We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christopher Stewart. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christopher below.

Christopher, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I started both Eating Fabulously and The Mise Group by working day to day in the restaurant industry. Eating Fabulously is a food, dining and lifestyle brand that all started when I noticed there were very little food blogs written by black women who also worked in the restaurant industry everyday. There were a lot of recipe focused soul food blogs but none really breaking down food, insider restaurant dynamics and dining experiences from a classically trained Chef’s view point, so that’s where I decided to land my focus. The restaurant industry is a hard male driven industry and being not only a woman in the field but a black woman in the field, I wanted women to feel comfortable knowing where their food comes from, how to cook it exceptionally well, and how to turn heads in a dining room, all the while doing it fabulously.

I launched The Mise Group when I noticed in my decade+ career in the restaurant industry that no matter what, all restaurants need an extra set of hands and eyes to focus on the incredibly small details that helps the overall machine run successfully. The Mise Group is a unique food, restaurant & Chef management company solving 5 keys issues which include menu editing, reservation management, Chef management, cohesive brand overview and social media overview. How many times have you looked at a restaurant website and the menu online is totally different from the menu you receive when you sit down at the table? That’s where my attention to detail comes in to better the overall dining experience from thought to finish.

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

I was born into a family of leaders who also love food and dining. My late grandfather was a Chef so he instilled in me from an incredibly early age the art and sophistication of eating, dining out and hospitality. I just knew I was destined to be a Chef and a restaurant professional. I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and just engulfed myself in not only the restaurant industry but the New York City restaurant scene to be exact. There is a true grit and hustle to a NYC kitchen and dining room !

After becoming Executive Chef at just 25 years old, I really tuned in to learning what makes a restaurant run aside from just having delicious food. I also began looking at the things I wish I had at my reach when I was Executive Chef that could have helped my day go smoother and began implementing and executing these ideas as I transitioned out of the back of the house and into the front of the house. I take pride in walking through a full and bustling dining room, knowing that I had my hand and focus in it.

Both my brands, Eating Fabulously and The Mise Group are reflections of the every day work that I do in the restaurants so I flow through the creative process until the end of the dinner shift with pure love and care for everything I touch.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience on social media by simply never trying to be anything other than myself and showing that too. I feel like this is the hardest way to grow, especially in this fast paced social media age but it is the truest way to grow. I do not share, condone, or support anything with my social media followers that I have not tried myself and I have found that that has built trust in my online community. I lead by example and I also stay consistent in my content so that connection in viewership stays genuine. I just don’t do anything to be seen and I think my followers know and enjoy that the most from me.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic really changed and expanded my brands for the better, especially the merchandise side of Eating Fabulously. Creating, selling and trying to make a profit with a product, no matter what it is is always hard but the pandemic actually boosted my sales because I was forced to pivot and implement systems and ideas that I didn’t really need and or have in place before the increase in customers panic shopping from home.

The main thing I had to pivot was how I got my merchandise in front of customers strictly on the internet and that changed when I began quietly testing micro-influencer marketing and studying bits and pieces of how my favorite brands were selling to me. I began taking a page out of my favorite brands playbook and increased my newsletter communication, increased when I ran sales and added trending merchandise to my online store quickly. I followed and connected with micro-influencers who I trusted and had a brand voice similar to mine, so they naturally felt comfortable wearing my merchandise in front of their audience.

I had to pivot The Mise Group and go back to the core basics of dining and hospitality and re-introduce that warm, soft & safe hospitality that diners were craving when their favorite restaurants were hurting the most.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eatingfabulously.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatingfabulously/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EatingFab
• Other: https://eatfabshopfab.bigcartel.com/