Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Williams.
Robert, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My wife Natalie and I started Roux’s Catering in 1996 with 5,000.00 and a small 1,000 square foot kitchen/office. It was the same year we married. We started Roux’s Catering after meeting each other working in local restaurants. I started my culinary career working in upscale restaurants, and provided both social and corporate catering. While planning our own wedding, we saw a need for more restaurant quality style catering in my hometown of Augusta.
We focused on sourcing local and seasonal ingredients providing our customers with a better quality catering experience. I have always had a love for cooking, and spent most of my childhood tugging on the apron strings of my grandmothers and mother. The women and most of the men in my family were great southern cooks, so watching them cook was one of my favorite things to do. The time I spent in the kitchen with my family growing up is where my love for cooking was born. Both of our children have helped us during their high school and college years. Since we opened in 1996, we have catered over 2,000 weddings and countless numbers of corporate and social events. Our biggest week of the year is Masters week. We will cater to multiple fortune 500 companies, and a few golfers on occasion. We have hosted events for Jack Nicklas, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Sergio Garcia, etc.
We catered the retirement party for Arnold Palmer when he played his final round at The Masters. We now have two facilities we own for our on-site catering. Our downtown facility is an old firehouse and our midtown facility is an old pharmacy. The old pharmacy is where we host our Master’s clients.
We have worked very hard over the last 21 years to grow and expand our business. We have been very lucky to have a great team to help us grow, and we look forward to many more years.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting any business from the ground up is a challenge, and catering is even more demanding. We didn’t have a restaurant to offer our services, so we had to take our show on the road. We would host catered events in any of the great spaces around Augusta. The first year was a struggle because we had small kids, and our time was very limited. We missed lot’s of family time because we were so busy catering events off-site. The normal family life was our biggest challenge, and we struggled to keep family life normal for our kids. Staffing is also one of our biggest challenges. We struggled the first few years finding the right culinary team to meet our expectations for food quality and quantity. With catered events, you may need to make thousands of appetizers for one event. Having been a restaurant chef, we never dealt with that kind of volume, so we had to learn a new way to cook in a high volume capacity.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We offer on and off-premise catering. We have two on-site facilities and host most of our events at one of those facilities. We specialize in southern traditional and cajun/creole flavors. We are known for our low country shrimp and grits bar, smoked salmon quesadillas, southern spring rolls with country ham and collards, fried quail, and our mac and cheese bar. I am most proud of the quality of the food we serve and the fact that most of what we prepare is made in-house. The quality of our food is what sets us apart from others in our business. Having two of our own facilities helps set us apart from other catering companies locally. We are the only company in Augusta with two onsite facilities.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen trying new things. I catered my first dinner party when I was in 3rd grade for some friends of my parents.
I still remember the menu. It was a pepper seared filet of beef with green peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. I did prom dinner parties for my older brother when I was 12. I would cook lunch for my grandmother when I spent summers with her. I loved to bake back then and entered my first cake in the county fair, and won first place. I was 14 at the time. I have always had a love for cooking, so that is what I sent most of my free time doing. My mother was a single mother and I would cook most family dinners since she was often working late. I was really into golf and music.
Both still play big roles in my life today.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1244 Jones Street
Augusta, GA 30901 - Website: www.rouxscatering.com
- Phone: 706.724.218
- Email: robert@rouxscatering.com
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