Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adrian Rentz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Adrian, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

The elderly community is often overlooked and underserved. For the past two years I have partnered with the Panola Gardens senior housing community to host a monthly birthday hour. During that time we celebrate the birthdays of the residents for the given month. I am their personal chef for the hour, and prepare them freshly prepared meals. We also fellowship and have a good time. After speaking with some of the residents one on one, I didn’t realize how appreciative they were of the meals I prepared for them as I learned that this is a luxury for them. I learned that there are a lot of these residents that do not get to have a freshly prepared meal cooked for them most days, and sometimes not at all. This made my heart sad, and it made me think about how much my grandfather loved me cooking meals for him. This made me realize that the elderly community needs more of this. With that, I’m in the process of expanding on the birthday hour to other senior communities. I’m also drafting a plan to begin a meal delivery service for the elderly that will provide low-cost to free meals on a weekly basis.

Adrian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Adrian Devone Rentz, Sr. better known to most as Chef A.D. My wife, Ebony Adams-Rentz, and I own mobile catering company called Chef On The Go. We offer catering and private chef services to our clients, and we offer innovative menu choices that include traditional comfort and healthy food options with a unique twist.

Aside from catering, we participate in several events around the community, and our biggest and proudest accomplishment to date is beginning our children’s cooking class which we have coined Kids 2 Chefs.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I almost quit my business this year. At the beginning of the year we had a slow start, but things were starting to get better. March was the birth of our children’s cooking class called Kids 2 Chefs. On the very day we had this class, I found out my grandfather passed away. What was supposed to be a celebration of our accomplishments ended up being a day of mourning for my family and I. It seemed since that happened, our lives were in a whirlwind. We were faced with many challenges including financial stress, a car accident, and backlash. However, just a couple of months ago my mother had a brain injury, and at the same time she was also diagnosed with cancer. This changed my entire world.

Although I was still working the business, I’ll be honest. Business had taken somewhat of a backseat because of the stress of everything my family and I had been enduring. Then when my mother was diagnosed, she and her health became my main focus. As reality began to set in, I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to follow through with my business at all anymore.

I thank God for the people in my life that truly have my best interest at heart. Although I thought I was being pulled in every direction imaginable, I was always reminded to pray, and take a moment for myself to collect and gather my thoughts. Upon doing that, I was also reminded where Chef On The Go started and how far we have come. There was no way I was going to let what my wife and I started crumble to the ground.

My wife and I came up with a game plan and a feasible schedule where we can come together and collaborate, organize, and revamp our business. I will say since we’ve been doing this, I’m excited about our business again. I’m glad I wasn’t so hasty and gave up so quickly despite of everything that was thrown upon me this year. We’ve got some new projects we’re working on, and business is picking back up again. I’m excited and looking forward to our continuing growth.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe several things have helped build our reputation. The biggest component is the quality of customer service we provide to our clients. No matter the situation, we handle each encounter with a high level of confidence and treat each client with kindness, respect, and we present great quality food every time. As we are a family business, we treat our clients like family as well. I honestly believe this is the one characteristic of our business that makes us stand out the most, and is an important piece to our success.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @chefonthegoatl
• Facebook: Facebook.com/chefonthegoatl