We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Latouche recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

1. My current business did not have employees from day 1.

2. It was just me, my skills and true grit

3. My current business started out of my experience of a major medical crisis. I was in a very low financial space. I started selling meal prep to supplement my income to the fellow patients who would frequent the dialysis clinic I used. Yes I was on dialysis, due to a congenital illness. It was just me at home making healthy meals for anyone who buy them; then I expanded to fitness macro meal preps, private cheffing, catering, and party rentals where the demand and profit increased. I definitely needed more employees.

3. I quickly needed experienced workers, so I decided to have a vetting process. I have my applicants perform a chef test to demonstrate their level of skill. Knife skills and basic culinary skills are a must. Training is definitely on the job, jump in and start swimming.

4. I think the only thing I would have changed would be to hire workers sooner in the game, there is nothing like having a good team to help you win.

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.

1. I entered the food industry guns blazing opening a brick and mortar establishment with no experience, called Hibiscus Caribbean Grill, in 2008 to 2016, in Tulsa Oklahoma. I was a pretty decent home cook, from my family back ground and artistic nature. I have always been a social person, and I was very ambitious at a young age. So I jumped in started swimming in the food industry, it was definitely a ride. I continued my career to culinary school a couple years later. Since that time, I have continued expanding my knowledge and passions for different aspects of culinary and service experiences.

2. Currently, I own Chefs Touch Catering & Rentals. We provide full service catering for small and large scale events, we provide luxury experiences including table-scape, high end rentals, of course chef quality menus. Other services include in home private chef and meal prep. We currently have a team of chefs, servers, and a growing sales team.

3. It makes me extremely proud and full of gratitude to have grown from the hard place I started to the success I feel today, and we are just getting started.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I have managed teams for many years. What’s most important I believe is to create a work environment where my team feels good to be themselves, and get paid a fair living wage. My advice is to also always treat your team with respect and kindness. Having an attitude of gratitude and appreciation toward the people who support you is essential. I take my employees out for their birthdays, I buy gifts for employee appreciation and holidays.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I believe appreciation is so important, without our clients we could not do what we love. We definitely send gifts and thank you cards, and offer incentives for repeat business.

Image Credits

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