Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominic Parks Jr.. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Our company name came from our founder Chef Dominic Sean Parks Jr. He created “ChefNIC” from the last 3 letters of his first name. N.I.C., which has a meaning behind it and houses the core of our mission statement (Nutrition. Inspiration. Creativity.) We are based out of Frisco, TX, and we love our community. When possible, we provide meals for our Frisco Police and fire department, Frisco ISD staff events and meeting, and some of our nonprofits we work with are Frisco Chamber of Commerce, St. Arbor Community Development, Refresh Frisco/LittleElm, Able Faith Ministries, and a few more.
We are a team of Hospitality officials from Chefs, bakers, banquet captains’ servers, and more who have a passion and mission for Creating Tasteful Memories for our clients and consumers. At ChefNIC & Co., our mission is to produce remarkable dining experience by surpassing our client’s expectations with tantalizing cuisine, extraordinary service, and artistic presentation.
We will achieve this effectively by unfailingly:
~Focusing on quality and consistency.
~Creating a positive environment and respect with our clients and employees.
~Displaying appropriate manners and gracious serving etiquette.
~Preserving an essentially thorough business devoted to development and economic stability.
~Working environmentally friendly as possible.
Dominic Parks Jr Created this company while attending the University of Arkansas and studying Hospitality and Restaurant Management. While growing the business, he gained clients by selling food at a stand outside the bars and clubs on Dickson Street. He then grew into catering events and buffets for Sams Club, Walmart, Dealership, Weddings, Graduations birthdays, and various athletic department for the U of A.
He then went through a few hardships along the way that caused some setbacks with identity theft which led to bankruptcy and a heart condition he battled with for a few years. Throughout his battle, he found Christ and continued to fight his way to achieve his dream in growing ChefNIC and Co. In 2014 he moved to Dallas and started studying at the Art Institute of Dallas to grow his knowledge and perfect his craft of cooking and being a chef. After graduating, he worked in various fields of the restaurant industry so he could gain all the experience and knowledge he needed to make ChefNIC and Co. very successful. Through his journey, he has learned through his testimony he can also provide a way for others seeking to achieve their dreams in this field and give them the guidance he has been blessed with.
We have 5 sectors of our business that allow us to service our clients and help others in the industry:
– Catering – the can be buffet or plated, large corporate event for small intimate ones. These events may be a prom for a high school, business luncheon, anniversary or birthday party, etc. the limitations are endless; it’s just whatever our client needs us for.
– Private chef – is the restaurant experience coming to you. This is a 4-course dinner plated and cooked to order in the comfort of your own home or venue space; this comes with servers, fine China, and all. Our clients only provide the table, guess, and location. We bring in all the food, servers, eating utensils, etc.
– Home Meal Solutions – Similar to meal prep, but this is a full-on extensive menu that is made to take the hassle out of shopping, cooking, and cleaning. These are meals or items for you to simply heat and eat in your own time, ranginging from lasagnas, ranch dressing, hummus, shrimp cocktail a whole brisket, individual protein starch, and vegetable options, and more.
– Meal Prep – this menu, we provide the nutrition fact table for each item for those trying to control or watch their intake of fat, sodium, sugar, etc. this menu, we cut out all butter, use very little to no salt and focus on bringing in good flavor to food without all the added extra bad stuff.
– Consulting/Event planning. We consult and said others in the industry that seek out for our professional advice on starting, growing, or maintaining their business from concept to menus and control labor or food cost. We also do some event planning and fundraising for gals a lot of the time for non-profits, and we will aid them in organizing the event and executing and raising funds for their cause.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This has been by far the most difficult thing I have been through in life. When I created the company in. college at the University of Arkansas off a project in class, I immediately had large hurdles to work through – I was diagnosed with Pericarditis of the heart a week later.
– I found out I had identity theft with over $100k in. my name, utilities in m multiple states, a warrant in Iowa, and Child support in another state, both states that I had never been through. Because of this, I had to distance myself from a lot of friends and family, and it was tearing me apart. All of this led to me filing for Bankruptcy at the age of 23. So I was very lost, confused, and not sure how I would make it or even want to stay alive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We Specialize in “|creating Tasteful Memories” that you can’t afford to Lose! – we do this through “Nutrition- Inspiration- Creativity,” – Which is what Chef-NIC stands for
Nutrition
– Developing and creating food in more than one way to impact an amazing flavor and always looking for ways to make it a better or “Healthier” product
Inspiration
– Inspire others with my testimony and how I made it here and through; I do this with our team and staff, and schools and public speaking engagements and even with our clients and customers that like to know more about our company
Creativity
– be very creativity; don’t always make or present things the same way. Use old school process and techniques to understand our ingredients and food, but implement new and creative ways to extract flavor, plate or present uniquely and wow the guests every time
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
In the summer of 2021, we bought a chevy 2500 for our business as we were planning on getting a mobile food trailer built. However, throughout the summer, our sales dropped very low, and in the month of August, we took a huge loss. However, by the grace of God, that turned around the last quarter and a half of the year, and we were able to do in 4 months the sales we did and more from the previous 4 months. we got so busy with catering that we could not get back to trying to get our trailer built.
I wanted to get the truck wrapped for our business to help display our work, and it would be a great mobile billboard for us as we travel a lot, and the truck goes all around the city and state. However, the bids that we were getting were very high and not something we wanted to pay that much for. Then we found a company out in Lubbock that would do the wrap for a fraction of the cost, and we already loved their work. So, in November, we went out there and had the work done.
I return to Frisco Tx where we are based out of and it was a big shocker to us how much attention the wrap on our truck got. I drive the truck out to eat one night and park with valet; they park the truck upfront; we go inside to eat and come out to leave and get in the car. My wife tells me to turn around, and when I do, I see 12 people standing behind the truck with their phone out, taking pictures and using the (QR code) we had put on all sides of it. I saw how much attention the wrap got over the next week and wanted to canalize on it.
So, I priced out getting some wheel lights and under glow and rims to bring in more attention. But I didn’t want to pay the price for the wheels and tires. After a few weeks of searching for used, I went to a shop that said I could finance it and make payments. Although I didn’t want to take the risk to do so, I prayed about it, and god led me to the decision to move forward with it. I got smart about it and wanted to make sure I benefited the most from it. So, I made payments every week on auto pay and paid the loan off in 2.5 months instead of the 2 years they had it planned for. This allowed me to shoot my credit score up a lot in a very short amount of time. And the best part it drew a lot of attention to our truck and business, that gained us more followers on social media, more inquiry request, and closed more deals in the process. The images we put on the truck to showcase our work were our most popular requested items, so when clients reached out, they would reference to the image on the truck for items they wanted to order.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chefnic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefnicandco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefniccatering
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChefNICandCo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5hpnkXR3ecwS1iGQV2r40g/videos
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chef-nic-and-frisco
Image Credits
Daryl Johnson
