We were lucky to catch up with Tyler King recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyler, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

There’s an old cliché: “Owning a business is hard work!”

Here’s the reality, though: Working in general is hard work. I think that the claim that owning a business is somehow harder than being an employee is generally an oversimplification. I do spend more hours working now than I did when I was sweating my butt off in restaurants, but that is entirely because I love to work and I rarely take time off.

For me, owning a business is challenging in ways that working for an employer was not. Anybody interested in starting a business of any size should hear me out about the personal toll that being a business owner can take on you. The first year, when sales were low and I was trying so hard to get my first client as a personal chef, I almost felt betrayed by the world. I felt personally let down by the lack of interest in my business.

Along the way, as business picked up, I felt serious guilt when we hit slow seasons and my employees weren’t getting enough work. I think the accountability of business owners to keep their employees, customers, vendors, and partners happy mixed with the personal attachment to clients’ feedback is something that they don’t necessarily prepare you for in college.

Lastly, I need surgery. It’s a minor outpatient deal, but my current insurance barely covers it, and I will be on the hook for many (like a lot of) thousands of dollars.

Moments like the ones above, where maybe you get feedback that you aren’t happy with, or employees are in need of work, or where you need surgery but are literally forced to live in poor health until you can afford it because private insurance sucks are when I would love to go out and be a corporate, pencil pushing, 9-5, M-F chef making well more than I currently do,

That said, the rewards are amazing. The accountability goes both ways, for one. A great review is also taken personally and is absolutely a boost to confidence. When work is busy and employees can finally clear enough money for a brand new car, that feels amazing. When you look at what you’ve built or you get an opportunity to share with the world through means of media (like this) that they can also build something and love what they do, that is when it is all worth it.

Owning a business has it’s downfalls, but for folks like me, it’s what I need in a career and a lifestyle. It isn’t for everybody, so if you like a comfy little office with a set schedule, keep your day job. If you think you can pull a 75 hour week followed by a 25 hour week and love the sense that you have built something that changes people’s lives, Let’s chat!

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 Tyler King and I own Tastify. We are a Nashville- based Personal Chef and Experiential Dining Company. We do several hundred events per year that range from 2-people date nights, to ticketed dining series, to 450 people catering events with white glove service.

I am from St. Louis and my first job was with an Italian Restaurant there. In college, I worked for the on-campus dining vendor where I was promoted to management by the time I graduated. There, I was introduced to the (not-so) wonderful world of corporate America.

After Graduating with my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Belmont University, I went on to manage restaurants until late 2018 when I started Tastify out of frustration for the cultural workplace standard in the food industry. I think most of my drive was to show the (pre-covid-19) world that even in the food industry, employees can be treated and paid very fairly and respectfully.

Once Tastify became situated with amazing clients and a solid business model, we learned that dining in Nashville was generally lacking one important factor: entertainment. We started offering more hands on service, warm towel treatments, musicians, burlesque, and more to our events! If somebody wants to entertain, and I mean REALLY entertain, we are the ones to do it. We are all about bringing the experience with your gathering and very few things will stop us from making your dream a reality.

Also, if you would love a standard dinner service, we have a wide array of experiences on our website that are already built out with pricing. They range from Tapas menus, to backyard brick oven pizza parties, to seasonal dinner menus and more!

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

In my industry, word of mouth is HUGE. Sure, sometimes folks will do a quick search on google, yelp, or even IG for a chef, but to truly trust somebody to step foot in your home and to respect your space and pull off a wonderful service, you have to come highly recommended. It was a slow start for us, but once we got in with a great local crowd, things really picked up!

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

When the Pandemic first broke into the U.S. and things began rapidly shutting down, I lost a lot of business overnight. I thought for sure my business was either on the brink of doom or the brink of hibernation. My business was young and I had little operating income to fall back on.

At the time, I had a day job to make ends meet. I had to go out and pickup another job overnight to keep the business open and to keep those expenses paid. I wasn’t entitled to much help from the government because all of my employees were independent contractors.

At times when things got so challenging and closing down would’ve been the first move of many, I pulled myself back up and made it happen to keep Tastify’s pulse going and looking back, I am so glad that I did!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tastifyfood.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tastifyfood/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tastifyfood
• Other: [email protected]