Connect
To Top

Meet Chef Kyle Hires of The AfterGlow Experience in Decatur

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Kyle Hires.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Chef Kyle. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My passion for the culinary arts was ignited early in life by my mom and my granny. I grew up as a military kid, so we were always moving around and even spent some time in Europe… I think this helped to refine my taste buds. But no matter where we moved, home-cooked food was always a constant for my two older brothers and I.

I know for me, the majority of my youth and young adult years were spent in The South, and I think this fueled my love for southern comfort food. But before I fell in love with food, I earned a Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. The great thing about living in Tallahassee is that is where I discovered that my passion for the culinary arts could no longer be ignored. Instead of being called to party, my friends would call me to see what I was cooking for Sunday dinner, or if I was sparking up the grill on any and every three day weekend! Something they still do today!

After years of dabbling with recipes and creating new ones, I returned to Atlanta and enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, where I modestly graduated at the top of my class. While I was in culinary school, I got a chance to work and study under Chef Tony Sharpe at the Life Café in Duluth, GA. And it is there where I was recognized and recruited to be the Executive Chef for former Atlanta Falcon, Jamie Dukes’ Billion Pound Blitz.

During this time, I steadily worked on my craft and even applied to be on few culinary shows such as Hell’s Kitchen and The Next Food Network Star (multiple times), and even auditioned to have my own show on the OWN Network, when it was first starting out. But all of this was to no avail… so I continued to refine my techniques, learn new cuisines including kitchen management, and perfecting my craft, which I have learned is an ongoing process. I even did a brief four-month stint at Walt Disney World Resort, which was pretty amazing because growing up, I had never been to Disney during my 28 years of life, and now, I had the chance to work there and go to the parks for FREE whenever I wanted to!

Fast forward to the last few years, where I worked as a Culinary Arts Instructor at Decatur High School, which was extremely fulfilling, but I made the tough decision to pursue the culinary passion full-time and launched The AfterGlow Experience, a full-service catering, and personal chef business. We call it “full service” because we can handle everything from private tastings for two people all the way up to large banquets and celebrations for 500 people.

And if you noticed I said “we” a few times, it is because The AfterGlow Experience is a family business that I started with my wife of almost nine years, in hopes that our six-year-old son would one day decide to keep the legacy alive and take over the reigns when he is of age.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Any entrepreneur that tells you the road has been smooth is flat out lying! However, the 1st month of the freedom launch of The AfterGlow Experience looked like it was going to be the hottest business since sliced bread. I had so many events in my first month that I was literally turning events down. And about two months later, nothing! But not only two months later…3 and 4 and five months later, still dry!

However, you and I both know that awesomeness can be birthed in nine months and that’s exactly what happened… well, somewhat. I began spending more time asking God is this what He really wanted me to do with my life, and every time He answered by sending me an unexpected event. I would ask myself, “Should I REALLY do this event?” and self would say, “Go for it- you never know who may be at the event!” I know it sounds crazy, but these are literally the conversations I had with myself.

I still didn’t hit the stride that I had hoped, but I decided to keep a positive outlook. Instead of getting discouraged when I would see how well my friends and colleagues were doing with their catering businesses, I would actually use that as fuel to keep going, to keep pushing, to keep knocking on doors, to keep calling, to keep sending emails, to keep posting pics and videos on social media.

When starting out as an entrepreneur, one thing to remember is that YOU ARE THE COMPANY! No one is going to force you to do anything. So, you have to have Passion Heart and Desire, the Ph.D. of the business owner.

Please tell us about The AfterGlow Experience, LLC.
I think the main thing that sets us apart is Quality.

We do not compromise on ingredients. We do not compromise on your experience. We believe that the body is a Temple and should be nourished with the highest quality ingredients available. There is so much Life tied to food: memories, emotions, and feelings. To cheapen that experience would negate the purpose of one of the most enjoyable experiences in life, which is eating.

One of the things that I am most proud of with The AfterGlow Experience is that we carefully select/hand-pick our staff to further enhance the quality of the experience. I had the pleasure of being a culinary arts instructor for two years at Decatur High School. And during that time, I was in charge of all of the catering events at the school, and even at the City Schools of Decatur central office. During that time, I trained a core group of students on exemplary catering skills and service, and they know whenever they work with me what my expectations are for the food that we put out to our guests.

As far as what I am known for and what I specialize in, I guess you can say I am a jack of all cuisines. I love to do hors’ d’oeuvres and pack as much flavor as possible into 1-2 bites of food. However, I try not to say that we have a specialty because I feel like that would put limitations on us. One of our slogans with The AfterGlow Experience is “our only limitation is your imagination.” …If you can think it up, we can cook it up- and hopefully, exceed your expectations.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would learn the difference between fans and customers early… or friends vs. clients. Everyone who said they are going to support you is not necessarily your customer. Some people will flinch and quiver at your prices and costs, but your target customer will know the true value of quality and the age old saying of “you get what you paid for.” This was definitely the hardest lesson that I have learned thus far.

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in