Superstar Chef: Chef Tiffany Williams, Exquisite Catering

Nov 9

The Trotter Project had the pleasure of catching up with Chef Tiffany Williams, the founder of Exquisite Catering. Chef Tiffany was one of The Trotter Project’s grant recipients during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing her mission of exquisite food for all from the South Side to Beyoncé’s tours. Read about her incredible journey below.

Thanks again so much for taking the time to talk with me today about The Trotter Project. I would love to hear just more about you and your start as a chef, your background, your upbringing, and what really got you excited about the culinary art.

So, it's interesting how I actually got into this field. I started at 14 with an art program called Gallery 37. It was an art program for teenagers to learn various arts across Chicago, even in high school. My first program was a summer program downtown where I learned jewelry making, and they paid us to learn these different arts. They had dance, music, theater. It was an amazing program.

After doing the program for so many years, I ended up in cake design and cake decorating. This was when I was 17. The chef asked, “What are you doing after high school? Cause you're really, really good at this.

And I said, “Well, I'm not sure.” I was pregnant at the time. I couldn't go away to be a meteorologist, which is really what I wanted to be. And he said I should check out culinary school, that I have a knack for this. I did, and ever since, I've been in this industry.

So were you naturally more of a baker, a pastry chef before you moved into other culinary arts?

I like baking. I still like baking to this day. I found out it's more of a hobby than something that I'm like, really, really in love with.

I started to do it overnight when the kids were asleep and it was completely silent in the house. But I’m such a perfectionist that baking is really hard for me. I have hot hands. So all these little elements just didn't work for me to get into pastry, but I was always engaged in learning more about international cuisine which really drove my love to learn about culture through food.

So I started teaching about culture through cuisine.

Wow. And so when did you start teaching? Was that right after you went through the programming?

After I did the program with Gallery 37, I went to culinary school. This was back when culinary school was extremely popular, when Emeril was doing the “BAM!” and people were becoming celebrity chefs.

It was a very saturated industry for all the newbies and I ended up staying in that program to get my Bachelors in culinary management because I knew it would be really competitive coming out. From there, I worked in fast casual locations, very large corporate dining areas as well that fed over 3,000 people.

I learned to cook for mass quantities at that point in my life, which I think has helped me to this point. I then worked at Macy's for quite some time. Before it was Macy's, it was Marshall's Fields. I was there for the switch in the Walnut Room. That was my fine dining experience.

I worked there for some years and decided I'm ready to move up in this industry. I got serious about it and started looking into more management positions and became a supervisor there.

After I left, I became a supervisor with a larger catering company, Jewell Events Catering, who I call the Rolls Royce of catering. They have extremely loyal clients and have catered to all the presidents that come through the city.

My career went into being a general manager. I became a chef manager for a location with their contract dining, and from there, one of their general managers. I was out of the kitchen at that point. I was running a $1.3 million dollar contract dining facility.

That helped me understand the front of the house, all the management. I was going to go back to school for my MBA at that point. And I was like, “Well, I think I can learn all this stuff while I'm working,” and sure enough, I learned enough to get comfortable in the front.

From Jewell, I started dabbling in my own business, doing things on the side. People were calling me mostly for cakes So it did start off with baking for me. I started doing a lot of cakes for people. I loved art. I like building, as well, and it was easier to build these constructs and play with colors and textures, what’s a little bit harder to keep cake together.

I had a lot of friends that were really good pastry chefs. I would call them and get tips and advice. From the cakes, people started saying “Hey, can you cook meals for us?” So I started doing some catering on the side.

One day, I took a business class with Sunshine Enterprise. It really honed me. It really made me look at what I've been doing and say, “Wow, this could be a lucrative business. I feel like I could take this to the next level.”

I understood food costs from being in the industry for so long and working as a general manager. That was the easy part for me to understand how to cost my product out, how to make a profit. But after I took that class, I thought I should take this more seriously. So I went ahead and launched my business in June, 2017. By October, I was working full time on my business.

So what do you think was that “Aha!” moment of what I have and what I can do is going to be really special? What was the exquisite ingredient?

Exquisite actually wasn't my first catering company. I started one with another gentleman with palate pleasers, which is what we wanted.

We pleased the palate and it didn't work out and, and I wanted to do more and keep going because we had this clientele. People just started talking about what I was doing and when I came up with Exquisite, I just wanted something to stand out.

