the end of the summer, her goal with the farmers market is to make enough money to buy a van to help boost her catering capacity beyond 200 guests.

“My little Kia Soul, bless her heart, she does her best. But if I had a bigger van, now with all this equipment, I could actually bump that up to like 300.”