ALL IN THE FAMILY

Houston Chef-Owner Chris Williams

Makes the Right Moves for Lucille’s and 1913 Nonprofit During the Pandemic

BY PHYLLIS ARMSTRONG

Watching Broadway go dark in New York City gave him a sign of dire times ahead. A celebrated Houston restaurateur then realized what was coming to Texas when he witnessed Bourbon Street shutting down in New Orleans. “I knew we had about five days tops before it was going to happen with us,” says chef Chris Williams, the owner of Lucille’s (@lucilleshouston). “My biggest concern was not our closing, but us losing all the good work and the progress made up to that point.”

SHIFTING TO SURVIVAL

Williams quickly shifted Lucille’s into survival mode to keep executive chef Khang Hoang and other people responsible for the restaurant’s success working. He and his team implemented a contactless to-go model for serving customers. The staff of 46 agreed to accept the average of their biweekly pay. “Even though we were down 92%, we were able to still pay 99% of our staff. There was only one person we lost,” he says.

The Houston entrepreneur also talked to his vendors about lowering expenses by doing transactions at cost. “You can continue to pay your people and keep business going, but we’re not going to be making money right now,” Williams told them.

The chef and his brother Ben opened Lucille’s in August 2012 as a tribute to their great-grandmother. Lucille B. Smith’s life as a culinary innovator, educator and successful entrepreneur still inspires them. Chris had just celebrated the restaurant’s most profitable quarter when the 2020 pandemic forced him to revamp the refined Southern cuisine menu. “We’re not getting any Wagyu. Give me the toughest, cheapest piece of meat that you have and let me figure out how to make that delicious, so we save money,” says Williams. “With everything to go, we went to family-style and took our prices down 40% across the board. It is a model that worked.”

Lucille’s raised $52,000 for out-of-work bartenders when Williams started a bar pop-up series on Thursday nights. Alley Cat’s owner Marcus Davis was the first to let his staff mix cocktails behind Lucille’s patio bar. Bar owners of all races accepted the offer and their customers showed up. “It turned out to be a great cross-promotional kind of thing because now we’ve introduced ourselves to their audiences, and I’ve introduced them to my audience. It was beautiful,” Williams says.

BIRTH OF 1913

Lucille’s staff takes pride in making the most of their time and talents. So, Williams began providing free meals for Texas Medical Center workers on the

night shifts. “We started feeding graveyard workers to the tune of 3,000 meals in the first 15 days,” says the restaurateur.

Then Williams accepted a two-week contract with the World Central Kitchen to make and deliver meals to senior citizens in the historically Black Sunnyside community. “The first day I went to deliver meals for 120 residents, I knew exactly who they were. They looked just like my family. I used to visit all the time back when they were living in Sunnyside, and I knew exactly how they liked to eat.”

Williams continued delivering meals Sunnyside residents could enjoy after the contract ran out. He took proceeds from his hospitality group, Lucille B. Smith’s Fine Foods, to start the nonprofit Lucille’s 1913, a conscious community collective (@ lucilles1913). He chose the name because of his great-grandmother’s ability to open a Fort Worth catering company in 1913 with limited resources.

The chef worked 20-hour days to launch his nonprofit and went from delivering 120 to 400 meals a day by the end of the second week. “I’d cook all those meals alone. I’d package them up, load them up in my car, go deliver them, and then I’d go back to the restaurant and work until midnight,” he says. “I got addicted to those relationships I built with those people; just the little interactions in seeing the joy that bringing a meal that is deliberately planned with their palates in mind.”

PATH TO PHILANTHROPY

Substantial donations helped expand 1913’s mission. “We went from doing 400 meals with a staff of two people to doing 1,800 meals a day. Now we employ over 18 people, including two chefs, to run the operation. We’ve donated over 300,000 meals,” says Chef Williams.

The entire Williams family joined in when the charity helped residents left without electricity, food or water after winter storms hit Texas last February. The chef’s parents, brother, sister-in-law and the nonprofit’s new culinary director, Lawrence Walker, banded together in the organization’s production kitchen. “We did 200 meals that first night. Four hundred meals the next night, and then I got Chef Dawn, and we did 600 meals every day after that,” Williams says.

