Tyler Williams - The Cooking Besties

The Cooking Besties

By Terry L. Watson

Photos Provided Tyler Williams

There is something about good food that makes one’s heart smile. In regard to Indianapolis, IN, native Tyler Williams is making some moves and raising eyebrows in the local culinary community.

Tyler is the owner of The Cooking Besties, a fullservice catering company that specializes in doing just about anything to meet their client’s requests. They primarily cater to small and large organizations within Indiana and provide catering services to private clients. Tyler and his team also offer traditional buffets, private dinners, charcuterie, brunch, and dipped treats.

Tyler is the son of Rick Williams and Michele McFarland. He has lived in his childhood home in Haughville, IN, for almost 21 years. He has three siblings, Jessica, Jordan, and Bryce, and one niece, Jalayah, and two nephews, Charles and Levi. Tyler graduated from Cardinal Ritter High School and earned his undergraduate degree in Tourism, Events, and Sports Management with a minor in Business Foundations from Indiana University. In 2021, he returned to school and earned a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Leadership and Human Resource Management from Purdue University.

The Cooking Besties started in 2020, right in the middle of Tyler’s mother’s kitchen. He says, “I was laid off from my corporate job in May 2020 due to COVID, and a former childhood friend mentioned the idea for us to cook, and I instantly was against it. I’ve always enjoyed cooking for my family, but cooking for others and for money kind of made me nervous. I finally gave in to the idea of cooking and came up with the business name by joking and asking, “What are we going to be called…….The Cooking Besties?” On that day, we became The Cooking Besties and started doing bi-weekly comfort food meals. Those meals became popular, and often, we had a line wrapped around my neighborhood. That’s when I knew we were on to something. The following year, we secured our first large catering contract with Eskenazi Health Center and provided over 700 charcuterie boxes for their employees. The rest is history.

Tyler shared that he has always dreamed of owning a restaurant. “I would sit it in my 7th grade Algebra class and map out the design of my restaurant, create menus, and write down my crazy ideas. I’ve always been a dreamer, so I would write it down whenever I had a thought.” Those thoughts would eventually become Tyler’s future, which is the title he gave them. “My Future.”

Living out his dreams is what Tyler says he loves most about The Cooking Besties. Every day, he gets to wake up to cater. He says his prayer to be self-employed, successful, and booked has become his reality. “It’s the best feeling in the world,” he explained. He also appreciates his family and friends’ support and the business referrals. His church family has also played a significant role in Tyler’s success as they have pushed him to keep striving for better and offering help anytime he has large events. It takes a village, and Tyler says he is grateful for the one he has.

One challenge of running your own business is to ensure that it’s profitable. For Tyler, he manages this kind of issue when he’s pricing catering packages and ensuring they yield the right return. “There have been times where I have walked away with less than I am supposed to earn, but it was simply because the math was not mathing! We now have systems in place to make pricing out our items much easier and accurate,” he says.

I would sit it in my 7th grade Algebra class and map out the design of my restaurant, create menus, and write down my crazy ideas.

He also acknowledges his mother for inspiring him. “I am the product of a single parent, and my mother goes above and beyond to ensure my siblings and I have the best. She has helped me scale my business by always finding areas of improvement and ensuring that everything I do in the business has a certain level of excellence,” Tyler says.

Tyler’s business journey, he shares, has forced him to trust God, and he says that God hasn’t failed him yet. “God has been extremely faithful to me, and all I can say is thank you.” Looking ahead, he plans to continue running his catering business and even open a brunch restaurant.

To learn more about The Cooking Besties, please visit their website.

www.besties.com