Exploring Life & Business with Alma Garcia Herrera of À La Minute

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alma Garcia Herrera.

Hi Alma, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Our small private chef business initially started as a passion project during the pandemic in early 2021.

My boyfriend, Eric, and I are both professional chefs and graduates of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. After our graduation, we quickly began working in restaurants to gain experience, and ultimately keep learning.

I accepted a Sous Chef position pretty early on in my career which has allowed me to grow on the chef and business side of the industry. Eric has worked in various kitchens since his graduation, learning and growing immensely in his craft.

When the pandemic hit, we both took a moment to step back and really analyze if this was truly making us happy. We both, unfortunately, agreed that no, we felt our creativity and passion were being crushed by the huge weight and responsibilities of the restaurant industry. We were frustrated with the long hours, little pay, and few benefits that came along with a restaurant job.

Eric got into a depression episode, fueled by the hardships of the pandemic as well as his slowly dying passion for cooking. In February, I got an idea to start doing small private chef dinners, this would allow us to cook the food we wanted to cook, make new menus every time to spark our creativity, and only accept the jobs we wanted allowing us better work/life balance.

Eric started on a private chef platform online and I initially didn’t sign up. I wasn’t 100% happy, but I also was not as miserable as Eric in the kitchen. I decided to stay put but keep an open mind. A couple of months later, I got Shingles from the stress work was putting on me and my body. Shingle is a disease that usually only affects people over the age of 50 with weakened immune systems, getting it at 24 was a huge wake-up call for me that I needed to make a change.

After that, I decided to dive in and take this leap together. We started an Instagram and Facebook page and began advertising and posting on local community Facebook pages. Slowly, we started to get people to email and message and we began booking events. I put my creativity to use and started making beautiful charcuterie to offer as well, and Eric used his wine and beverage knowledge to offer wine pairings with meals.

Word of mouth and the support of our community is really what has helped us grow, we are still small but are seeing more and more people interested every day. For the first time in a couple of years, if you ask us if we are happy with our jobs the answer is: Yes!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We have faced struggles with funding to start up and be able to grow. Our main goal is to have our own small catering kitchen to be able to offer more options.

Our entire business is word-of-mouth driven currently, so getting enough business to start a solid clientele roster is still something we are struggling with. We’re not able to quit our jobs fully yet due to the unpredictable nature of events, so planning dinners around our work schedule has been extremely hard.

Unfortunately, we have faced customers who try to take advantage of us, due to our young age and try to get us to lower prices.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
À La Minute is the name of the business Eric and I created. We are the Chefs/Owners and are the ones behind every single menu and interaction. As private chefs, we need to be well versed in every cuisine to be able to offer our customers the most. We would say we specialize in customer service and go above and beyond for every single meal and service.

We always honor exactly what we promised, however, we like over-deliver when possible. This could mean a beautiful table setting, personalized touches on a charcuterie, a birthday candle in the dessert, or a glass of wine as a gift from Eric and me. I think what sets us apart from other personal chefs is we truly care about what the customer wants and likes, we will never give you a menu without asking your likes/dislikes and getting an idea of what type of meal you’re looking for.

We don’t offer any pre-set menus for this reason all our menus are custom made with each customer in mind. Brand wise, we think our name tells so much about us, À La Minute is french for “to the minute” in cooking terms it means making something fresh to be consumed at that moment. We translate it as creating all the menus, recipes, and dishes for one person in their special moment.

We offer private chef services and charcuterie to the Middle Tennessee area. Our biggest hit for summers is a taco fiesta, where we go above and beyond and offer a street cart experience and cook right in front of you. Charcuterie boards and grazing tables are huge hits for any event large or small or just to eat on the couch alone. Our snack boxes are amazing for corporate events or lunches.

We do everything from breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or snacks. Something we really want people to know is it doesn’t have to be a super fancy or special occasion, we can cook a stress-free breakfast for your family or grill burgers in the summer.

What do you think about happiness?
There are many things that make us happy, our sweet dog Maggie, our families, our relationships, friends but there is always one thing that is always in the center of everything and that is food.

Cooking for people and seeing the reactions after is our driving force. We believe food is the only thing in the world that is truly universal, every single person needs to eat and that fact connects everyone in this world.

Being able to provide this service and connect people to their friends and family or to different cultures is the most fulfilling job in the world. We love helping families and friends establish laughs and celebrate with meals we cooked and have those become food memories they think back on fondly.

Pricing:

• Charcuterie Pricing: Starts at $50-$1000
• Private Chef Pricing per person- $50-$300
• Taco Fiesta starts at $35 per person

Contact Info:

• Email: alaminutebyae@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alaminute.byae/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alaminute.byae