Ben Williams, the owner of Highway Vodka (@getonthehighway), donated 10,000 liters of artisanal water from his distillery to 1913’s efforts. The nonprofit’s founding board member is impressed with his brother’s accomplishments. “It’s really like watching my brother just grow a lot in his purpose and passion and fleshing out who he really is,” says the entrepreneur. “You realize a lot of interesting things, like how this spirit of community service runs so deep in our family,” Ben says.

“Top Chef” finalist Dawn Burrell (@ chefdawnburrell) helped create 1913’s new fermentation lab. She and Williams collaborated to take advantage of 52 acres of donated land. The land will be used to give people jobs and provide fresh and preserved produce for communities. “It’s bringing us back to the way things were done, preserving things at the peak of their ripeness and season, and also preserving things for later use,” says Burrell.

EYES ON THE FUTURE Williams plans to set up more 1913 satellite kitchens. He is working with Project Row Houses on opening the Rado Market next summer. “I feel like you have to take advantage of the opportunity because when has this ever happened for us in this country? We’ve never been celebrated and nurtured the way we are now and really supported by our own community,” he says. His partnership with Burrell will bring new culinary talent to self-funded restaurant ventures in the works, including Emile’s Black Point Bistro in Canada, where Williams’ sons Tracy and Daylyn live. He and Burrell are working on getting Late August ready to open early next year at The Ion constructed on the old Sears & Roebuck site in Houston. Burrell’s culinary vision fits The Ion’s purpose of bringing innovators together. “My hope and mission are to expose people to an elevated form of global comfort with connections to the African diaspora,” says Burrell. She is excited about the partnership with Williams. “Chris is an extremely creative, brilliant, brilliant man with a passion that matches mine.” Williams is equally impressed. “The reason why I think Dawn will be great is that she’s an amazing chef. She’s all about using ancient techniques, flavors and ingredients in innovative ways in combination.”

Over the years, Williams received valuable lessons about giving smart people a chance to grow. He learned from his father, Connie Williams, who established his own law firm and from his mother, Patricia Hogan Williams, the founder of the Imani School. He treasures the examples set by his parents and his great-grandmother. “It’s a lot easier to pick up somebody’s torch as opposed to having to start your own fire, right? What she’s done is pass the torch to us, and we’re continuing on with her legacy. So, I think she would be proud for sure, but I also think the critic in her would be like, ‘Baby, you need to work on those hot rolls ‘cause that ain’t right.’”

Chris Williams and Dawn Burrell

Veronica Wandui

Takes the Lead at One of the Most Luxurious Banquet Kitchens

BY SUCHETA RAWAL

Chef Veronica Wandui is one of the few Black women chefs in the country to lead the banquet kitchens of a luxury hotel. She exemplifies that hard work and focused leadership can help you get to your goals.

But the road here was not easy. Wandui grew up in a large family in Nairobi, Kenya. She attended Save Our Souls culinary school and came to the U.S. through a green card lottery program. When employers wouldn’t recognize her African culinary degree, Wandui enrolled at The Art Institute of Atlanta and later earned a business management degree. Her career path includes an internship at the Georgia Dome sports stadium, owning a catering business, and working in the kitchens at different Starwood Hotels.

In 2009, she joined the brand new St. Regis Atlanta hotel, starting as a garde manger supervisor and working her way to executive banquet chef. Her job now involves curating memorable dining experiences at the hotel for guests celebrating weddings and hosting conferences. She meticulously orchestrates the demands of event planners, sources specialty ingredients, coordinates menus and runs a smooth kitchen that serves hundreds of guests simultaneously.

PUTTING IN THE WORK

Being in a male-dominated industry, Wandui had to prove herself to her peers and earn their respect. She claims her reason for success is hard work and constantly pushing herself. “I learned knife skills, butchery, and how to cook so many different cuisines when I went to culinary school in Atlanta. At the St. Regis, I learned to make sauces and stocks from scratch. But I didn’t just stop there. I wanted to learn more so I can rise to the top. I networked with all the other departments and asked them to show me everything about sourcing, budgeting, leadership, etc.,” she adds.

