Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef TJ Price.
Hi Chef TJ, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Hi I’m Chef Tj owner and head chef of The food plug HTX as well as The Re-Up Trap beverage company, I’m born and raised right here in Houston,Tx. I grew up on the southwest side(ALIEF) which is pretty much a melting pot of cultures so that’s were I developed a lot of my early flavor profiles.
Pretty much how I started was kinda an accident, I use to just cook at home for my family but then I started posting my food online and people began ordering or requesting me for events. After about a year I wanna say I built up my clientele and worked on my plating/presentation from there things began to look up.
I was actually not sure if I would even continue cooking once Covid happened and the world kinda went into lockdown but it turned out to be one of those things that helped launch the business into the space I’m in today.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely wasn’t a smooth ride but like anything that’s worth having you gotta go through something to get where you are meant to be in life. Just like any business there’s gonna be some hiccups but I’ve always had a winners spirit or a sense of optimism that pushes me to go harder even though some days I didn’t even know if I could continue but if I can survive during a pandemic I figured I could do anything.
I think inflation is one of the many hurdles we are all facing at the moment especially running a business where 90% of the things you need to stay open have doubled and sometimes quadrupled so I had to make some price adjustments and changes just to keep the business profitable.
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?
I want to say that there are a few parts to my food business I do private catering, business events, private events, pop-ups, feed the homeless, and a few more things. I’d like to say what sets us apart is the creativity and grassroots following I built amongst my customers over the past few years. I specialize in the American fusion style of cooking that I learned from people as I was growing up.
I just recently had success with my desserts that have been extremely popular with radio hosts NFL players and even just regular people like me, I want to say I try to always elevate and keep pushing the bars most restaurants use door dash or Uber Eats where they pay a portion of that to said companies well I skipped the middlemen and developed my own food app that offers delivery, pick up and as well as shipping so that’s been a great accomplishment.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I want to say luck is everything but I want to say putting in the work is more important than the luck aspect as long as you stay motivated and have a passion for what you’re doing the rest will play out, “luck favors those who are prepared” and I live by that, faith can only get you so far you have to take care of the rest.
Pricing:
- Strawberry mini cakes $6
- Banana pudding $6
- Jerk chicken and shrimp pasta $20
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thefoodplughtx-1befc.web.app/?fbclid=PAAaYH-CY1rb2yEHKjjTpQLr0M820JJrOjXywe-dJxK6sab7S-oqJtN4pwKbg
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thefoodplughtx?r=nametag
- Facebook: @Thefoodplughtx
- Twitter: @Thefoodplughtx
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/shorts/i5V3qf0LbNo?feature=share
