We were lucky to catch up with Kate Graves recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kate, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

I didn’t choose this life, it chose me. My interest in cooking started when I was a kid in the kitchen with my great-grandmother. I could always cook but my skills weren’t that diverse. Back in 2010, while working on Death Row as a Correctional officer in East Texas, I started baking desserts, such as cookies and cupcakes. I was off four days a week, and I wanted to be more productive on my off days, so baking became one of my hobbies. That’s until my husband gave me cooking challenges which helped better my skills in baking and cooking. He would bet me that I couldn’t cook a dish, and let me just say, “the trash can, stayed full”. I was determined to learn and super competitive, so I started watching YouTube videos and I took a couple of cooking classes which were dull at first, until I learned the art of cooking. It wasn’t enough for me, and I was too intrigued with the Arts of Culinary, so I went to culinary school. I wanted to better my skills and to have a better understanding about food. Culinary school was rough, and it took so much discipline, but I graduated during the pandemic while wearing a mask at the top of my class. During my time in culinary school, I would get a lot of requests for catering food, so I started to take the catering business more serious which I had started long before culinary school. I gathered all the knowledge that I could about “How to Cater an Event”. and I would also take what I’ve learned in culinary school to get my catering business off the ground. That’s when, “Mavis J. Gourmet, LLC. Southern-Infused Cuisines” was reborn. Mavis J. Gourmet was founded in 2010 but it was rebranded in 2017, and it’s named after my great-grandmother. My grandmother’s name was, Mavis Jones and she was known as the “Songbird. I wanted to pay homage to her for giving me the knowledge that I have today about the art of cooking. I wouldn’t believe in a million years that I’m the executive chef and owner of a catering business, and now a Certified Private Chef. I went from a “home cook” for my family and friends to a private chef to the celebrities and now owning a private-dining business. I still think it’s a dream but I’m grateful for this journey, and I’m loving every minute of it!!!!

Kate, 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?

Chef Kate/Executive Chef and Owner of “The Chef Kate Experience” in Private Dining…
If I was to describe “Chef Kate”, I would say that I am much more than a Chef and I wear many hats. I have a wonderful husband and children that support my dream in becoming a “Top Chef”. They have supported me throughout this entire career, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. I do this for them and most of all I do it for the Love. I started cooking at an early age and I was passed down over 80 years of cooking from my great-grandmother. Her style was southern cuisines, but I took her cooking style and incorporated it with the passion that I have for culinary arts. I started this journey with the help of my husband, and we turned my passion into a business. I have catered over 300 events while working full-time jobs, going to school, and raising a family. I have served in countless private dining events as well, and the numbers are continuing to go up which is a blessing. I built my brand around exceptional customer service and treating my clients how I would like to be treated. I never would have thought a Chef would come from being a correctional officer on death row. I guess you can say that I went from “Death row to Death by Chocolate”. My future goals are to train other talent in the area to operate, “Mavis J. Gourmet LLC., and “Kakes2Go, Bakery and Bistro, LLC. and I am currently working on “The Chef Kate Experience” which offers private dining services. I want to train more Sous Chefs so that I can have time for my “First Love” and that is teaching.
My food is an act of kindness, and it is always prepared with love. When I cook and bake it puts me in a peaceful place, and that energy flows directly to my food. If I’ve had a frustrating day I get in the kitchen, and it changes my mindset. When my clients want to make an impression, they call me, and when I do a client’s event, I’m making their event a memorable one. I always take pride in being professional while delivering impeccable customer service because our guests are just not our guests, they’re family.
“The love and passion I have for the Culinary Arts is unmeasurable and I give love back through my food because the key ingredient is Love. “
-Chef Kate

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The most effective strategy for growing my business and what has worked for me is networking and creating content. I feel as though, social media have crippled us all in a sense to where it is easy to network just by posting a “meme” or meeting someone virtually. While the world was shut down a couple of years ago, we learned how to adapt by “Zoom” and “Contactless Dining” Yes, there is a such service. While the world was in quarantine my clients didn’t want to take their chances to eat take-out so they would call me for meals. Although, this is a nice feature, but I had to figure out, how can I get those meals safely to the clients without any contact. It appeared as doing business “Face to Face” was going to be a thing of the past so I came up with “Contactless dining”. It is a service that provides a 3-course meal with a table setting for 2-6 guest delivered to the customer’s doorstep. The culinary ware and table theme items were sanitized, and the food was packaged safely. I had to use my social media platform to reach out to clients and gain some potential clients as well. Visual aids were included, and the client would put together the meal with their families. One of my client’s said that it was fun being productive with her family and seeing the table theme come together. Even though, it was a success, I was happy that businesses started to open back up and the world was up and running again, I had to transition quickly back to working in the kitchen and providing private dining services. That’s when I used Instagram and “word of mouth” to promote “The Chef Kate Experience”. My private dining services provides a 3-4 course meal in the privacy of the client’s home. They get to choose from a fine dining menu that offers cuisines like, Filet Mignon, Miso Marinated Salmon, and other gourmet dishes from around the world.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My struggles along the way started at an early childhood, where I was raised by my great grandmother Mavis Jones. My parents weren’t in my life, and I was raised in an environment where I was forced to be tough and watch over my younger brother. I got married young and my husband and I started a family together, and man didn’t we have some hard times. As a mom trying to balance family life, school and run a catering and personal chef business, this proved to be a real challenge for me. There were days when I wanted to quit and go punch a clock on a job, which is nothing wrong with it but that wasn’t my dream. I am doing this to leave a legacy to my children and the world because I want everyone to know that Chef Kate was here. Since 2010 I’ve been working to build a brand that represents what I am about which is authenticity, love, laughing hard and serving. When I speak of service, I mean that I am a business leader and influencer to anyone who has a dream, and I will always use my influence to help others succeed in business and in life. I was trained for this, and I believe that my innate ability to adapt helps me get through any obstacles.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kakes2go.com
• Instagram: ChefKg911
• Facebook: LovelyKate

Image Credits
Grind76 Publishing Ink