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

Mallorey, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I admire schools that allow you to work in the industry they are interested in to gain experience. I think there should be more work-life education. Kids don’t know how to work anymore and the restaurant industry is feeling the burden of that plus the people who are not willing to work post Covid. Students nowadays think they are Chefs when they graduate Culinary School and that’s very far from the truth. They want it quick, easy, and not have to work for it. Some places are unfortunate enough to hire them as Sous Chefs and it ruins these students because they don’t get a chance to learn what they need to learn, and once they get another job they don’t know how to respect the Executive Chef or lead the staff, and don’t have the work ethic. When I was in Culinary School I was lucky enough to learn the first day that you have to work your way up. It takes several years of working under great Chefs to become a Chef. They also pushed us to always do “stages” (working for free a day in the kitchen to gain experience.) The schools must get back to educating the students to have this passionate mentality. It makes such a difference in their career, and they are less likely to waste their money on schooling to just wash away from the industry because they expect it to be easy and given to them.

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 grew up in Callisburg Texas, a 300 people population town next to Gainesville. It is a very far cry from a foodie town, so when I decided to go to Culinary School at Le Cordon Bleu, I didn’t even know what a Chef was. I loved to cook and wanted to open up a restaurant. I thought of myself as more of the GM utilizing my first degree in Business Management, but in culinary school I fell in love learning about food that I was sheltered from, the science, the creativity, and the pressure of being graded on my plates everyday. I had to work a lot harder than any other student because I was so sheltered. Skipping my “college experience” to hit the books. I elected to work for free on my externship at a catering company because he did Ice Sculptures and I loved learning the tiny bit in school. Little did I know I would end up with my own Catering Company, Chef Cowgirl.

I do full service catering for public and private events from 10 people to 1,000s of people. I love making beautiful presentations, and like to use less Buffet Chafers and incorporate Action Stations, Family Style Dinners, and Plated Dinners. I also love to Garden and use a lot of my Organic Produce in the Menu. I do Farm to Belly Dinners where I will make a menu based on what I have growing and pair it with Wine, Whiskey, Beer, etc. You may also find me doing a Pop-up Restaurant here in there in random towns for the weekend. I may be a Southern Country Girl and do a lot of Smoked Meats and Soul Food, but I am Classically French Trained and keep up with the latest techniques to give my guests the best wow factor possible. I’ll do any cuisine my guests want. I know they pay a pretty penny for my catering services and I make sure their friends and family love every minute and talk about it for years.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The food service industry is a huge pivot with millions of tiny pivots inside all day everyday. Chefs are masters of adapting and overcoming. I love the constant change and not knowing what will hit me in a second. I have also pivoted to managing restaurants and stepping away from the back of the house. During Covid I obviously had no business, so I helped my friend out at his BBQ Shack because his pit master would not go out of the house. I needed money and wanted to hone my skills smoking meats on a higher scale so I jumped at the opportunity and earned a great tan to top it off.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I’ve had my Catering Business for 7 years now, but it was my side business while I gained experience in restaurants. When you work for hundreds of hours for free, you tend to learn a lot about the company and how they opened up, how they operate, and many other useful information that is vital to learn before you go out and open your own place, spend all your money and savings, and lose everything down the road. I took the pros and cons, learned more along the way in the restaurants, and I don’t owe a penny to this day. I saved what I made on my gigs and slowly purchased what I needed for my Catering. I don’t believe in being controlled by investors. It wasn’t until about 4 years ago, I started doing Catering as my main job. My biggest milestone is gaining the support and enough repeat customers that keep me going. Having my website done by Outperformance Service Family who did an amazing job is one of my recent milestones. Thank you Dan Oliver!

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: ChefCowgirl
• Facebook: TheChefCowgirl
• Linkedin: Chef Cowgirl
• Twitter: The Chef Cowgirl
• Other: TikTok.com/chefcowgirl