We were lucky to catch up with Michael Sibert recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

Everyone who works at White Wine and Butter is considered family to me. Whether it is blood related or not. It’s super important to me to create a safe space for people to connect, grow, and share their experiences. I am blessed to be surrounded by some of the most genuine people. & As much as I want my family-owned business to succeed, I also want to see my Butter Team succeed at their passions and future business endeavors. Family business is starting from the bottom together, learning through the ups and downs, and celebrating the victories TOGETHER. It’s not always easy, but with good communication it can be one of the most rewarding things I will ever experience in my lifetime.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A Greenwood, SC native, Culinary institute of the Carolinas and Cornell University Alumni, I have been a chef at local high-end establishments for over a decade now. I have also had the privilege to work with Michelin star chefs, pit-masters, and have had extensive training with world renowned chefs in New Orleans. Between a decade long search for knowledge, passion and hard work along with the passed down recipes that my wife gave me for a wedding present, White Wine & Butter was born! Starting our company as a thriving Luxury Catering and private dining company, we wanted to expand in a way that could reach more of the community. In June of 2022 we opened the first restaurant concept of its kind, a “Cajun Trattoria”. Combining the skills of our Pastaio’s fresh pasta making, applying high end food preparation and with traditional cajun & creole flavor profiles to bring Downtown Greer it’s First black-chef owned restaurant in history and a new restaurant concept to love. I am from very humble beginnings so to make it this far, continuing to succeed past our milestones is truly such a blessing. I am still always yearning to learn more recipes and create something new. My wife makes sure to challenge me, and keep that Cajun flavor authentic.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think the biggest hurdle I will never forget as my company grows is that we started during the peak of Covid. Literally all the odds were against us succeeding. It took a lot of creative thinking between myself, my wife and our growing team. I am so thankful our community showed us so much love, patience, and grace as we navigated it all. Times were tough in the food industry!

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

My wife Samantha for the first 2-3 years pretty much handled all of our marketing and social media. She hustled so hard pulling meetings together, getting out there in the community, learning how to keep up with the social media trends and so forth. She has so much to do with how much we have grown, but it definitely took many sleepless nights, not putting the phone down, and making connections. If you ask her today, she is happy to have passed that torch down to our marketing team at Campfire. Shout out Campfire! But my only advice would be to keep at it hard, it will pay off as your following grows. We knew starting our business that the first few years were going to take a lot out of us, a lot of sacrifice, but we were ready to learn as we go!

Contact Info:

• Website: whitewineandbutter.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/whitewine_butter
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitewineandbutter
• Other: http://instagram.com/whitewine_butter_catering

Image Credits
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