Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina & Dustin Reed. They and their team share their story with us below:
Eji’s /ˈejēs/ Culinary owners, Dustin & Gina Reed, grew up in the ’70s & ’80s when gathering around the table with family and friends was a priority. Eji’s is named after Dustin’s grandmothers, Emma Joy and Irene, who first introduced him to his future passion, cooking! From Grandma Emma Joy’s traditional holiday fare to Grandma Irene’s cast iron skillet fried chicken for Sunday dinners, he learned from a young age the importance food plays in social gatherings.
After working in hotels and restaurants in Austin and Houston for many years, Dustin completed the Le Cordon Bleu Program at Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona. He then followed his mentor to Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott, Whole Foods Austin and later Spanish Oaks Golf Club(Discovery Land Co) in the Hill Country. Dustin moved to Houston and joined Sodexo as Executive Chef of NASA/Johnson Space Center, BMC/Statoil and Enbridge prior to forming Eji’s Culinary.
Gina comes from a large Italian family and like Chef Dustin, she learned at an early age, the importance food plays in bringing friends and family together. “We spent holidays at my Grandma & Grandpa Chiavone’s house and our meals included homemade spaghetti and meatballs, Italian green beans & vegetables just to name a few. I will never forget our Sunday dinners at my Grandma Sedita’s house every week. Those were the best times! No one left hungry. There was always plenty of spaghetti and meatballs, roast, chicken stew, cookies, cakes and pies… The day was filled with eating, talking, laughing and playing with cousins. My best memories are of those times!”
Gina worked for Marriott International at various hotels in Texas and Arizona for nearly 20 years. She left Marriott in 2015 as Senior Event Manager at the JW Marriott Galleria Hotel and joined Sodexo as Catering Manager at ConocoPhilips in Houston. In 2016, Gina became Cafe General Manager at Apache Oil & Gas, then later Nalco Champion and Sysco Foods. Marriott and Sodexo provided invaluable experience in food & beverage and event planning which inspired the creation of Eji’s Culinary with Dustin.
In 2018, Dustin & Gina formed Eji’s Culinary, a catering company. In 2020, Eji’s Culinary grew into a food trailer named Eji’s Culinary Curbside Cafe. They took the trailer to local breweries & wineries around Katy, Cypress, Spring, Waller and surrounding areas.
The food trailer was closed in December 2021 in anticipation of opening Eji’s on Main in Waller, TX which is now their new permanent location. Eji’s on Main offers lunch or dinner to go, prepared meals to take and heat and a small vendor market with unique products from other local, small businesses such as specialty shea butters, hand poured soy candles and wax melts, hand made clay earrings and hand lettered prints, kombucha and pecan and peanut brittles. Eji’s on Main is always looking for additional small businesses who would like to include their products in the market.
Eji’s Culinary & Eji’s on Main is Dustin & Gina’s dream of preserving the tradition of food bringing people together & creating unforgettable memories!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Owning your own business has obstacles all along the way, whether it be learning how to manage the books, file taxes, manage staff, or figuring out how to keep the business going during a worldwide virus-like Covid-19. Being small business owners, we learn something new every day. Luckily, we have a community of small business owners & experts we can go to for guidance and assistance when we reach an obstacle we can’t figure out on our own.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Eji’s on Main offers carryout lunch and dinner, prepared meals to take and heat for dinner all week or for a quick lunch and a small vendor market with products from other small, local businesses.
Our menu at Eji’s on Main includes items such as Chicken Fried Shrimp Tacos, Texas Gyulais Buttermilk Chicken Fried Steak, Umami Burger with Texas Gyulais Beef Patty, Fried Duck Egg, Gruyère Cheese, Peanut Butter, Jalapeno Bacon Jam on a Potato Bun.
Chef Dustin, a classically trained Chef from Scottsdale Culinary Institute, takes pride in sourcing as much product from local farms and vendors as possible. We try to keep products from within a 250-mile radius. This allows us to bring the freshest product possible to our guests while supporting other local, small businesses and farms. Most of the items on our menu are made from scratch.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The Waller Area Chamber of Commerce and the Waller Economic Development Corporation have been very helpful to us in getting our name out to the community and introducing us to other business owners.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ejisculinary.com
- Instagram: @ejis_culinary
- Facebook: @ejisculinary
Image Credits
Isabella Photographyy
