We recently connected with Alain Lemaire and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alain thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When you were first starting out, did you join a firm or start your own?

Before we started our catering company, me and my business partner both worked for different institutions in the hospitality, food and beverage industry. Once the desire to venture on own came, the ideal goal was to further our knowledge by working with companies that were doing exactly what we wanted to do. The decision was simple: if we were to be successful, we need hands on training and experience.

Looking back, I still feel that joining the other firms were the best decisions we could’ve made because we gained the adequate knowledge and lots of experience before we went in deep on our own.

When we decided to create our own firm, it was because we wanted to bring something different into the catering industry, especially within our community. We saw the need for an elevated style of service, with quality food, presentation, and professionalism beyond measure. The first few years in business were more than what we could’ve expected:
. Adapting to a fast paced and consistently growing industry.
. Learning how to deal with employees and their personal problems; mother nature and her mood swings; day to day operations; unpredictable circumstances and situations.
. Having to deal with local and state laws, incorporation, trademark, and all the back office work

Alain, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an award winning chef and contestant of Food Network’s hit series Cutthroat Kitchen, and Chopped out of South Florida. He is a native of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where he first discovered his interest in cooking. Later on, he developed an increasing passion for food and foodservice which led him to attend the Culinary program at the acclaimed Johnson & Wales University. Thanks to his heritage and having spent most of his career in South Florida, Caribbean and Latin flavors play a major role in Chef Lemaire’s style of cooking: “fresh, bold and in your face!” as he would say it.

Sensory Delights is a Black Owned Catering Company who services the entire South Florida area and it’s surroundings: Key West, Naples, Boca Raton, West Palm, Sunny Isles, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, Tampa. We also offer catering to areas outside of Florida such as: Atlanta, Arkansas, New Mexico, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington DC, Canada, Haiti, and more. Our company’s core is built on the back of professional and expert individuals who have over 30 plus years combined of experience in the event industry.

Our meals are prepared by our highly qualified chefs, one of which is non other than Chef Alain Lemaire (Executive Chef) who participated in the popular TV shows Cutthroat Kitchen, and Chopped on the Food Network. We have a wide assortment of catering menu ideas to cater all clients’ unique taste.

In addition, your food is guaranteed safe since we only hire professionals who have years of experience in the kitchen. We comply with and always make ourselves aware of the most up to date food safety law nationwide. We cater international cuisines such as Haitian, Dominican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Eritrean, Nigerian, Guyanese just to name a few.

We work with you to design a menu based on your vision, likes and palate. Our cooking approach can be altered and our recipes can be adjusted to conform to the your personal preferences or religious, and dietary requirements. We manage well trained and polite dishwashers, servers, cooks and cleaners to ensure that schedule is met and guest queries are addressed.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met my business partner Neima Belancourt back in 2012 at a food festival in Haiti. We were to pair up on different dinners, me as one of the chefs, and her as the Beverage expert. As the festival progressed, we became more and more aware that we shared equal values when it came to foodservice. Passion for quality on all fronts, from the service to every details.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2020 when the pandemic first hit, we started to receive numerous cancellations and postponements. Most of our staff had to move out of town, or get new jobs or additional work since we were on hiatus. As time went by, we started to think about ways to keep going even when big events were put on hold.

So we started creating weekly family meals, meal plans for individuals, and little by little as things were easing up we started doing small dinners for 10 to 15 guests. Being able to pivot from doing 100 to 200 guest count weddings to doing small dinners was the best thing that happened because it helped us tap into a different sector of the industry that we didn’t at first. Large events are great, but being able to do smaller sized ones enabled us to do more events in a shorter period of time, Less physical work, but with the same pay or even more at times.

Just like every business, the last two years were gruesome. You had to learn a lot and on the fly, otherwise you would sink. We are grateful that we have a core team that is resilient, strong, resourceful and clients that support us no matter what.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sensorydelights.net
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sensorydelightscatering
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sensorydelights
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sensory_D

Image Credits
B Ashton Photography Maybeline Photography