Wandui’s culinary techniques span a variety of cuisines, including Italian, Latin American and French. When diners like Congolese basketball champion Dikembe Mutombo host galas, she whips up elegantly plated masala-rubbed steaks with sweet potatoes and ugali, drawing on her African roots.

LUXURY AT HOME

Before COVID-19, Wandui worked long hours and the fast-paced cooking environment defined her life. Once the state issued an executive order limiting gatherings, all of the hotel’s events were canceled and Wandui and her staff were furloughed. To reinvent herself, she started making African-style lamb, chicken, beef and vegetable stuffed samosas and fresh savory chapati in her home kitchen, which she sold to people stuck in the house. “They could store in the freezer, reheat snacks for families, and add the chapatis to stews to make quick weeknight dinners,” she says. Orders for her African homestyle food started pouring in from all over the country and she would ship them out in ice boxes. “The mailman came to know me. I was there 3-4 times a week,” recalls Wandui. “It helped me out a lot because it kept me busy.” Some of her clients also reached out for help in creating personal banquets at home while they celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and backyard weddings during the pandemic. Wandui recollects, “For a birthday party, I made bacon risotto, roasted Brussel sprouts and lamb for six people and packed it really well. But I also sent them pictures of a plated dish and the table layout. Virtually, I showed them how to set up the table with fine china, flowers, and votive candles so that they can have the St. Regis luxurious experience at home.”

INVESTING IN FUTURE LEADERS

Fortunately, most of the hotel’s events booked before the pandemic have been rescheduled, but on a smaller scale. Instead of 600-person balls, there are smaller, socially distant banquets. This means Wandui is back in the kitchen facing new challenges and implementing significant changes in her operations.

Because of the aftermath of the pandemic, Wandui also faces limited supplies of ingredients and has to improvise quickly. For example, if she gets a bad batch of asparagus, she runs to the nearby farmers market to purchase sunchokes, or if she didn’t get the seasonal berries ordered, she alters her breakfast display to what she can find. “I always find a solution first, then communicate to the client right away. They always seem to understand,” she says.

Wandui’s biggest personal achievement is proving that a Black woman can be an excellent leader in the kitchen. To inspire others to rise up, Wandui employs mostly women in her kitchen and mentors girls in Kenya studying culinary arts. She is firm yet kind, understanding yet demanding, and never displays her weaknesses in front of others. “I play mother and boss at the same time.”

Planning for a Pandemic: The Event Industry’s Dilemma

BY RUKSANA HUSSAIN

When the pandemic was first declared in March 2020, it sent the world spiraling. All industries and sectors were impacted and suffered, including the event planning world. What would have been a busy season of corporate events and big weddings was reduced to a state of no activity. Black event planning professionals were already working on improving representation and inclusion within the industry in the United States, and the pandemic now added a new set of concerns.

DIVERSIFYING EFFORTS

For Andrew Roby, award-winning Washington, D.C.–based event and wedding planner and the founder and CEO of Andrew Roby Events (@andrewrobyevents), the wedding side of his event planning business crumbled. “We shifted to doing micro weddings and did about 20 during 2020,” he shares. “In 2019, we brought in over a million dollars in sales, which is really great being that we are only five people, but for 2020 we have a deficit of 30% on revenue, so it hit us hard. Our income evaporated.”

Across the industry, Roby has seen professionals adapt in different ways. Planners transitioned to interior décor services; many became coaches, mentors and speakers. For himself, there was an interesting twist: consulting. Many organizations didn’t know what to do next and needed help on direction. “The consulting side allowed us to navigate the experience they were wanting to have and create that opportunity for them,” he shares. Another avenue he explored was speaking at events on diversity, equity and inclusion for the National Events Council.

Roby co-founded the council with industry colleague Darryl

William P. Miller

Moore, founder and CEO of D’Concierge Design, amid the racial injustice events in 2020. “When we look at DEI within the event industry, there wasn’t enough happening within the U.S. from corporations supporting Black and brown event professionals. This is why we began to really target corporations that are hiring us … they are the ones that have the most power and can employ members of the event industry.” The council asks corporations to commit to a 20% pledge to say that, at minimum, 20% of the people working future events will be Black and brown.

