We were lucky to catch up with Tiana Austin-Gardner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tiana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

As my 2020 Mid-Pandemic Graduation was approaching, I knew it was time for me to start applying for a “real-world” job. I snagged a job as a CPS worker, because helping people was always my passion. After almost a year in this field, I yearned for a more creative outlet and I began to make charcuterie boards for fun. Being a person who doesn’t eat pork, it was extremely hard to find places to purchase stunning pork-free boards locally. I’ve always liked curating charcuterie boards and began to make them for friends and family and posting them more and more on my social media pages. I got a lot of support and inquiries on purchasing, so I began to brainstorm ways to make my passion into passive income. I did plenty of research on charcuterie board businesses, catering, and the local laws surrounding this. The deeper I got into the research on turning my little passion into a cheese business, it became more surreal and exciting, but also scary and intimidating! After weeks of research and brainstorming, No Graze Off was born! I put my entire creative hand into each and every graze I create. No two grazes are created equally. We allow our Grazers to customize their grazes so that it’s the most perfect graze for them!

Owning a Cheese Biz has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor and has been the most challenging and fun job I’ve ever had. I’ve faced multiple challenges, and am still learning after each graze I create. Today, No Graze Off is best known for beautifully arranged charcuterie boards and grazing tables available to Metro Detroit and beyond.

Tiana, 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?

Hi, I’m Tiana! I was born and raised in Detroit, MI. I spent my young adult life in East Lansing, MI with a Bachelors of Science in Sociology. In 2020, I moved back to the Detroit area, where I worked as a CPS worker. I’ve always had a passion of helping people, but after almost a year into this role, I needed a creative outlet. I began to make charcuterie boards for fun, as well as do plenty of other crafts for passive income. I began to create boards for friends and family and posted more of my work on my social media pages. I thought about the idea of opening a Charcuterie Business, and did some research, but doubted if it should do it. Every night I would scroll on Instagram and see so many successful Charcuterie companies and their work, and that was the confirmation I needed. I knew I could do it too! I started researching ways to start a business, more specifically a charcuterie business. Although I couldn’t find much, there was enough information to get me started. I spend so much time creating my branding kit, creating my website, and all other applications needed to start a business.

I am super grateful to have found the thing that I love to do! The best part of this job is that when I deliver a board or am wrapping up the grazing table, the Grazers are just in awe at its artistic nature. I am a Grazing Artist and I take pride in knowing that I put my full creative hand in each and every graze that I create. I make each and every graze customized to my Grazers’ diet, event/occasion, and style! No Graze Off provides completely customizable charcuterie boards that can be delivered right to your home, office, hotel, or event for any type of occasion. We also offer charcuterie catering for any type of event. I thought about ways to set me apart from other charcuterie businesses. No Graze Off is a company that grazes with you for any event of occasion! We take No Days Off at No Graze Off!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Let’s face it, we all can fall victim to scrolling for so long online and forgetting about time. Now imagine, it’s actually your content being on that screen while someone else is scrolling. That’s what made me get into the content game. I knew that with running a business, I needed to have social media presence, because that’s how people find gigs these days. I created Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok profiles. I added some of my very few beginner pictures and videos and thought I would go viral. When that did not happen, it was very hard to want to continue to post, but I did. I created a content planning schedule posting pictures of my boards and other types of cheese related content — Grazing Shoutouts to other Cheese Businesses, My Favorite Grazing Products, Weekly Cheese Playlist and other topics. My goal was to post a reel daily. I had plenty of post and reels with captions and audio (if needed) already written and ready to go. If I didn’t have a booking or order, I recycled some content that either did very well, or didn’t do as well. I consistently posted using this method and my Instagram has grown. Today, I have more followers that aren’t local than those that are. I’ve has a few videos hit viral numbers, and climbing, and have an online community of grazers.

If you’re just starting out with your social media journey, I would recommend you to not focus solely on follower count and/or likes. Engagement is what’s really important. Focus on creating informative post for others to actually engage with you and really showing off your work. No one will see your work, or your progress, if you don’t post it. Take some time after you’ve completed a project/order and take some good quality photos.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn procrastination and laziness. I’ve always been a person who waited until the very last minute to start a project. Before having my business, I could afford to wait until the last minute to turn in a case report, or call a client. because I wouldn’t be missing out on a returning client and a good experience for them. Now, I hop on whatever I need to work on when it comes across my phone screen, and if I am currently working on something, it is the next item. There are times where I may plan to work on something tomorrow, because I know I’ll have a busy day, and then the following day I am swamped with a last minute influx of orders, so I get to orders and inquiries promptly. I’ve created some formats and templates to use when I have customers need quotes or pricing. My website answers almost any question a person may have regarding a booking or order, and I tried to make the Grazing Table inquiries as easy as possible, I encourage communication with my customers as well, to ensure they are having the best experience with No Graze Off.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nograzeoff.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nograzeoff/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nograzeoff
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tianaag
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nograzeoff
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/no-graze-off-southfield?osq=no+graze+off

Image Credits
John Stuedle Photography