I have worked and lived on the South Side, but worked mostly on the North Side. And I found that, of course, there's a big difference from the South Side and North Side where I lived and where I worked. And I said, “Why can't we have nice things on the South Side?” That was the big moment.

I was hearing some of the stories about catering on the South Side, it was just night and day. And I said, “I don't want to be a company that's not reliable.”

I want to be on time. I want to give the people more than what they expect. And I want to be affordable to people who want to have nice events on the South Side. So that was the spark of Exquisite. I want it to be something that when you hear the name, you recognize it's going to be great.

When did you first start to find your signature? Can you tell us a little bit more about some of those signature dishes you love to do that started to grow your business?

Yes. So I started doing small bites for people. When we worked in catering, I did a lot of weddings. That was my secret love. I love to be the chef at people's weddings. This is the day they're going to remember for the rest of their lives and we get the honor of being the chefs for them. I was so excited because I got to cook for so many people. It was just that refinement of the food, the small bites, the passed appetizers, keeping things international, kind of being creative, and offering things outside of what we would eat normally.

I don't have small hands. So that's my disclaimer for the small bites. We don't do little bitty appetizers. We have small bites. So they're about two-to-three bites, the size of a dinner roll, and they're filling. That became what we were known for, our small bites.

And what kind of ingredients do you gravitate towards? Is there a certain type of cuisine that makes you pop when people have you at these events?

I love to do something new and different. What was important for the catering company to be sustainable was to create menus that people could select from and make it a little bit easier to get events done instead of a lot of back-and-forth.

But I love to be creative. I love when a client says, “Okay, this is the budget I have. I have this theme. Can you just be creative with the food?” That's when I think we sparkle and shine the most. I love that.

So about three years into your business, COVID happens. What were you feeling at that moment? When did you have that introduction then to The Trotter Project and how did you start the partnership from there?

The city shut down on my birthday. It was a pretty devastating day, so I'll never forget that. It was March 13th, 2020. I was supposed to be meeting some friends for salsa dancing that night.

The calls that were coming in to cancel events were definitely devastating. By the end of the week, from Monday to Wednesday, we had lost all the business that we had upcoming.

I was telling my staff, “Guys, we're losing it. We're not going to have any business. We don't have any customers. We don't have any clients.” And I had the cafe at that time, as well. It just slowly trickled down into nothing.

I had met a former Trotter Project associate at the National Restaurant Association show some years ago, but we reconnected with each other during the pandemic. I heard about a lot of grants that were being given out to help small businesses. But most importantly, grants that were used for funds to help serve food to the community. I was filling out the most grants I've ever filled out in my life.

I had never filled out a grant before then, but I was trying to make a way for my staff to work, to be able to pay their bills. Then, we were able to receive one of the grants from The Trotter Project to help feed the community, which was very exciting.

The best thing about it wasn't that I got to keep everybody employed, but it was the fact that everybody was helping somebody else that made the biggest difference for the team. And it changed our mission throughout what we were doing as a business, as well.

Which neighborhoods were you feeding? Do you know how many meals you made?

It was about 400 meals twice a week, and we would feed a neighborhood just west of Englewood, and then we would do South Englewood.

Wow, that’s amazing. So three years later, we're coming back to big parties, things are picking up again. Do you feel like that sense of mission has stayed with the company, even though restrictions have lifted?

Yes, absolutely. We became more community-focused all the way around. We now partner with the Crushers Club in Englewood, where we teach culinary arts to young men. The Crushers Club is an alternative to gang violence They have many different programs to help these young men to stay off the streets and also to employ them. They have their own funds and they have their own money, they're not finding ways to go out and make money in an illegal way.

I found out about this program one day watching NBC at four in the morning. This woman was speaking about how she has this great program and how they pay to come work in these different areas. And she says, “Oh, we just need somewhere nice, like downtown for them to work.” And right away I'm offended. I said, “Nice downtown? Why can't they have nice things on the South Side?”

I wrote the lady an email in the moment that I had a cafe and if they're interested in the culinary industry, I would love to teach them. So Crushers Club and I have been working together ever since 2021.

They've driven our mission even further, which is to create careers and engagement for these young men as well to get them inside the hospitality industry in various areas and hopefully to see that they could travel the world. They could see the world outside their neighborhood through food. Food is the soul. Food is the heart.

The program's still going today. We're actually growing a little bit more. We're hoping to get our own location together. They want to launch their own small businesses in food so they could keep programs like that going for the young men, so we've been doing festivals. They want a restaurant, but we just focus right now on festivals that they can pop up at and create their own menus. It's been incredible just to see the passion that they have.

