Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacquelynn Allen.
Hi Jacquelynn, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My love for cooking started when I was 8 years old. I would wake up early to catch the cooking shows on KAET. I fell in love with watching Lidia’s Table. Lidia is an Italian chef and her recipes always seemed so easy with minimal ingredients but turned out so amazing. I was fascinated with Italian food from this point on. I would always watch my grandpa cook in his Le Creuset Dutch oven and cooking just seemed to always be a breeze to him. In school I would always enroll in culinary arts. After I graduated from high school, I went to Le Cordon Bleu. While attending school here, i was 6 months pregnant with my second son. After I had him, I later found out he had Autism so I dropped out of culinary school to take care of him. This was not an easy decision for me as I loved cooking so much. So I started my catering business and would take on small catering jobs. Over the years I wanted to finish school so I enrolled myself into Scottsdale Community College and took the culinary program there. I was working full time for a computer company and attending college and by this time I had 3 kids. I was very busy but determined. I would go onto to become an executive chef, banquet cook, line cook, personal chef for other companies over the years. I even followed my love for Italian culture all the way to Italy and had the blessing of cooking with an Italian chef. It just always felt like something was missing so I stopped working for everyone else and took on my catering business full time. I now work for myself doing dinner parties, small weddings, meal preps etc.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Owning your own business is definitely not for the weak. It does have its perks and it also has its struggles. Sometimes things may not always go as planned and it may get slow from time to time. But it does teach you patience and perseverance. You have to learn to manage your time and money better and be smart about marketing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a personal chef, I do a lot of dinner parties. People travel from all over the United States to Scottsdale, book an Airbnb and book me to cater their special events. I have also traveled out of Arizona to cater a few events. That is definitely an adventure and so much fun! I love cooking Italian food and my food concept is making every day meals but healthier and better. Lots of colors go into my food so you feel good about what you are putting into your body. Everything is fresh and personally picked by me. No matter if I am cooking for a celebrity or someone who is just a regular awesome person, they all get the same treatment from me. They walk away knowing I gave them the best dining experience and they make sure to tell me. My clients always tell me they love my attention to detail and how I keep my menus rotating and with the seasons. I love making people smile through their stomachs. Feeding people is my love language.
Contact Info:
- Email: letseat@scentsoftaste.com
- Website: https://scentsoftaste.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scentsoftaste_catering
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scentsoftastepersonalchef
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/scents-of-taste-mesa
