Today we’d like to introduce you to James Robinson.
James, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am from Piscataway, NJ and when I was 10 years old, I first realized how enthused with all the type of ingredients and dishes my family introduced me to. So, to provide you with a background of my ethnicity, I am biracial. My father is African American from NC, and my mother is Jewish from NY. As you can you see I has the clash of the north and south of tasteful dishes. When my family would come together for holidays, such as Jewish holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving and many more; my grandmothers were cooking up a feast. They let me par take in the cooking, and help me understand the concepts behind each dish. One dish, that I loved cooking was braised brisket. The aroma, the tenderness, and that first slice.
When I turned 15, I worked at my first restaurant as a line cook. I was introduced to a whole entirely different world of pure culinary experience. It made me want to understand the intricate learning of the culinary world, and it made me want to learn more.
When I graduated high school, I wasn’t sure what path I wanted to take. I loved cooking, but also I wanted to go to college for business. I decided to move to Atlanta, GA in 2004, and obtained my Associates in Business Management. I felt like I was not satisfied with this accomplishment with this degree, and was at a standstill for a brief moment. Then one Christmas, my aunt Nikki, gave me a Culinary College book. I was thrilled, and started to look at colleges that were in the nearby area. I saw that Le Corden Bleu College of Culinary Arts (Tucker, GA) was here. I had a long talk with my grandparents, and they told me to pursue my dreams. I went to the campus, and enrolled into their program, this was the moment I realized that I had a gifted talent to pursue this dream as a Chef.
While I was in culinary college, I worked for Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta, GA. I had the opportunity to work under great chefs that taught, and guided me through my career within the private sector. I had gotten to work with all ingredient imaginable, and created my own dishes. At this point of my career, I felt accomplished; but I knew there was more out there for me. A friend of mine, asked me would I like to take an Executive Chef position at Chatmoss Country Club in Martinsville, VA. I was so ecstatic, and decided to take the position. When I took this position, I learned more about the business side of the culinary world, such as food cost, hiring, etc. This all came together, and started putting bigger dreams in my head.
After 15 years in the industry, I felt lost again. I was burnt out from the long hours and working every holiday. This took a toll on spending time with my family, and relationships. I decided to put my knives down, and go back to college and obtain my Bachelors in Management Information Systems. I also switched careers, and had gotten an 8 to 5 – Mon – Fri. This felt amazing, having my time back, but it gave me the opportunity to brainstorm about what I want to ultimately do as my life goal.
I would still get calls from clients, that I use to do private chef events and it had me pondering. I sat in front of my computer, and just started creating a website, social media, and ordering business cards for my catering business. I finally figured it all out, I still have the passion to cook and provide tasteful dishes to people. As, I started promoting my business more, I started getting great feedback. Now that I have goals set for my company and inspire my food to private clients, this is going to be an amazing journey of Sensations Culinary!!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say that if you put your mind to it, anything is possible. Unfortunately, this has not been a smooth road to accomplishing my company goals.
At first, promoting my company and getting a large scaled client base is a difficult road of getting your brand out to the public.
There were moments, where I felt like my company was never going to be able to take off and provide satisfaction to my goals.
I definitely had to put the time and effort into my company, when times had gotten difficult. I was not making much a profit on the business spectrum, but had the opportunity to provide creative dishes to clients.
When I decided to take time off from being the industry, and finally came to the conclusion that I wanted to start my own business. There is many difficult tasks, of providing the need of clientele; especially in the Atlanta area. There are many talented Chef’s, and there is a variety of competition. Finding a way to stand out, among the competition can be difficult at times.
Sensations Culinary – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company offers a variety of services, mainly Private Dinners, Birthday Parties, Weddings, and Catering. I only use fresh ingredients in all of my dishes, from local farms or farmer markets.
We are known for our incredible wedding cakes, buffets, and that we create our own infusion dishes; meaning that every dish has their own signature twist of ingredients, we love doing infusions, this is something that makes us stand out from others.
I would say that providing excellent service, fresh ingredients, and showing our clients how much we care about their needs. We sit down with our clients, and create a menu only dedicated to them. We do not have any set menus or items, we provide dishes at the moment of contact with our clients.
The very thing that I am proud about my company, is that joy I get to see from my clients faces; when they take that first bite.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
My proudest moment of my career was being an Executive Chef at the age of 23 and taking the initiative to start my own catering business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sensationsculinary.wixsite.com/sensationsculinary
- Phone: 404-395-7339
- Email: sensationsculinary2017@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sensationsculinary2017/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sensationsculinary2017/
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