Today we’d like to introduce you to Inger Smith.
Hi Inger, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Originally from Houston, Texas, I grew up in a restaurant family. My mom owned a small, fine dining establishment in the high rise where we lived. I worked my way through college in different cafes and restaurants but really began my career in New York City at The Cleaver Company, a catering business, working under the amazing Mary Cleaver. Coming back to Houston, I began studying and volunteering at the popular Le Panier cooking school, Having the privilege of working alongside such exceptional chefs as Guliano Bugiali, Marcella Hazan, Nick Malgieri and Joanne Weir, was one of the greatest gifts I could imagine. While working and teaching at Le Panier, I also was the co-founder and executive chef of Smart Meals, Inc. one of the first health and performance based, pre-packaged meal companies in the United States. After several years, I left Houston and moved to the NE Georgia mountains and along with my husband Chris, opened Inger’s Fine Foods, a fun and funky cafe and takeout shop in Clayton. We were open from 2001-2008. During that time, we expanded into catering, and I did A LOT of baking! My heart was always in the healthy food arena, and I loved making nutritious meals that tasted like comfort food. As time went on, I had the unique opportunity to work in the professional sports, music and film industries, and was sought after by celebrity clients who needed to stay healthy and fit. For many years, I specialized in managing the dietary needs of professional and elite athletes. I spent three years as a Chef Consultant for the Atlanta Falcons working specifically with Matt Ryan, Tyson Jackson and Justin Blalock; I was private chef on tour for professional golfer Dustin Johnson from 2011 through 2019, and worked with other notable clients such as Jennifer Anniston, among others. In 2019, I returned to Rabun County and had the privilege to work in the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia’s Teaching Kitchen. In my role as manager, I taught classes, organized and cooked for fund raising events, and engaged with the local community to bring awareness of everything the Food Bank did in our community and the counties it served. In 2020, COVID upset the teaching opportunities for a time, so I continued to run my own company, Inger’s Original, doing catering and producing a variety of food products out of the Food Bank’s commercial kitchen. Happily, I was asked to return to the Food Bank in 2025 as the Director of Education and Entrepreneurship. In this roll, I work to help make our community aware of the services we provide, Coordinating the Teaching Kitchen and Commercial Kitchen resources to bring education and workforce training to youth and really anyone interested in learning how to cook or grow a business. My passion is developing recipes and cooking with ingredients that are nutritionally sound and of the highest quality. I grow some of my own food, work with local farmers, and enjoy making meals for clients who desire to stay healthy and well. Personally, my family and friends are my joy, especially my two wild and crazy grandsons. I absolutely love what I do because it gives me the chance to do things that matter and help people live better lives.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I wouldn’t trade the path my life has taken for anything, although there have been ups and downs. I would say the most difficult time in my career was when we owned our restaurant. I opened because I had a talent for cooking and baking, which I enjoyed very much. The problem was that I had very little understanding of how an efficient and successful business should be run. During the 8 years, I learned how to run a restaurant through lots of failures, hard knocks and life lessons. Part of the reason I am thrilled to be heading up the entrepreneurship division of the Food Bank is to hopefully save young people some negative experiences and share the wisdom I learned along the way.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I guess, first and foremost I love to cook and bake. Those are the interests that got me started and keep me going. I cook a wide variety of foods, rarely use recipes and love exotic flavors. I am known for delicious cakes made with interesting combinations of ingredients and my Toasted Pecan Chicken Salad. I think I am most known for that and it is a recipe I am very proud of.
In my opinion, the thing that sets me apart is that I am very easy to work with, my food is always delicious (I won’t serve something that isn’t exceptional) and people I cook for can tell I love every minute of preparing their food.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I would like to see our industry continue to focus on food providers, growers and distributers working more closely with Food Banks and pantries to provide product and education for the next generation. Workforce development in all these areas is extremely important if we are going to manage food insecurity moving forward.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chefingersmith
Image Credits
@arrowsfarm
