We were lucky to catch up with Tim Van Ee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tim, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I started Flavors on Fire two years ago, after a period of brainstorming the idea. Food has been a large part of my life since childhood, so it came naturally to do something in the food industry. Teaching was another passion of mine, so a Cooking Studio was the perfect combination of both passions.

The pandemic might not have been the best timing to start a new business and leave my corporate career behind, but it was instrumental in getting my business started. Social distancing forced us to think about innovative ways to teach people cooking skills – resulting in online cooking classes, with ingredient kit shipped to our clients’ front door.

Our online classes really helped fine-tune our product offerings (the different classes offered and dishes cooked), and set us up for the opening of our brick and mortar location. Now that we’ve been open for almost 6 months, some of our signature dishes from the virtual cooking days are still on our menu!

Tim, 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?

Flavors on Fire is cooking studio, offering our guests amazing Chef’s Table dining service and the opportunity to learn new cooking skills (during our hands-on cooking classes).

When we started Flavors on Fire, we quickly learned that our clients in the Houston area were looking for a different dining experience. The ability to learn from our chef’s in an intimate setting started with private chef engagements in our clients’ own homes, and has now made its way into our high-end Cooking Studio.

We’re so proud to be part of the Katy / Fulshear / Cypress dining scene and take great pride in teaching our guests classic and new cooking techniques while providing them with a great night out!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being obsessed with our customers and service. We see ourselves as a tailor-made dining experience. Sure, we have standard menus and dishes that all of our guests like, but one of the things we take pride in, is going the extra mile for those with a food allergy or dietary restriction. All of our guests should receive an amazing meal, irrespective of their food restrictions.

In addition to our tailor-made menus and food options, we are always focused on positive interactions with our guests during a dinner or cooking class. We enjoy chatting with our guests’ about their lives, their passions and the food they most enjoy, which makes our experience personal.

We believe that this obsession with our customers, the food we serve and our focus on service, has built our reputation in the market as a unique dining experience in the Houston area.

Any advice for managing a team?

My team is the most important asset we have at Flavors on Fire! All of our team members interact with our guests constantly, so it’s important to have the right team culture. Part of our culture is to push our team members to improve on the areas they are interested in… If a sous-chef wants to grow into the chef-the-cuisine role, we actively listen to their ambitions and give them opportunities to lead cooking classes and chef’s table events. We believe that personal development and growth is the main driver for keeping our team morale high, and keeping team members part of our organization long term!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flavorsonfirehouston.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flavorsonfirehouston/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flavorsonfirehouston
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/flavors-on-fire-katy