Today we’d like to introduce you to Nzali Scales.
Nzali, 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 the founder and chef of Zaza’s Kitchen. Zaza’s Kitchen is a lifestyle brand that merges health-centered recipes with food education to empower people to become more comfortable and confident in the kitchen. While the kitchen is a daunting place for some, my mission is to guide people to realize their own potential as a chef through teaching my original recipes in virtual private cooking classes, Instagram live sessions, and through my website.
Food is my muse and there is no greater joy to me than giving life to the recipes that I craft. This love began at a young age when my brother and I ran our in-home restaurants. The ‘play food’ soon became real ingredients and as I got older, the kitchen became my canvas. I now use a market-to-table approach to add my personal, eclectic spin on local and international favorites.
Between middle and high school, I worked at the Intimate Cafe of Atlanta. Cooking behind the flat top, ringing up the customers, and the rush of being in a restaurant environment energized me. My experience at Intimate Cafe taught me food’s pivotal role in community building. Since then, I have worked at a host of local cafes and restaurants. As a senior at Spelman College, I created a community of my own through selling meal preps and plates to students on campus. Opportunities like these have helped me to expand my reach, and I’ve held on to this joy to translate it into the foundation of my business.
Has it been a smooth road?
One of the first things I learned about entrepreneurship is that it is high risk. I went into Zaza’s Kitchen knowing that it would not be “smooth,” but when the difficulties occur I look to other business owners in my community for insight. The challenges have been an opportunity for growth, which has helped me realize a more refined version of my brand.
Because Zaza’s Kitchen got its footing while I was a college student, I understood that time management and my budget were my top priorities. I knew that I wanted to offer my meal prep services and plates to students in the Atlanta University Center and surrounding college campuses and knew that I needed to be intentional about costs. Serving quality food is always my goal, and doing so while being mindful of the price college students were willing to pay was challenging.
I also experienced some setbacks during the brink of COVID-19. Quarantine initially felt like a set back because the traditional approach to my business was interrupted- I was not able to serve/deliver meals anymore. Optimally, I capitalized on the time people were spending at home; I wanted to showcase my cooking process from prep to plate. My virtual cooking episodes on Instagram live evolved into a virtual interactive series where I instruct my followers in real-time as they prepare my recipes in their own kitchens. Since then, I have realized a new purpose for my brand. Zaza’s Kitchen is not only a food-centered lifestyle brand but an educational platform that encourages conscious cooking and strives for all of its users to have the opportunity to wear the chef’s hat in their lives.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Zaza’s Kitchen specializes in creating custom culinary experiences for foodies of all levels of expertise. My appreciation for fresh, quality produce paired with my love for complex flavor profiles helps me spice up and add my personality to classic recipes. I pride myself on creating dishes that make healthy meals more approachable and attainable. I don’t believe that folks have to be a culinary school graduate to know how to cook well. I recognize that cooking may seem intimidating to some, so I offer my private virtual cooking experiences to help people become more acclimated in the kitchen and have fun while doing so.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
While my business is virtual, Atlanta is the perfect city to connect with like-minded creatives and business-oriented folks. This makes for ideal collaborations, partnerships, and a supportive community to help me realize my vision with Zaza’s Kitchen even further.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zazaskitchen.com
- Email: zazaskitchen1@gmail.com
- Instagram: @zazaskitchen
- To Book a Private Cooking Class: https://Zazaskitchen.
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Image Credit:
Photos taken by Nzali Scales
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