As she assessed her future with two grown daughters out of the house, Holly Nuss noticed a theme to her professional and personal life: food. 

Holly, 53, shares how her deepest connections in life are through food–starting with her own childhood and going into her professional career. 

“I’ve built so many businesses for other people and this is an opportunity to build it for myself where I don’t have to start from scratch,” she says of the Sticky Fingers Cooking franchise opportunity. “I don’t feel alone and it’s all set up for you to be successful.” 

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This Education Franchise Opportunity Started in School

Holly’s connection to Sticky Fingers Cooking improbably started in 2nd grade when she and Erin Fletter, founder and CEO of Sticky Fingers Cooking, were classmates in California. The two stayed friends, and Holly recalls many silly fun-filled nights over Cali-Mex food in their high school years that they both love to this day. 

“I’ve known and admired Holly Nuss since the second grade, when we first met at Flora Vista Elementary School,” Erin says, noting that Sticky Fingers Cooking classes are now available at Flora Vista thanks to franchisee Victoria Jones. “I wanted to become her friend from the moment I saw her!”

In junior high, the two met and became friends with Julie Scher, who is now the Director of Franchise Development at Sticky Fingers Cooking. 

“We lived in San Francisco in our 20s and worked in the food and restaurant business there and we used to go and have these wild dinners,” Holly says with a mischievous laugh. “As we got older, we’d meet up in different cities and these trips were centered around food.”

Life took Erin to Colorado, Julie remained in San Diego, and Holly started a family in the Napa valley before relocating to Florida for 10 years. 

California has many food memories for Holly–starting with her own childhood and then as a mom. 

“My grandparents and aunt and uncle are all farmers so even though I grew up on the beach, I had this connection to agriculture,” Holly reminisces. “We would spend time in the black-eyed pea fields, in the peach, almond, and plum trees, and I learned how to poach salmon and slice up every kind of fruit you could imagine.”

Her grandfather published his own cookbook in the 1960s and then her mother-in-law was a trained chef and cookbook author who taught local cooking classes. Holly’s two daughters–now 23 and 18–attended a local preschool in Napa that taught the kids about composting, growing vegetables, and working with animals. 

“When I lived in Napa, where my kids were born, I had a huge garden that took up half of my backyard,” she recalls. “My kids would put on their little chef hats and go out to the garden to pick peas and stuff to make their own salads.”

From Communications to Business Savvy

Holly majored in Communications at the University of California in Santa Barbara and got her first job in Public Relations (PR). “I was in tech PR when the Internet was invented,” she says with a laugh. “I worked for John Scully, the former CEO of Apple before moving to San Francisco to work for Alexander Ogilvy PR.”

Marriage and starting a family wasn’t aligning with the big city PR lifestyle so Holly transitioned to a new life in Napa and soon started her own PR firm with a friend to specialize in wineries. 

“These were all high-end boutique wines,” she explains. 

When Sticky Fingers Cooking was expanding as a chain business model before franchising, Holly helped with PR for the Chicago location opening in 2014. “She did an absolutely incredible job,” says Erin. “Since then, she has worked fractionally with SFC on and off and has remained one of our biggest believers, advocates, and supporters.”

Her next move was to Florida and this was also a chance to become more of a businesswoman beyond PR, combining her expertise in the tech industry and the wine industry with LibDib. Holly also became a consultant to other startups, including one that provides sustainable fresh seafood to schools on the East Coast. 

“I was doing demos with kids in the school and it was so special to hear them talk about it saying things like, ‘This fish tastes so good! and ‘I wish we ate this every day!’,” says Holly. “It was so heartwarming and in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘OK, I’m ready. I want a franchise.’ That role really solidified that I just love feeding the kids, giving them skills they will use for a lifetime, and inspiring them with food.”

Erin has been watching–and cheering her on–as Holly has evolved professionally. “Holly is genuinely one of the most brilliant and creative innovators I’ve ever known,” Erin says. “She sees connections other people miss, thinks differently, loves systems, and brings enormous energy to the things she believes in. She is also fiercely loyal. To know Holly is to have an advocate and a friend for life.”

She adds: “Holly brings decades of serious business experience: building and running her own successful businesses, serving as a highly sought-after Chief of Staff, and working as an accomplished PR and marketing strategist. She knows how to build relationships, communicate well, live in trust and truth, tell a story, create momentum, solve problems, and turn big ideas into action.”

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Franchising and You

While Holly’s story to becoming a Sticky Fingers Cooking franchisee is unique thanks to her connection with Erin, there might be aspects of her experience and passion that you find relatable. 

Get to know more of our franchise owners here, and take a few minutes to leave your details on our Inquire page if you’d like to schedule a meeting with Julie!