We recently connected with Chef LaToya Larkin and have shared our conversation below.
Chef LaToya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
When I told people I make tamales or go to the store and get supplies to make tamales. I would always get the strange looks. I got so used to the looks that I eventually would just say what they were thinking. Yes, I’m a black girl and I make tamales. I took some leftover collard greens from a brunch and rolled out a dozen tamales and history was made from there. Outside, of the traditional chicken and pork tamales are in the box. I revamped the menu to come up with southern comfort soul food flavors such as Collard Greens and Smoked Turkey, Oxtail, Smothered Chicken, Smothered Pork Chop, Gumbo, Crawfish & Shrimp Etouffee, Boudin, Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, Nacho, Jerk Chicken, and Vegan Beef Taco. That is when I branded the concept Black Girl Tamales and solely focus on the not so traditional chicken and pork tamale flavors.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Chef LaToya Larkin, MBA, CCE proud owner of Black Girl Tamales fusion tamales & enchiladas. Not Enough Thyme Personal Chef Services healthy meal preps, in home dinner service, and catered events. It’s Thyme 4a Change 501 c3 nonprofit working with at risk youth teaching culinary and entrepreneurial skills, and Divah Chef Apparel line of shirts, aprons, and chef jackets. I’m a former high school teacher and coordinated the most successful culinary program in Spring ISD at Spring High School.
I’ve been a chef all of my life for over 20 years and went to culinary school straight after high school. I took cosmetology in high school, but didn’t want to practice and make a living with cosmetology. I’ve been cooking since I was 8 years old and realized that no matter what in life. Being a chef, I would always have a job because people love to eat and no matter what event you attend, food is always the center of attention.
I then inventoried all my skills, talents, and dreams that I wanted to accomplish to play off me being a chef. I’ve always been resourceful and knowledgably which made me go into consulting, training, and education. I love to read and write, so that allowed me to venture into technical writing for curriculum, books, and documents. I realized that it’s hard making it with just one job and capitalized on all my inventoried skills and talents.
The products I provide: fusion tamales and enchiladas, healthy meal preps. The services I provide are personal/private chef services, catering, business & food service consulting, ServSafe proctor, food business workshops and masterclasses. Creative work international award-winning chef of 15 prestigious awards, multi best-selling author (Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon), inspirational public speaker, woman empowerment coach, mentor to youth, business coach to HISD & G-Unity (Curtis Jackson-50 Cent) teach Marketing Research. Recent graduation from Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Black in Business, Cornell University Women Entrepreneurship Certification, and becoming James Beard Foundation Legacy Mentor Chef.
I solve many problems for my clients depending on the product or service. Regarding my chef’s services and tamales. I cater to the foodie booty’s yes you heard right foodies who enjoy unique food curated with love. For my educator, authorship, mentorship and coaching aspect. I’m simply here to educate, uplift, and elevate those whom path I cross to serve in my divine purpose.
The thing that sets me apart from everyone is the fact of the matter that there is no one doing what I do with the flavors, Many people make tamales because we are in Texas so it’s a given, but there is no one doing the flavors Collard Green and Smoked Turkey, Oxtail, Smothered Pork Chop, Smothered Chicken, Jerk Chicken or Gumbo just to name a few. Mouths literally drop when I name flavors because the flavors are standalone entrée dishes.
The thing that I am most proud of is meeting my goal of being “Retired Public School Teacher at 40”. The pandemic was a blessing in the disguise for me and allowed me to walk away from teaching and focus on my culinary concepts full time. Not to mention Wall Street Journal and USA Today’s best-selling author. You have people that have been writing a lifetime and have not achieved that status.
The main thing I want potential clients/followers/fans to know about me is that I work hard to make my dreams a reality and that my grind is RHOlentless (not relentless). I will always strive to go above and beyond the call for my clients and love on them. Followers and fans, I’m not doing anything special other than what God called me to do. Many people on the outside looking in think I’m doing so much and it’s so special. Only difference is that I’m diligently serving in my purpose.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
The Bandemic, aka Pandemic, allowed my side hustle to turn into a full-time business. I’ve always operated my personal chef business along with any full-time job I’ve had as I started that when I got out of culinary school, the second time around because I was burnt out on working in the restaurant industry. I grew up making tamales with my grandmother when I was younger, so I’ve always made tamales from time to time. When I started teaching I would make tamales during the summer when we were out for the break.
In 2019, while in grad school is when I conceptualized the Black Girl Tamales brand with only having the Collard Green and Smoked Turkey flavor. March 2020, when the pandemic hit, we went on Spring Break and never went back to school. My school district went into panic mode, which made me go into beast mode. Restaurants shut down and in my mind, my personal chef business was going to blow up. As I have a good following on social media. I’m blessed to clean out my freezer and post food and sell my food. I had many people contacting me for tamales and I was thinking what can I do differently to set me apart outside of the collard green tamale. That is when the birth of the Oxtail, Smothered Chicken, Smothered Pork Chop, Shrimp & Crawfish Etouffee, Red Beans and Rice, Creole Sausage and so forth. The concept blew up in the Black Houston Restaurant scene and I caught attention from a food editor at Cuisine Noir. History was made the concept skyrocketed and went nationwide. It got to be so much that it was no way that I could keep teaching without walking away from the classroom to pursue my dreams and fulfill the vision that I was called to serve.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
My reputation was built in the market by building a dope personal brand. I taught high school for 8 years and built a personal brand amongst the interaction with me, building my culinary program and working with the youth. I was in my element and serving within my purpose. As I met clients, they would follow me on social media to keep up with me and they fell in love with my personal brand and personality. I’m a person of love being a Valentine’s season baby. So I show love and it genuinely showed how much I cared about my students and not to mention all the extra perks and the way I spoil my clients. Which makes them want to do continued business with me and support all concepts and ideas that I birth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.BlackGirlTamales.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackgirltamaleschefdivah
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackGirlTamales
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chef-latoya-larkin-mba-cce-23069415/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BlackGirlTamale
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcXTNRxwBafFgoXnZIoxCvw
- Other: Personal Branding Portfolio Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.ChefLaToyaLarkin.com Not Enough Thyme Personal Chef Services FB: https://www.facebook.com/NotEnoughThymePCS It’s Thyme 4a Change Website: https://www.thyme4achange.org FB: https://www.facebook.com/itsthyme4achange Divah Chef Apparel FB: https://www.facebook.com/DivahChefApparel
Image Credits
Desired Visionz Photography