We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kelsey Thomas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kelsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission behind creating delicious food is the drive at the creation. There has to be passion, purpose, and a plan. My passion is cooking because it is my love language it’s what gets me going and starts me on my day. My purpose is to supply and support those around me who love food just as much as I do but use it to their advantage. For example, if we as people know that fried food is very hard on our hearts, and we should limit the intake as much as possible, would you do it? If you answered yes, then that is the correct answer. I want us to know that food is here to help us reach our body goals and if you use it to advance it will help you as you age and lastly, support you on your life goals. I want to use my skills as a support for those around me who do not know how to cook. I love to support someone spiritually and physically when it comes to food because our bodies naturally crave food. It’s about how I bring my food to the table and I want it to be felt generally not only in our stomachs but also just off the deliverance, and the creative mindset by putting a thoughtful meal together to reflect you. My company mission statement is driven by “Nourishing the Soul by making food Delicious” and that is a proven factor when you work with my company you get a well-balanced meal.

Kelsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Kelsey Thomas I am a 29 year old Chef that lives in Baltimore, Maryland. I have been working in the hospitality industry since I was 15 years old and I started cooking at the age of 8. I always had a passion for cooking because it brought laughter and comfort to my family when food was around. I received my Culinary Arts degree from Monroe College in New Rochelle NY, and my bachelor’s degree from Morgan State University. I honestly never really wanted to work for someone, but once I started to create my family I knew I needed the extra income, so I branched off from cooking for a while to work in the hospital-out patient clinic for patients. I always had a spark for customer service because I was always a people person, some would call me a social butterfly because I am beautiful, outgoing, and funny. I started my own business back in 2014 when we had to create a business proposal for an individual project in class. I didn’t launch my business until 2020. I was afraid to move forward with my business plan when the pandemic started because I felt like I would have a lack of support. But now here I am working and trying to make my business flow together for good and purpose. As a business owner, I offer a luxury private chef dining experience from the comfort of your home or destination, along with catering, and meal preparation/concierge meal preparation service.
My proudest moment was in 2023 when I planned a Winter Wine and Food dinner for FREE in December and out of 25 tickets, I was able to gather, 18 guests who showed up and were able to experience my type of style of cooking. This experience showed me that there are still enough people who will support you, you are greater than your thoughts, and I am a hustler because I will get it by any means. The problem I solve for most people is “What will I have for dinner”, or “What do I want to eat”. It’s nice to have a go-to meal on hand for dinner, that’s why I offer these services because we should be entitled to be able to provide quality ingredients for us to eat as well as a three-course meal every day. The quality I bring to the table is farm-to-table produce, and organic clean eating that is good for the mind, body, and soul.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The first time I went viral was on TikTok and I shared an 8-second video of how I cut up a half of cabbage this video has 28.4k views. At this time, I did not know how many people would watch this video or also find it useful to see how to cut cabbage, but it became a hit and got me at least a few more followers and likes for my page content. Another time, I went viral was on IG and I shared a fast-forward 5-second video of me cooking some lamb chops and scallops and that video hit 12,715 views from followers, which was more than expected because I barely have that many followers. I really like the videos I share because they are raw I am just trying to play around with the multiple apps on the video on my phone to stay relevant. These videos have been a stepping stone for potential clients as well as building a network of other foodies out on social media.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing a clientele is marking you have to make sure your business is marketed very well on social media platforms and you have a great group of friends that can sell your services and products. I honestly think if I built a better marketing team my business would be bigger coming from state to state.

Contact Info:

• Website: kelseyscateringkuisine.com
• Instagram: chef_kelsey and kelseyscateringkuisine
• Facebook: kelsey’s catering kuisine llc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-thomas-452065242/