As a mom, I love them. They call me Chef Mama.

I think we'd be a little remiss if we didn't talk about a certain superstar you've been working with lately. How did you get involved with Queen Bey? What was the tour experience like?

I think I'm still dreaming. I haven't processed it yet, honestly.

I kept getting calls from some old friends and one of them said, “Hey, we got this job.” He kept calling me about this one location and I kept turning them down and said, “No, I'm doing my own thing.”

And then he called me, and said, “Hey, what about the NFL draft? Would you love to do that?” That sounded fun. I'd love to do that. And so I went to work the NFL draft downtown. And during that week, the owner of the company actually owns a backstage catering company. She said, “Your work is amazing. Do you have three more people like you?” I said, “I can get them down here.” And she said, “This is great. We're going to Beyoncé in two weeks. Would you like to come?” I'm like, “Well, let me check my schedule. That has absolutely nothing. Yes, I will go!”

We worked the Formation tour in Minneapolis and then two shows back here in Chicago.

On the way back here, she asked me if I was interested in a position with her as their executive chef. And so I became her executive chef for the entire summer for backstage catering. So many artists I got to work with that year. Snoop Dogg, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chance the Rapper. All of those great shows and great artists. I was the head chef for the Lollapalooza backstage and that one killed me three times, but it was an amazing year, Summer 2016.

From there, I just stayed in the network of backstage catering. I got a call for Beyoncé’s On The Run tour from another chef for help as a pastry chef for three weeks. We did 10 shows in those three weeks. I've been flying for all the big shows with this company, and last year we went on tour with Justin Bieber.

I knew that I would do the Renaissance tour as well. And I was just waiting for the day to come. I got to do her tour in Europe, the full European side of the tour, and then we got to do about six cities in the States.

What were some of your favorite stops along the way? And what were some dishes that were favorites amongst the crew?

Barcelona was my absolute favorite stop. I just feel like I need to be there. I need to live there, it just feels so peaceful, so serene. The city's beautiful. The people were beautiful. Food was amazing, such a good foodie culture there.

There were a total of seven chefs. We focused on everything from your proteins, starch, veg, fish, your vegan meals, pastas. We were cooking for 450 people. I had cooked a lot of the proteins, a lot of the meats. I just naturally wanted to do those things. We shared the responsibility. It was never just one area we stuck in.

A lot of people said that was the best part of their day. It kept us energized because we work long days and we're on our feet. We're the first ones in and not the last ones out, but it always felt that way. But we work longer days than most. Depending on where we were at, sometimes the equipment didn't work, so we’d have to just make things work.

Do you have a favorite song? Did you have a favorite set?

My favorite set may have been a set that was cut out of the show. It'll be in the Renaissance movie. There was a “Drunk In Love” set that was performed at the very first show in Stockholm, Sweden, and then it was performed at a few shows right at the end of the tour. That set was so beautiful. A lot of costume changes, a lot of props.

I didn’t meet her (Beyoncé). I met Jay-Z, who was extremely sweet, very nice. And her mom, same, very same. You felt welcome, I would say. You just felt welcome when you worked with them.

My name is listed on the credits as a chef on her website. So I'm more than grateful. That is definitely a career highlight.

What would you say you want for the future? What are some goals that you have for your company?

I was pretty burnt out after the pandemic because of all the work we did. We were feeding thousands of people a week. We had a full staff of about 20 people and I had just opened the cafe. I was pretty exhausted.

So I took my first tour because I wanted to get away and I wanted to get back to what I love, which was cooking. And it started with me hiring my staff back in and keeping things going. And I understood not just the business, but the need and the things that we were doing for the community were more important. Well, what it really prompted is I want to get into a bigger venue.

We've done some movie sets, and that was always the goal for my catering company to do local movie and film sets, and to introduce a backstage catering component that we offer. And oftentimes I'm the only woman in the room. I'm the only Black woman in the room on top of that. How does it change? How do we include more people? I realized I have to push my company into doing something like that. So we can include more people. We can include more cultures.

So we are launching into backstage catering, giving these young men we work with more opportunities, letting them see outside their neighborhood, but also see into industries that they love to watch and see that they can be a part of it in various forms, that they can find careers. They may not want to stay in food or hospitality, but there's lighting, there's sound, there's writing, there's different things that they can do if we start with backstage catering together. We're grateful to have some connections with Live Nation and hopefully you guys will see us doing some of that in 2024.

Sarah Perkins