Today we’d like to introduce you to Hope Bailey, Melissa Carter, and Joyce Malicse.
Hope, Melissa, and Joyce, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Joyce Malicse: Our team goes back several years. Hope and I started working together in 2011 at a different catering company. In 2014, Melissa hired us to cater her company’s annual gala, and we’ve been working together ever since.
Melissa Carter: Not long after my gala, we all left our companies to begin new ventures, but continued to call on each other for help. Hope would contact us to produce her catering events, and Joyce and I would hire each other for events, too. We’ve always had a great working relationship that developed into an even better friendship.
Hope Bailey: The idea for Pink Salt Cuisine started in late 2017. Melissa and I had just left a meeting and got together for drinks. As a lifelong vegetarian and now as a vegan, I mentioned that I was very unhappy having to cook meat and wanted to focus on vegan meals, but I didn’t want to do it alone. We brought Joyce in immediately and Pink Salt Cuisine was up and running in a matter of months.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
MC: It’s been relatively smooth, but like any new business, we’ve had to learn things along the way. As a 100 percent plant-based caterer, I think our biggest challenge is shifting how people view vegan cuisine.
JM: We meet people everyday who say they don’t eat vegan food because there is still a stigma associated with it. Once they try our food and realize that plants and grains can be transformed to create their favorite dishes, they realize that plant-based eating can be really fun and delicious.
HB: I would agree that it’s changing people’s minds about vegan cuisine, but I think that is becoming less of a problem. Plant-based products are very mainstream now – vegan food isn’t as foreign and scary as it used to be.
Please tell us about Pink Salt Cuisine.
HB: Pink Salt Cuisine provides elevated and inspired plant-based culinary experiences that wow. We specialize in transforming beloved animal-based dishes into satisfying and delicious plant-based dishes and are known for our extensive love and knowledge of global cuisine.
MC: In addition to catering, our team also produces events, with the goal of being zero-waste. We mindfully plan each event to ensure that we can compost and recycle as many items as possible, and limit the use of single-use plastics.
JM: We see so much food wasted and trash produced at events, so we do as much as we can to limit the amount of waste we produce. We donate all unserved food at the end of our events to local charities, and by composting and recycling, we were recently able to close out an event with less one pound of trash!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
JM: I don’t think we would do anything differently. We built Pink Salt Cuisine on a foundation of trust and respect, and make sure every decision reflects those values.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pinksaltcuisine.com
- Phone: (562) 758-0088
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/pinksaltcuisine
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pinksaltcuisine
Image Credit:
Keith Martins / Pink Salt Cuisine, Joyce Malicse / Pink Salt Cuisine
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