We recently connected with Carlea Bynum and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carlea, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

All of my life, I have cooked. As a child, I stood next to my mom and watched her cook. Then, as a teenager, I began to make meals by myself to help my mom out, which then turned into making full-blown holiday dinners. Growing up, I fell in love with cooking but saw it as a way to love on people, or to serve those who needed it. I saw the ability to cook as a gift that God gave me, and I desired to use it as a way to serve the kingdom of God. After high school, I went to college and enrolled to be a pre-med student with a desire to help people. After only one year, I stopped attending a decided to work in the health care field. One day, while scrolling on social media, I came across a culinary competition for the Institute of Culinary Education. Being a chef had become an afterthought for me; unfortunately, I didn’t see it as a career choice. So, culinary school never crossed my mind, but when I saw this, I jumped on the opportunity. To enter the competition, I had to make a video explaining what the scholarship would do for me, what my ” Culinary Voice” was, and create a video showing me cooking. In my video, I spoke on a desire to use food to bring people together, stating that my ” Culinary Voice” is to acknowledge the different food cultures of the world and use it to unify the world. At the moment, it made perfect sense in my mind, but I was truly uncertain as to how to live this statement out. I got selected got flew to New York, met lots of young amazing people desiring to become chefs. I competed in the competition but didn’t win. When I returned home, a fire was lit to break into the culinary world. I decided I wanted to start a business, but I didn’t have all the details. I knew I wanted to do something different from what everyone was doing. I wanted to produce for that would be unpredictable, and with that thought, that’s how Unpredictable Eats LLC came into existence. After I came up with the name, I began to create the idea of blind tasting dinners, and then Unpredictable Nights was formed. This is an event my business puts on where a person can purchase a ticket to a 4-course dining experience that has a blind menu; all the guests would know is the protein used for the meal. This would allow people to try new things, but also give me the creative freedom to walk my culinary voice out. It all came full circle for me. When creating my business, I didn’t solve a problem that I saw within the food scene; I wanted to create a safe space where I could not only express myself through dishes but also allow food to do what it does best, which is bring people together. Which brings me to our mission at Unpredictable Eats: ” We aim to curate a dining experience that introduces guests to diverse cultures and broadens their culinary horizons. We believe that food possesses the unique ability to unite individuals from various backgrounds. Our objective is to foster meaningful conversations over extraordinary meals, creating a memorable and enriching dining experience.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Carlea Bynum. I am 29 years old, a Christian, and have been a business owner since 2021. I got into my industry by removing all of the careers I thought would be best for me, and it sounded like a great achievement, and honed in on the gift I had naturally, which is cooking. My first foot into this industry was working with a chef here in Cleveland, OH, named Eric Wells. He has an amazing private chef and catering company called Skye LaRae’s. He gave me my first job in the industry, working for his catering company. Chef Wells encouraged me to go to culinary school, which I went to his alma mater. At the Institute of Culinary Education, I had an amazing experience there and was able to earn my certificate through their basic techniques program. While in school, I did a work study where I worked at Cleveland’s oldest Italian restaurant, Guarino’s. Guarino’s was my first restaurant job, and boy, was it a hard one. Having to learn a menu, adjust to new people, long nights, and 200-plus reservations was tough, but I wouldn’t trade it. It helped develop me into the person I am today and the Chef I will be in the future. Guarino’s helped me build integrity, working her showed me how much I love food, and how to push through the hard days. It taught me what it meant to be a part of the kitchen staff, and how being reliable is important. But the one thing it taught me was that in the industry, complete strangers can become your closest friends, and sacrifice has no end in this industry. As of right now in life, I am a Line Cook at Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, and I am in school at Cuyahoga Community College for restaurant and food service management.

Unpredictable Eats LLC is a Private Chef and Catering company. We offer cultural menu creation for catering, catering for private and public events, on-site catering collabs, and what we are mostly known for, Unpredictable Nights, which is an intimate dining experience, with a blind menu 4-course meal, with complimentary wine. Design to help people expand their palates and try new thigs.

What sets us apart from other catering companies is that we are a Christian Catering Company. Everything we do is for the glory of God; we desire to show up and execute and show the love of Christ, while also sharing the good news of salvation to those who will hear us. I am most proud of how far Unpredictable Eats has come, and what I would want potential clients to know is that nothing is too challenging for us to create food has many perspectives, and we would love a chance to exceed your expectations.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Although I am the sole owner of Unpredictable Eats, I work with my Sous Chef, Wayne “Joey” Creed. Joey and I met in culinary school. Right off the bat, we clicked, always working with each other on recipes, checking in on each other if one of us missed class, bouncing ideas off each other. We made sure we had each other’s backs and that we would make it out together. Once I finished my certificate Joey told me “If you ever need me just let me know, and I’ll be there”. I kept that in mind so when it was time to do my first offical Unpredictable Nights he was the first person I called. I ran the menu by him. he gave me thoughts, and suggestions. Then it came the evening to put the event on and it went amazing , we flowed through every course effortlessly. Every since then Joey has been my business partner and the a chef I am honored to say I work with.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing clientele has been word of mouth. I am not the biggest social media person, nor do I think of setting up a camera when I am doing an event. But my guests over the years, every client or guest that I have had, have been referred to me by a previous one, or someone has seen my work posted by them. This is why I make sure the customer service that is provided is elite and expectations are met, because word travels faster and is more powerful than a post, in my opinion. Also, I follow up if someone speaks to me about an event they are thinking about having, or it’s upcoming, and they need a caterer. I follow up to see if there are any updates and if there is still a need. This to me shows the possible client that you are interested in and care about the success of their event. Many may disagree, but be intentional with your pursuit of clients.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unpredictable_eatsllc?igsh=NHRhcndrbW54Mmhl&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/16X9jdypue/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Image Credits

The photographer who captured these photos is Rudy Duran with Rudegraphy.
Website: www.rudegraphy.com