Today we’d like to introduce you to Adela Nadira.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Adela. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in a Lebanese household, very similar to that of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” where everything revolves around food. Having to cook for a large family every day, my mom sought our help in the kitchen to complete the task. My mother was born in Lebanon but raised in the Dominican Republic. She not only had the traditional Lebanese roots, but she also had the Latin flare. To top it all off, I was born in Venezuela and moved to the United States as a young adult. I brought with me only the memories—not even a written recipe of my mother’s. I yearned for home and called her every time I missed one of her dishes to help me make it in hopes of transporting back home.
However, that wasn’t enough—I was still missing the spread of “mezze” that we had every Sunday on our beautiful kitchen table where each of my four sisters and I were designated a task from our mother. Whether it was doing the dishes, prepping the vegetables, or placing the food on the table—everyone had to pitch in. My job was always to make the food look beautiful. I always had a presence in anything creative: setting the table to make it look nice, displaying the food, folding the napkins into eccentric shapes, etc. Of course, on those days we were a large group: my seven siblings with their seven partners and 25 nephews & nieces. Subsequently, the spread of food was always abundant.
Once I was in the States with my husband, I could not recreate such generous displays since we were only 2. I learned fast to make sure to fill my house with friends so I could do the same spreads of food that I grew up seeing in my mom’s house. Fast forward 24 years to when my middle daughter, Diana, decided to go to the Culinary Institute of America after receiving a Bachelor’s in Advertising at the University of Texas, Austin. She specialized in Baking and Pastry. Upon her graduation, we joined forces and created Nadira Group Catering in 2017—where I create our savory grazing table menus and Diana creates our cakes and dessert menus. At Nadira Group Catering the grazing tables and beautiful desserts are the masterpiece of our work. We not only enjoy our job, but we consider it an expression of our creativity—stemming from my desire to serve and feed others because I have it deep in my sense of self and that is what I taught all three of my daughters growing up.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our business, like any other business, has been very challenging. Not only do my daughter and I run the operation and everything behind the scenes, but we have been in charge of our branding, marketing, and business development. We are a small catering company so managing the workload was a challenge in the beginning. As we started to hone in our brand and create set menus for what we wanted to offer, we started to get better and better at our job.
One of the biggest challenges was learning how to transition from our mother/daughter relationship to a professional one. It got better over time as we learned how to respect each other as professional equals which came when we discovered that we each had a lot to learn from the other. It helped that I was in charge of the savory side and Diana was in charge of the sweet side. We were each able to exercise our passions in different sides of the kitchen. She still fights with me though–she doesn’t like me to infringe on her side of the kitchen!
At the end of the day, my goal is to keep empowering all of my daughters to be successful entrepreneurs—whether it’s serving as an example for my oldest and youngest or pushing my middle daughter to follow her dreams with me by her side.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Nadira Group Catering – what should we know?
We specialize in making any event extremely special. Whether it’s a Grazing Table or a Dessert Table, Nadira Group Catering always aims to please our guests to have that “wow” factor at their event. This comes when our guests not only see what we created but also when they taste our products. Since it is always Diana and I doing all of the work from the prep to the delivering and setting up, we always leave a little bit of ourselves in the work we do. Whether it’s in the cultural aspect of the food–doing a shawarma grazing table or an arepa grazing table—or in the unique flavors of our desserts like Passion Fruit Mousse, Cakes filled with Dulce de Leche, or a Milk Pudding with Rose Water Syrup. Our food is always a surprise and topic of conversation at every event we cater!
Part of what makes Nadira Group Catering so special is the love that we put into what we do. I consider myself a very friendly and open person, and I love transmitting this at every event we cater. We always get positive feedback on the display of food, the taste, and our professionalism. This couldn’t make me happier and proves to me that we accomplished what I wanted!
You can see examples of our work on our Instagram page: @nadiragroup.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My husband and daughters are my biggest supporters. They always pitch in to help out when things get hectic!
I cannot leave out Daniela Antelo who is my biggest cheerleader. She, while helping me find a house (she is our realtor and family friend) more than five years ago, pushed me to start a business of my own. She invited friends and family to her home and asked us to cater–which became our first ever event that we catered. To this day, she is always referring her large list of clients to us.
Along the road, we met Chef Omar Pereney through a mutual friend. He is a very well-known Venezuelan Chef and Restaurant Consultant here in Houston. He is part owner of A ‘la Carte Restaurant Consulting. We had the opportunity to join forces with him in many of his events. I had the pleasure of training with him and learning so many new techniques in the kitchen. He also taught me to not be afraid of the high workload in a kitchen and to never turn down an event no matter how big it was. He showed me the capacity that I have once I am in the heat of the moment in the kitchen.
Daniela, Omar, and my daughter Diana are all Millennials and I find myself so lucky to be learning from them and how they view the world. I admire them and am very proud of them.
Contact Info:
- Website: nadiragroup.com
- Phone: 8326333083
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @nadiragroup
- Facebook: @nadiragroup
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