We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful TYLER KING. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with TYLER below.

TYLER, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My dad loves a good burger. He doesn’t eat them often—maybe two or three a year—but when he does, it’s an experience. He talks about it. He savors it. He remembers it.

After us kids grew up and moved out, he finally made good on a long-held dream: he and my stepmom packed up and moved to Miami. He’d always been drawn to the art and culture there—so different from anywhere else in the country—and decided it was time to live in the thick of it.

The food, the art, the energy of the city were everything he wanted. But sure enough, after a few months of soaking it all in, he got that familiar craving for a classic American burger. He tried a few local joints—nothing quite hit. Until one night, he calls me, absolutely lit up.

“I found the best burger in the city.”

He goes on to describe it: perfectly cooked, plated beautifully, with a side of hot, crispy sweet potato fries and a ramekin filled with ketchup. Not a squirt bottle. A ramekin.

I laughed. “And who made you this perfect burger?”

He answered proudly: “The Four Seasons Hotel.”

I nearly choked. My dad—gritty, opinionated, sass-for-days—walked into the Four Seasons and ordered a burger. And loved it.

Part of me was annoyed. The burger he raved about wasn’t from a dive or a no-frills local legend—it came from the fanciest hotel in town. But then the calls kept coming. Every few months, like clockwork. “I found the best burger in the city,” he’d say—forgetting, apparently, that he’d already told me. And every time, it was that same burger from the Four Seasons.

Eventually, it clicked. This wasn’t just about the burger.

The Four Seasons is known worldwide for impeccable hospitality—for anticipating needs, delivering luxury, making guests feel seen. And maybe, just maybe, that’s what this burger was about. Not the patty or the fries or the plate. It was about being treated like the most important person in the room, even if all you ordered was a burger. It was about the attention to detail. The spotless table. The staff who cared. The fact that they didn’t phone it in, even for something as humble as a burger.

And somewhere in there, a lightbulb went off.

Tastify was already busy. We were known for great food and fun dinner parties. But I realized we had the opportunity to be something more—a company that listens closer, notices more, and goes well beyond what’s expected. The kind of company that picks up on the whisper at the table. That treats every request—no matter how small—with reverence. That holds itself and its people to a level of excellence so clear and so consistent, our clients can’t help but tell their friends and come back for more.

All because of a burger.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started Tastify in my early twenties during a season where I felt completely stuck. I was working in corporate kitchens and hospitality management jobs that left me uninspired. I didn’t feel challenged, and I didn’t feel proud. I wanted to build something that sparked conversation. Something I could look at and say, I made that.

So I launched a humble little personal chef company—one that, at the time, mostly catered to bachelorette parties looking for an affordable option.

But word of mouth spread quickly, and as demand grew, so did Tastify. Slowly and intentionally, we evolved into something more premium. We began offering thoughtful add-ons like florals, rentals, fine dining service, and menus rooted in local flavor and creativity.

Today, Tastify is a full team: five incredible chefs, nineteen servers, a dedicated admin, and a full-time kitchen prep guy. We provide weekly meals to busy clients—stocking their fridges with clean, balanced, chef-driven dishes. We also produce hundreds of dinner parties, intimate weddings, and curated pop-up events each year.

But through all of that, one thing has never changed: our obsession with hospitality.

We built Tastify around the question: How can we offer the kind of care and detail restaurants no longer can? The answer was simple: we only take on a few tables a night—not fifty, not a hundred. We stay small, personal, and obsessively focused on the experience at hand.

We grew slow, with care. And it paid off.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In our pursuit of better service, we started looking inward—not just at our food, but at the full experience. If our clients were going to feel perfection, then we had to insist on it. And that meant everyone connected to Tastify—vendors, partners, team members—had to rise to the same standard. You’re either helping us deliver excellence, or you’re in the way.

For four years, we relied on a chef booking platform (which shall remain nameless, though many of our clients know exactly who I’m talking about). It housed everything: our menus, availability, booking tools, client portals, reviews, job history. For a time, it was brilliant—a dream for a chef trying to scale with some automation.

Then it wasn’t.

New leadership came in. Features broke. Clients couldn’t view proposals, log in easily, or make changes without frustration. On our side, the calendar stopped syncing, billing got messy, and the organization we’d worked so hard to build began slipping away.

We were stuck. Four years of data. Fifteen menus. Our entire infrastructure lived on a platform that no longer met the mark.

So we made a scary call: we pulled the plug.

We went old school. We brought it all back to phone calls, real conversations, and long—but intentional—email threads. Every inquiry became a chance to connect, to understand, to serve.

And here’s the twist: our clients loved it.

They told us how refreshing it felt to talk to a real person about their event or dietary goals. They felt heard. Understood. And honestly? We loved it too. Things were more organized, more personal—and our close rate doubled.

Was it risky? Absolutely.

But we don’t make decisions based on ease. We make them based on the guest experience. And if it means doing more work to give our clients something truly unforgettable, then we do it—every time.

Because perfection isn’t an accident. It’s a choice. And we choose it, daily.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

Last year, I woke up in a cold panic at 3 a.m.—which almost never happens. I usually sleep like a rock. Sixty-hour workweeks will do that to you.

But this time was different.

We had overspent. We had undersold. It was right after switching software platforms, and everything felt like it was in flux. I had just made the gut-wrenching decision to lay off my full-time executive chef—someone I respected deeply—just to keep the business alive.

It was, without question, the darkest chapter of my career.

At the same time, something else was becoming painfully clear: our service wasn’t standing out anymore. Suddenly, it seemed like every line cook in Nashville had a “personal chef” offering—and they were undercutting us on price. And while their service couldn’t match ours, new clients didn’t always know the difference.

But I wasn’t ready to let go of the business I’d poured everything into.

With the help of my career coach, we started to rebuild. We refined our dinner party service, sharpened every detail, and pivoted more seriously into weekly meal prep. We focused not just on food, but on hospitality—on the warmth, care, and precision that truly set us apart.

It wasn’t easy. Food costs are still outrageous. Over-purchasing is a daily battle in this industry. But today, bookings are up. So is the quality of our work. We’re back in the green—and more importantly, we’re aligned with who we are again.

Tastify is moving forward—with more intention, more clarity, and more heart than ever before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tastifyfood.com
• Instagram: @tastifyfood
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/tastifyfood

Image Credits

Dustin Lefleur