Looking ahead, Roby is concerned about how businesses will navigate this fluctuating landscape. “I think we are going to be in this phase through summer of next year,” he says about the everchanging pandemic restrictions. “Knowing that, my guidance is to not forget the virtual realm and hybrid. For hybrid, focus more on the core participants being at the event’s venue while everyone else is watching virtually.”

PRIORITIZING COLLABORATION

“2020 put a damper on everyone’s business. The fast pace that we were going at abruptly came to a halt,” says Tara Melvin, founder and creative director at D.C.-based Perfect Planning Events (@perfectplanning). She is also the founder of the Signature CEO conference, an annual event which she held as a hybrid in 2020 and resumed as an in-person experience this year. She has a program where she mentors individuals on how to become event planners, and she launched the National Society of Black Wedding and Event Professionals last year as well.

“We are the first and only nonprofit association for Black wedding and event professionals, with members in 23 states and representation in the Caribbean, and we have 150 Black-owned businesses currently,” she shares. The association collaborated with some of

EMERGING STRONGER

the top organizations in the industry—Wedding International Professional Association (WIPA), National Association for Catering and Events (NACE) and International Live Events Association (ILEA)—to shine a light on Black-owned businesses, educational opportunities and more.

With events coming to a standstill, Melvin had to review how to contractually do events because nobody had previously set up contracts to face something like a pandemic. Being able to handle those types of situations to protect one’s business was important. Also, the increase in costs for commodities used to create events called for revisiting the pricing structure to ensure event planners were running profitable businesses. Melvin had to transition most of her clients to event dates later in 2021 and 2022. Some of her vendors transitioned to micro weddings, catering companies had to release staff and pivot to delivery service only and photographers moved to doing socially distanced family portraits or business branding sessions.

Having observed the industry evolve over the years, she says, “When I started, it was less of us. Now there is more of us.” She believes with intentional collaboration and networking between Black business owners, media shining the light on them consistently and not simply as a response to societal unrest and celebrities becoming more intentional on where the spending power of their dollars goes, there can be more recognition for Black event planning professionals. At the onset of the pandemic, William P. Miller, creative director of Los Angeles–based WP Miller Special Events (@wpmillermoments), was busy at work. “We were in the process of planning four major events … I knew the pandemic was serious, but I did not know the impact it could have on myAndrew Roby (center) and team self and my employees,” he says. Miller has had his events production company for 23 years and worked with clients worldwide, including celebrities such as former First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris, Mira Sorvino, Niecy Nash, Holly Robinson and others. “Fortunately, all my clients were understanding, so we had to work with venues and vendors to negotiate refunds and rescheduling.” To address the lull in business, Miller switched to virtual and hybrid events and participated in more online conferences for speaking engagements. He offered a threeday high-performance event planners professional master class for newer event planners to build their businesses. Most importantly, he created a candle company called Opulent Scented Moments, which had him filling orders and handling new business the last few months. Miller is also one of the founders of The Black Table (@theblacktable_), an organization formed to promote the presence and positions of Black event professionals. “As Black event professionals, we need to Tara Melvin work together. We are stronger united than divided,” says Miller. In response to several cultural issues taking place during the pandemic, The Black Table saw more engagement, furthering its focus to enhance the presence of business opportunities for Black event professionals nationwide. “One thing worth noting is the event industry produces weddings, conventions, conferences; all the reasons that people travel,” he shares. “The airline industry was bailed out, but because our event industry was so used to operating individually, there was no bailout for us. So, I have noticed people have tried to come together to form a more collective body within the special events industry overall.” Meanwhile, he says business is coming back, sharing that he has three major conventions planned for 2022. “We have the challenge as everyone else of not knowing what’s ahead . . . We are becoming creative with producing hybrid and virtual event experiences . . . people are figuring out how to make this work, but that’s what we are supposed to do because in a state of emergency, this is when we emerge.”