We recently connected with Jessica Luevano and have shared our conversation below.
Jessica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?
A customer is the same as a guest in your home. Whether they be new or returning they want to feel welcomed. What I’ve done for returning customers in past it was given my time. I’ve gone to the table and greeted them but not just a quick high and low I’ve stood there for a bit asked some questions to see how they are doing and thank them for their continued patronage. Oftentimes I’ve been working on new dishes and I will ask those guests or new ones for their opinion on them. It makes them feel connected not just to the restaurant but to me. I am making food for them to enjoy after all I think they should be a part of the experience. It’s easy to look at OpenTable or Resy into the notes and have a birthday cake available or use chocolate to write congratulations on the plate those are just standards now. But time is something we can never get back once we have given it. Its value is invaluable. So, the time spent getting to know your guests, getting to know your regulars that is invaluable.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Like some I got my start going to culinary school. But it wasn’t the school that got me in any real doors I like to say it’s my determination. You have to put yourself out there and I did just that. I did my tastings I offered to stage, I assisted other chefs on their catering projects, and so much more. The best experience I ever got was working for friends while they were entering their next levels in being a chef. It was learning and wanting to do good to see them succeed all at the same time. Then you start to get brave. You start to believe in your own self that you can do more and that you are capable of more because if somebody can trust you so much with their dream why not trust yourself with your own. So then you find yourself working your dream job for Club 33 and you just blossom. Then you start to get courageous and confident you decide to take a bigger chance on yourself. You are now a Sous Chef and you’re responsible for others and for an entire restaurant. That responsibility only grows as you continue to grow in your craft in your career. It’s far different from doing private events we’re the only person you have to answer to is yourself and the client. After some time you long for individuality again so you try your hand back at being a creative on your own. It’s beautiful but also stressful. You feel closer to a more rounded out idea for yourself but times are hard for a small business so you go back into corporate life. Taking a role as CDC was one of the best opportunities. 2 1/2 years of events, record-breaking sales laughter tears an extreme amounts of joy. In the pursuit of education you take one more step to an executive role. It’s something new, it’s something similar to what you’ve done before but this time you’re one of the people in the room with the most knowledge for what you do. You’ve now opened a brand new concept. And everything in between each big milestone there have been partnerships, collaborations, guest chef events and rowdy industry nights full of food, drink and pure joy.
My brand is this, I’m a girl who’s love language is food. If you sit at my table you will eat and if you belly up to my bar we will probably share a shot of whiskey but then I’ll ask you to hit the gym with me next day ha! Get me a thrill ride, a Disney churro or a Comic Movie and I am ready to take on the world!
Have you ever had to pivot?
2024 -2025 Was indeed a year that truly tested me. You see I had got picked up by one of those really big food shows that I cannot say which one because they will definitely sue me. And I had got flown out as an accepted member of the cast. I was so jazzed and excited. It was the show I had always dreamed of being on. I guess the thing they don’t tell you is even if you fly out there and you tell your job I’m going to do this and you put your life on hold for an opportunity like this, that they can I will decide you just don’t fit the script after all and not even tell you anything. They’ll leave you in a hotel room by yourself sitting and wondering what I did wrong. It was the most disrespect I’ve ever felt in my life and the angriest. I’m not a person to get angry but to have wasted my time and my hope. Returning to my position as a CDC in a restaurant that was hemorrhaging financially, I was then laid off not because of my work but because of my salary. That’s just business, I guess. But my heart didn’t see it like that at the time. Then working in a new role in a new space I thought OK I’m going to have opportunity to grow differently and be seen differently but that is only from my point of view of course that’s not the case. I did learn a lot in this role, and I am grateful for that opportunity still, but I just knew I wasn’t for them and they were not for me. Just like in sports you put it all on the court and last week there I gave it everything I could and finally I felt that I appreciated it. I then took a new role not directly in the industry but with an esteemed institution in Los Angeles. Once again after being vetted for X amount of time and then chosen for the role I was quickly discarded when they decided they were not ready to launch this role after all. No severance, no genuine apology, just a small check for the few days of training in absolutely no empathy. I’ve always had a home amongst friends, and I chose to work with a long time one where I knew I would be appreciated, safe and ultimately have an opportunity to learn something very new that I hadn’t learned before. At that time, I grew in my education for a new style of cooking, managing and small business tactics. I was then approached for a new opportunity that I thought well how serendipitous that I’ve been yearning for an executive chef role and here it is being offered to me in the least likely of places. I took that role and with all my knowledge and all my resources I poured into this concept. Business will always be business and that is where I will leave all that. They say your next move is your best move and sometimes that’s not always the case but I will tell you whether it is or it is not, it’s about how you move. Do you move with intention? Do you move with malice in your heart or do you push on through the adversity only to become more resilient further sharpening your sword and strengthening your armor. I’m never down for too long. I’m as gritty and resilient as they come. As I type this now, I’m signing my offer letters for a new role where you will find me in North Hollywood. I’m back and this time I promise for good.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I’d say my biggest drivers in my journey are family, culture and tradition. We are born into this life into a family. We have our ups and downs which are the building blocks to our character. We have storytelling and tradition that continue to build us up. As we go through this life we take with us and keep with us experiences whether alone or with others. We continue to be shaped. Any food event I’ve ever worked and any restaurant I’ve ever been in I have strived to treat others with compassion and understanding as best as I can and apologize for the moments where I don’t. And when I say family I don’t just mean my born into family I also mean the family I have been blessed with along the way. My alumni, my industry peeps everybody add fuel to my fire. Watching my friends go through highs and lows and still get back up makes me want to cheer them on it reminds me that I too can get back up at times when I feel like I cannot. Battling the boards or jousting at the net is the same as being in “the trenches” with your line in the middle of a heavy service. It’s all the same to me, hard work and leadership. With all that being said my goal has always been to be a great leader to my team, to inspire and nurture creativity in my fellow chef.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chefjessicatiffany
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicatluevano
- Twitter: @itsjessicatiffany
