Today we’d like to introduce you to Renea Myers.
Hi Renea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Tasty greetings! I am a southern gal and culinarian who has always had a love affair with food. I love how it looks, how it tastes, how it magically evolves from a seemingly random list of ingredients, and most importantly, I love how it brings smiles to the faces of those who enjoy it. Food is the true universal language. I was raised in a very “southern” family…. spending time on my grandfather’s farm learning the old fashioned ways of cooking and sharing neighborly hospitality. I learned to make biscuits from my Nannie Brintle, fried chicken from Mamaw Kathleen, greens and pot liquor from Mamaw Cobb, banana pudding and fresh coconut cake from Mama. I made my first “cut and paste” cookbook at age 9 and spent lots of time as I got older trying out new recipes for my Daddy who swore that everything I made was the “best he ever ate.” As I ventured into adulting, I dabbled with more sophisticated ingredients and cooking techniques. My cooking style is quite eclectic! Fortunately, my husband loves most of it (just no kale or goat cheese!)
With my degree in broadcasting and speech communications, I began my formal career without a food focus. I worked in television, corporate training, writing, advertising and owned a marketing firm specializing in small business. After staying home for a few years with my son and doing some limited consulting work, I decided to get serious about my culinary dreams. I enrolled in GTCC Culinary School and earned a degree in Culinary Arts. It was time to combine all my skills and experiences into a business endeavor.
I launched Culinary U of the Triad in 2015. I opened a private studio and began sharing hands-on cooking instruction and inspiration as Chef Renea. We offer all types of cooking programs- public classes for adults and youth, private group classes, corporate team building events and a corporate wellness demo and tasting program. I have realized that my first career in Communications gave me the key skillset in this “second chapter” career of my mine. My goal is to help others understand food and recipes. I strive to demystify basic cooking methods and equipment, thereby making home cooking something you want to do and not just something you have to do. I am amazed at how a few tips and tricks of the trade can make all the difference to an aspiring cook. I also find so much satisfaction in teaching delicious recipes that just happen to be healthy! I always wondered what it felt like to know that you’re doing exactly what you were created to do and now I do. I hope to be blessed to stay on this delicious path for many years to come. It’s better than Candyland….
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Some of the challenges:
-What target audience to begin with? Kids/adults/both?
-How to choose menus to appeal to a wide variety of clients and keep the menus interesting to me!
-Balancing comfort food offerings with adventurous “stretch” foods
-How to handle all the different kinds of classes being offered as the business grew: kids classes, birthday parties, adult classes, private classes, corporate offerings, private groups, etc. I am now partnering with another instructor who handles all the youth programming and I do all the adult and corporate work and we have several great kitchen assistants.
-It’s such a challenge to keep prices affordable with all the expenses of running a food-centric and labor intensive business.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I have already shared a lot about the business in the first section but here is a little more info
-We offer culinary instruction to adults/youth and corporate groups. (as described in previous questions)
-What sets us apart from other cooking classes is two-fold. In our studio, we focus on “hands-on” instruction vs. demo instruction. In a corporate wellness demo setting, we focus on solid nutrition education with a healthy side of humorous stories and lots of “Ask the Chef” time for Q & A. PLUS- generous tastings of everything. I am told that our programs are so much fun they forget they are actually learning. Then I see the AHA moments on their faces and know that they are!
-I want people to view cooking and menu selection as fun and approachable, not stuffy or stressful. I am not a Hoity Toity chef but just someone who likes to have fun and happens to know a heck of a lot about cooking! I want my students to feel comfortable asking me about anything food-related. With a smirk and a nod, I’ll do my best to answer.
Any big plans?
Keep doing what I’m doing… maybe focus even more on the Corporate Wellness offerings since I am really passionate about that fun and educational piece of my business right now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.culinaryutriad.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/culinaryu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/culinaryutriad
