Meet Nirasha Rodriguez of The Food Liaison

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nirasha Rodriguez.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a southern girl who grew up in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. I moved to Santa Barbara to pursue a photojournalism degree but realized I was a better cook than photographer. People started talking about how great my food was, and then they actually started to pay me to cook. I never looked at it as a profession because the hours were so grueling, but I could not escape the demand for my food.

I started working for a caterer out of Ventura on the weekends and then quickly landed a job in a high profile family’s home in Montecito as their Private Chef. This led to a strong career as a high profile/celebrity private chef throughout the country.

My success as a chef and entrepreneur led to the creation of The Food Liaison, a brick and mortar location in Carpinteria, CA. The Food Liaison has three elements to its business model; Catering, the Lunch Counter, and our cooking Classes. We source from local farms and use sustainable vendors as much as possible, send our food scraps to local pig farms, and give through various forms of fundraising and donations throughout the year.

The Catering is the foundation, and we focused on fine dining experiences but also predominantly cater to large corporate companies. We service anywhere from 700-4000 meals on a daily basis with our partnership with Socal Linkedin/Microsoft in which we manage their food and events program on site. We are one of the only “mom and pop” companies to hold such a partnership globally. Other corporate clients include Procore, Appfolio, The Trade Desk, Sonos, Amazon, etc.

The Lunch Counter is the heart of the operation, where we are able to feed the community by utilizing our fast casual cafe. The cooking Classes are our soul and allow us the educate and promote our vendors and local farms while sharing the stories of food and community.

If it wasn’t for my work ethic, drive for success and passion to feed on a higher level than the norm, I would not be so successful. When focusing on our business, my husband/business partner decided to break the molds and not follow any rules in how we designed and formed our company. The success relies on every single customer experience whether it is a salad from our lunch counter or a 5-course catered fine dining dinner.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are always challenges that come along with entrepreneurship, especially in the hospitality/restaurant industry but I have always been one to pick myself up and rise above the struggles. The struggles only make you stronger as a human and leader.

My husband and I lost our son due to autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease right when we were about to open our brick and mortar. His death, although terribly tragic, gave me super powers to move forward and be a stronger mother to our oldest daughter, a better leader to my team and more creative executive chef in the kitchen.

The Thomas Fire and mudslide aftermath also set us back last winter. It was a cold, dark winter holiday season in which we lost most of our corporate and private catering, not to mention our Lunch Counter sales plummeted due to evacuations, road closures, and air quality. Fortunately, myself, husband and limited faithful staff were able to take the food product from our inventory and directly feed the first responders every day for over two weeks with the help of donations from local clients and corporate partners.

The Food Liaison – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Food Liaison is Catering, Counter, Classes.

Mission Statement: Local and pure. Quality and knowledge. Enjoying food together.

We specialize in locally sourced, healthy, made from scratch food that nourishes the body and soul.

I am most proud to build a company that has an exceptional reputation and overall personal experience for all of our customers. The team of nearly 30 employees is what I call TFL (The Food Liaison) Family, and I love building them up to be the confident team members who take pride in what we do.

We are unique because we raise the bar in our industry and we work our asses off to put out food that has exceptional quality and taste.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Food can be very emotional and sentimental. I pride myself and team on tuning into those perfect experiences so that each client gets those warm and fuzzy feelings through our successful meals and service.

Every day is a valuable lesson in something, whether it is from the mistakes or successes that we have encountered or a new technique in the kitchen. I quantify success as patiently taking those lessons and nurturing them into obtaining our goals.

Another criteria for success is happiness through giving to my team and my family and the rewarding returns that come from sharing.

Pricing:

• Lunch Counter: $3-$30

Contact Info:

• Address: 1033 Casitas Pass Road, Carpinteria Ca 93013
• Website: www.thefoodliaison.com
• Phone: 805-200-3030
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: thefoodliaison
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFoodLiaison/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefoodliaison
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-food-liaison-carpinteria

Image Credit:
Lucas Deming, Christy Gutzeit

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