We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Roland Wilson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Roland , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?
Who is your hero and why?
My parents are my heroes! Everything about me is a complete mixture of both, but with a twist!! My parents, Carrie B. Wilson (Mother – Greenville, MS), and Roland P. Wilson Sr. (Father – Donaldsonville, LA) were Southern born n’ raised and brought my older siblings and me up in Chicago, ILL/Kansas City, MO with the same values their parents did. Their expectations were simple: “Be the best person you can be, treat others the way you want to be treated, give from your heart without expecting anything in return,” and my favorite, “You’ll never fail if you’re consistently trying.” There are so many reasons why they’re my hero. I just always admired the way everyone who comes in contact with the genuine love they give immediately becomes an extended family!!
What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?
My parent’s main lessons and goals from when I was a kid “Jr. we’re not going to live forever, but before we go you’re going to know how to survive and maintain your household.” From five years old, my mother and godparents dragged me to the grocery store and taught me to grocery shop, do laundry, clean the home, iron, sew. I was cooking on the stove at eight years old and baked my first cake from scratch at nine years old.
My mother and godfather were truly the best cooks in the world! The moment they said “I’m cooking…. y’all come over,” everyone we knew came to our house!! Once I was trusted to operate the stove alone, they began teaching me how to clean and season food correctly. They taught me different methods of cooking, controlling the heat, grilling, etc., and before I knew it, at 14 years old, I was cooking for our family reunion! Over the years it became therapeutic for me and something I held on to after losing my mother on November 8, 2015. Between the southern hospitality, meals prepared with love, and the bond created with family and friends Carrie B’s Catering was born on March 10, 2022.
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.
My name is Roland P. Wilson Jr., 45 years old born in Chicago, ILL and raised in Kansas City, MO. I have 17 years of experience in culinary arts and mixology, three years of business ownership (two years catering – one year bar), and 10 years in management/human resources. In all 27 years of work experience and positions held since the age of 18, I was involved in customer service, which is the core of Carrie B’s Catering. My first attempt at entering the industry was after my mother Carrie B. Wilson retired from Saint Luke’s Hospital in October 2013. With little knowledge of the business, I was confident that the teachings, passion, and love for the kitchen would lead us through. We first started out as “Queen Tasteful Seasonings.” This was the original name of the company in honor of my grandmother Matilda “Queen” Singleton-Clark, until losing my mother to stage 4 cancer in November 2015. It wasn’t until late 2021 that I began to mourn properly, and I found my way back into the kitchen. With the help of my fiancé Ashante Spencer, and my sister Ladana Cummings, we began testing our products and selling plates curbside for a few months, and before we knew it we began receiving catering offers.
On March 10, 2022, Carrie B’s Catering became a Limited Liability Company in Kansas City, MO, serving Down Home Southern Meals, Cajun, Italian, Mexican, Asian, Breakfast, Brunch, and much more delicious cuisines. We started catering small buffet events, making deliveries to customers, and provided pick-up orders. Once we successfully fulfilled our catering contracts on a consistent basis, and started receiving repeat orders we were able to explore the business side of things and really get to know our business. Working directly with our customers and understanding their wants and processing their feedback allowed us to identify our roles which allowed us to operate more efficiently as a team. It didn’t take long to figure out that it takes much more than a quality product in this business, you have to be very well organized and timing is everything!! While staying on top of client communication, quotes, inflation, bookkeeping, contracts, etc., you also have to train staff, manage inventory, understand event space requirements, grocery shop, cook, set up, serve, breakdown, and most importantly, maintain a great experience for the client and their guests. My mother would always say, “Folks can go anywhere to buy what they want, but they’ll come back to you remembering how you made them feel.” Our expectation as a team is to treat everyone in the building as new customers!!
I’m very proud as a family and team that in less than two years of being in business, we’ve successfully completed over 150 catering events/orders from small functions (50+ guests), to large corporate events (300+ guests). We’re constantly focused on improving the overall customer experience, to satisfy all client needs. Carrie B’s Catering not only caters for events, we also prepare family meals and meal prep. With the experience I have bartending it was only right to provide bartending service for clients who wish to include alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to their guests ( we only mix & serve, do not sell).
What do we expect in your service?
In the process of creating our five year plan, we focused heavily on client needs. This came from asking ourselves “what do we expect in our service” and we decided:
– Put the customer first: If we keep the passion in what we do and remember why we do it then the customer will always come first.
– Understanding the customer: Ask detailed questions to identify customer needs.
– Rather it is our employees or our partners we will work together to make your catering experience enjoyable.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Word of mouth!! In the food service industry, you want to get your product out as much as you can. But word of mouth is our go to. We use our website, google, yelp, and social media to help enhance our business and get the word out, but we take pride in word of mouth. When people are willing to pass along their experience and want someone else to enjoy that same experience that they had with us – that is truly special to us.
Any advice for managing a team?
The key to managing a team is maintaining high morale and investing in your employees while providing them the opportunity to grow with the company!!
Contact Info:
- Phone: (816) 814-3686
- Email: [email protected]
- Alternate Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.carriebcatering.com
- Instagram: carrie_bs_catering
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/carriebcatering
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/roland-wilson-82a01328a
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/carrie-bs-catering-kansas-city