Today we’d like to introduce you to Calder Marria.
Hi Calder, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My business started as a hustle to make extra money in college. I am a former division one college athlete, before the NIL money!! I begin selling plates out my apartment to make extra money and that grew a passion I never knew I had. I started to really fall in love with cooking and selling plates and the feedback I got from my customers at the time. Being an athlete I still had to balance the two so most of my cooking was in the late evenings after workouts, class, practice, and study hall. So I had late nights and early morning often. Eventually I decided that I wanted to do this as a career, so I got a internship shadowing the head chef in the main cafe on campus, where I learned so much stuff and even ran my own station during lunch. Being that I didn’t go to culinary school everything I learned was through experience and guidance.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The path to get to where I am today was bumpy at times for sure! One of the biggest struggles I faced was once I left my internship I had no guidance on what to do next. I had no mentor or anything to assist me in my transition after college. I basically jumped off the ledge and prayed I could fly. I didn’t know the first thing about catering all I knew was how to sell plates. I also didn’t have a real in depth knowledge on cooking and preparing food. I was winging it for a long time. Another struggle I faced was not knowing how much to charge people! So I lost alot of money in the beginning because I didn’t know how to properly charge customers for my services. I didn’t understand my value and what I was doing was more than feeding people.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Some things you should know about my catering company is that it is unique in the sense of customization and customer service. Since I had no guidance on how to do what I’m doing I modeled everything how I wanted I had no blueprint so I made my own. I offer clients the opportunity to create whatever spread of food they dream of. Take the menu and pair it with the setup of their choice! No two events are alike from food taste to setup. Along with having great food and beautiful setups I pride myself in customer service. Any client who has ever worked with me knows I love to talk and really get to know my clients. The communication aspect is very important to me and I believe this sets me apart from other companies. I like to form genuine relationships with my clients that last a lifetime!
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
All my social media is under @ChefC_Kitchen1
Email is ChefCKitchen1@gmail.com
I’m always active on there and can be reached!
Contact Info:
