We recently connected with Ticara King and have shared our conversation below.

Ticara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

How did I scale up? I would say consistency. I knew what I wanted and I just stuck to it. I started catering during the peak of covid and everyone thought I was crazy. But I saw a market that I could tap into which was being a private chef. Many restaurants were either closing or had very extensive rules which made it harder for people to have their normal events. I began offering PRIVATE DINNER DATES, giving my clients the full restaurant experience in their homes. From there I took off. I literally had a new client every week. Now it’s almost quadrupled. People fly in from across all the states to book me and have me cook for them when they’re visiting Houston. Houston is also the home of quite of few celebrities so I’ve gotten the chance to service them as well. I love it.

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

I started in this industry mainly as a meal prep company. I was on the path to becoming more healthy, I lost over 100 pounds naturally which attracted so many people. From there I went into catering and freelancing as a private chef. I’m known for my elaborate brunches, dinner date setups and viral videos of just me posting snippets of the food I make for my clients. Cooking Like Cali, I feel the first thing people think of is the lady who does the brunches. Within the younger crowd I always get called “Funny Mike’s” chef. Which is pretty cool. I am most proud of my growth in the service industry and my ability to adapt to different events. I have done festivals and even added weddings to my resume. I have began collaborating with many brands that pay me to review their products. Never would I have thought that people would actually pay me to make videos.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Craziest part about my presence on my social media accounts is that up until this year, you wouldn’t see my face outside of my YouTube.. I would post videos of just me playing around with new and old recipes for people to try. Many of which went viral but you just never knew who was behind the camera. I’ve been friends with a dancer from Memphis, who people know as Lil Marcus. He came to visit and him and another dancer Phyouture told me I needed to show my face more because the food is good but the people needed to know me. I’ve always been hesitant in sharing my real world with the outside world. So almost immediately the next video I shared was of me during a private brunch and the video is at over 7 million views. I called them both and was like okay you guys were right. I’ve been opening up a little more and showing my personality. So my best advice is the give a little. Share your personality. You never know who is watching.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Right now I still cater, and I’m continuing my private chef work but I’ve added a food truck to the list. I would be in the hottest sun doing pop ups around town selling out every time but the weather was crazy. Some days the wind would be so strong my tents would fly away. I struggled with exhaustion from being in the heat and on the flat grill. But I didn’t quit. I saved and here I am now in the AC of the food truck cooking those same dishes everyone loves. Don’t give up! Make a plan and stick to it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Cookinglikecali
• Facebook: @Cookinglikecali
• Youtube: @Cookinglikecali
• Other: TikTok @Cookinglikecali

Image Credits
Eric Bass