For Tiffany Williams-Jenkins, hope is always on the menu 

The wife, mother, chef, and caterer wants to help other small businesses thrive in the hospitality industry

By Chasity Cooper

As a teenager, Tiffany Williams-Jenkins embraced the arts–textile designs, making jewelry, decorating cakes–but she never envisioned herself doing it as a career. At the age of 17 and pregnant with her first child, she was unsure what her next step would be, but a mentor at the time, Chef Wagner, encouraged her to try her hand at culinary school. “I attended the Illinois Institute of Art and did a lot of cake baking on the side, but I really wanted to cook.” The hot line–the area of the kitchen where the food is prepared –is really what attracted Chef Williams-Jenkins to the world of food. 

GET ON THE HOTLINE 

After she completed culinary school, many of her family and friends encouraged her to open her own soul food restaurant, to which she responded, “Why would I open a soul food restaurant when I can do that at home?” And that wasn’t to knock soul food – but Chef Williams-Jenkins was thinking bigger. 

Starting her career with Jewel Events Catering, Williams-Jenkins started as a line cook and eventually worked her way up to become a chef supervisor and the general manager. Her time there exposed her to the world of international cuisine. “I loved working with different cultures and highlighting diverse foods,” she says. “There’s always so much to learn about food.”

Ever since, Tiffany’s passion for cultural cuisine became a cornerstone of her work. “At Exquisite Catering, we’re limitless—we can cook anything from anywhere in the world,” she shares with pride. From French to Filipino, Indian to Italian, Tiffany has always been excited to learn and share global flavors.

Her desire to provide something special for the southside of Chicago, where she grew up, has also become a driving force in her career. While working on Chicago’s north side during the early part of her career, she yearned to bring beautiful experiences and delicious food to her community. She enrolled in a business course at Sunshine Enterprises, which sparked an epiphany: she could turn her side gigs into a full-time business. In 2017, she took the leap, making Exquisite Catering an official business and going full-time in October that same year.

Williams-Jenkins’ career quickly took an exciting turn when she was hired as a chef for backstage catering at major music festivals. She became part of the team that catered for top-tier artists, including Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, and Chance the Rapper at his Magnificent Coloring Day at the now Rate Stadium—an event that was especially meaningful to her as a Southsider and a Sox fan.

In 2016 and 2017, she also worked backstage at Lollapalooza, preparing meals for high-profile musicians, and even went on tour with some of the biggest names in music. She was a pastry chef substitute for Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s On The Run 2 tour–which was an important teachable moment for her, given that she isn’t a pastry chef. “ I had to make a lot of vegan and gluten-free pastries, which isn’t her specialty,” she recalls. “But my supervisor and fellow chefs kept encouraging me to keep going and I kept getting hired so I continued to do my best!”

Chef Williams-Jenkins also catered for U2, Sir Elton John, and Guns N’ Roses. However, it was working on Justin Bieber’s Justice Tour as the hot-line chef that marked her first full tour experience, immersing her in the backstage catering world and expanding her culinary horizons. And not to be outdone, Chef Williams-Jenkins’ catered Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour, which was her first world tour. As the most Grammy-award winning artist prepares for her Cowboy Carter Tour, Chef Williams-Jenkins is also showing up to do the same for her midwest tour stops. 

“It’s a quiet niche,” Williams-Jenkins explains. “The style of cooking we do for artists is what Exquisite Catering does every day—large quantities of healthy meals. We also prepare meals based on that support performance, health, and wellness.”

As a business owner, Williams-Jenkins passionately shares her success and knowledge with others, often selling food from other small businesses on her menus to empower others to grow sustainably. “If I know something, I’m sharing it. I want businesses to grow large and fast,” she says. “My desire to help others extends beyond the bottomline—I want to create a sense of community through food.”

Her passion also lies in workforce development. Through the workforce development arm of her business, Exquisite Engage, she provides opportunities for teens to experience the world of catering and learn skills they can carry with them throughout their lives. Additionally, the newly minted nonprofit of her business, Exquisite Encore, focuses on backstage catering for movie sets, concerts, and other large-scale events, providing job opportunities for those looking to break into this niche industry.

As Chef Williams-Jenkins balances her work as a chef, business owner, and community advocate, she credits her faith as a central driving force in her life. “God is how I handle and manage it all,” she says. “Prayer is what keeps me through. Catering gives me the little crazy that I love.” Her deep connection to her faith also inspires her to keep pushing for more representation in the culinary world.

“My company exudes hope,” Williams-Jenkins continues. “We build tables where people who think they can’t sit at certain tables now have a place.” 

This year, Williams-Jenkins is focused on increasing efficiency and growing her company. She has recently hired a full-time chef to help manage her growing business. With plans to launch cooking classes for the public in South Shore, as well as partnerships with local organizations like Blue Door Neighborhood Center to offer free cooking classes to the community, Tiffany continues to create spaces where people can come together to cook, eat, and learn.

As she reflects on her journey, Williams-Jenkins shares a message of hope and inspiration for others looking to follow in her footsteps: “I’m allowing God to push me into abundance and I can’t be afraid to walk in that.” With a deep love for the culinary arts, a commitment to her community, and a drive to uplift others, Williams-Jenkins is a chef who not only creates great food, but also builds looking toward the future.