Meet Stacy Preece | Personal Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stacy Preece and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stacy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Service and hospitality are the core themes in my life. I began my journey at an ice cream shop, I was a scooper. Yes, that’s what they called us. From there I went on to work as a hostess and then a server and I moved to bartending, I loved my jobs and the people who work in hospitality often become your other family.
I was in school to be an interior designer, and then I switched majors to philosophy and religion. It was then that the school of culinary arts at the art institute of Atlanta opened, and my mom told me I should go. So I did.

After graduating culinary school and working at some of the finest restaurants in Atlanta, I decided to open my own restaurant. I sold that restaurant and I went to go work and a few other kitchens. After that often I would rotate between the kitchen and front of house where I would wait tables or tend bar.

It was then that the idea of being a personal chef started to come into my world. To me it seemed like the perfect plan. So over the course of the last 20 years I have rebuilt and re-defined what being a personal chef is to me, I have done parties of 200 and I have done dinners for two

Nowadays I do my private chef work in the form of dinner parties and small gatherings, and I also do private chef work for a an individual in south Florida who does private drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. I have so enjoyed working with her that I am now relocating to Florida and will spend the rest of my time doing private chef work there. I am also looking to do dinner parties, grocery stocking of refrigerators and hoping to get my name in with multiple rental companies there.

I thought that bringing the fine dining restaurant to a persons home where they can be comfortable and enjoy, using their fine China and dishes and having a party where they can actually participate and not be the ones chained to the kitchen would be an excellent idea and that is how I got started as a personal chef.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Both of my grandparents were artists. Several family members are photographers. My cousin is an artist so you could say that arts and creativity run in my family.

I always told people that my medium is food and my canvas is the plate. I tried to make food that is visually appealing, colorful, as well as delicious Because I know the people eat with their eyes first and their mouth second.

Art and creativity can be expressed in many ways. People just need to find their own groove. The lessons I have learned along the way are about color and balance about knowing which foods to cook to have the right timing so that everything reaches the plate at the same time while still being visually appealing, and of course tasty

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who deserve a shout out in my life but I’ll start with my parents. My mom and dad were very supportive of my career. They helped me get the restaurant after culinary school and supported me on my journeys to becoming a personal chef.

I also want to thank Dr. Cali Estes of The Addictions Coach and The Addictions Academy for talking me into moving to Florida and providing me the opportunity to help those in recovery. Find a new way to use food as a method for healing the body.

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Image Credits
Chef Stacy Preece