Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Travis Dixon.
Hi Travis, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I began as a teen. I took a vocational trade in high school in culinary arts and received a certificate. From there, I attended Grambling University and began pursuing football under the leadership of Eddie Robinson while majoring in Hotel Restaurant with a degree in Food Production Management. While doing both, I wanted to see which one I’d excel further in. I went as far as I could with football. Even practicing for some NFL teams, but I never got picked up. So I decided that my profession would lie in culinary.
Once I made that decision, I attend Delgado Community College, where I obtained an AS in culinary arts. From there, I went on to train in many kitchens around the New Orleans area. Some kitchens were under notable chefs like Chef Emeril, Chef Paul Prudhomme, Chef Patrick Duff, Chef Philip Callhan and Chef Leon West. Under these chefs, I learned food presentation, ice carving, food pairings, and many skills that I use today.
After gaining the experience, I became a private chef for a wealthy family in the oil industry. In 2005, after Hurricane Katerina, the Family relocated to Houston, TX, and they relocated my family and I. I worked with the family for an additional five years, then move into the corporate arena. As a corporate chef, I became a Food Director for a leading Senior Living Residential Facility.
One day, while at a fraternity chapter meeting, I joined the food community and connected with my fraternity brother Antonio Thomas. We discovered we had the same passion for food. We then entered and won a food competition and began catering events together. We were working full time and catering part-time. We began to pick up a lot of events, so I decided to put all my energy into it and quit my job to operate the business full-time. With the help of so many, we then birth Fleur de Licious Catering.
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?
Coming from corporate catering, we transitioned pretty smoothly. We stayed busy and grew our following steadily. We received support from a lot of clients. Our audience grew as we purchased a “food truck” and began to join food truck events. From the growth and support, we expanded into having a commercial kitchen for catering. We were on track to hit our biggest year then COVID wiped our entire calendar.
Since the pandemic, we have been struggling to gain our momentum back because social events aren’t happening like they were. In expanding, as mentioned, we got a commercial kitchen, employed staff, etc., and tried to pivot from catering to daily food service, which is serving food to go, but we just haven’t been able to connect with the community or maintain a consistent amount of business.
(In addition, because of COVID, we haven’t been able to attend events to promote ourselves like we did and due to working from home, many of your corporate clients have yet to return to the building.). So yes, we‘ve experienced struggles in many different ways, but we’re trying to maintain a level of optimism that things will improve, hopefully soon.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We have been a top 20 catering company throughout many Houston media outlets like The Chronicle, Expertise.com, just to name a few. We use top-quality ingredients in all our dishes. We are the best at what we do. We make beautiful food, and it tastes good.
We’re known as “The Cooking Ques” (of Omega Psi Phi). Our specialty is everything! We make gourmet, specialty pastas, you think it we can make it! Just think of us as the Top Chefs of Houston with the award-winning bread pudding.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We are located in old Missouri City at 1536 Kenforest Dr. Our specialty is and always will be catering. We have over 25 years of catering experience, catering corporate events, private dining, weddings, parties, and more. We provide food management services, one on one cooking lessons/demos, chef tables. You name it, we do it! Call us for a quote (713) 487-9436. We’re looking to expand and bring more in the future. Look for merch, cookbooks, culinary course, sauces, seasoning , and more.
Contact Info:
- Phone: (713) 487-9436
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.FDLcater.com
- Instagram: FDL cater
- Facebook: Fleur de licious Catering and Fleur de licious To Go (
- Yelp: Fleur De Licious Catering
For more article content, visit: http://voyagehouston.com/interview/inspiring-conversations-with-travis-dixon-of-fleur-de-licious-catering/