If you’ve never moonlighted as a waiter/waitress at a restaurant or helped out a friend back in the day on a catering gig….then you probably have no idea of how hard and challenging catering is as a whole. Most people see the glitz, glamour, and gorgeous presentations that we produce, but they have no idea how much strength and stamina it takes to pull off a catering gig.

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I had the most “Bon Appetit Y’all” type of day recently in downtown Blue Ridge, Georgia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For those of you who may not be familiar, the Blue Ridge Mountains are about a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Atlanta proper. It is an easy and gorgeous day trip getaway. It was a gorgeous day with temps in the low 80’s and people were out and about and enjoying the day. I drove up there with a very good friend who is also a culinarian and has his own catering company so we were in heaven together. LOL. I spent several hours on the main street of Blue Ridge, but there was one little storefront that definitely caught my attention. It was the Blue Ridge Olive Oil Company. This quaint little shop was the hidden gem I had been looking for.

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I’m posting this story in honor of Black History Month in hopes that I can bring some clarity to the meaning of Black Lives Matter.

Recently I decided to take a solo mental retreat with myself, and I booked a cabin up in the beautiful Georgia Blue Ridge Mountains. I was desperately looking forward to this getaway of solitude, accompanied by my own noise, and no one else’s. I had been working tirelessly on building my Bon Appetit Y’all Gourmet Condiment company brand, and it was starting to take a tole on me, so this trip was surely needed.

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Here is an awesome Thanksgiving cooking tip that I learned TOTALLY BY MISTAKE years ago and haven’t deviated from it since. So if any of you know my back story (you can view it on the website at bonappetityallbycarlton.com/about-us), I wasn’t born with a wooden spoon in my mouth. You would think that since I grew up with a mother who was a home economics teacher, and my father who was a cook in the United States Marines that I would have picked up a few tricks on the way. NOPE. LOL.

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Hey folks, I wanted to share this enlightening story with you that parallels greatly with my culinary journey. This story highlights one of the main reasons I started Bon Appétit Y’alls Pantry Picks. To introduce unique and creative items that will influence one to look at food differently. It’s a little bit of a read, but a very relatable story for many. Is this your story too? I hope you enjoy.

“Oh, yes.

I grew up eating typical American fare. I thought that I was an adventurous eater, because I loved Mexican food (Taco Bell) and Chinese food (sweet and sour chicken). Oh, the sweet bliss of ignorance.

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Most folks, when they think of ketchup they think of Heinz in a bottle, which is a tomato-based condiment. But you may be surprised to learn that the original ketchup was neither born in the U.S nor was it a tomato-based condiment. It started out in China as a pickled fish sauce.

Over centuries and different continents, it morphed into a Chinese seasoning that was discovered by English sailors, but that version was more a kin to Worcestershire sauce. The British used ingredients such as anchovies or oysters mushrooms, and walnuts to recreate those flavors. In turn ketchup came to mean a condiment consisting of mushrooms. The English settlers brought this mushroom ketchup to America, where it continued to gradually go through various changes. One significant alteration was the addition of tomatoes, which is how we have the ketchup that we know today.

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I was recently honored to host a live cooking demo for the GMSDC (The Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council). GMSDC is the state of Georgia’s leading advocacy organization for small business development and supplier diversity. GMSDC hosted their 2020 Virtual Business Opportunity Exchange and partnered with me for an after-hours live cooking demo. We recorded the event in a client of mines beautiful home in Stone Mountain Georgia. The GMSCD spared no expense and brought in a top-notch production film crew to record and live stream the whole event.

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Although Bon Appetit Y’all by Carlton, was officially launched on 1 July 2020, many of you would be surprised to know that Bon Appetit Y’all was actually birthed on 9/15/13. Yep…almost 7 years ago. Back then however, it wasn’t called Bon Appetit Y’all. It was actually named after my mother and called ‘Hilda Brewer Brown”.

Ironically enough, during that period I was also the co-owner of “Hilda’s…A Breakfast to Write Home About”, which was a breakfast brunch spot in the Irwin Street Market in the Old Forth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta GA.

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Hey Guys

I hope this finds you safe and well during these crazy times. It’s a challenging time for everyone as we face so many unknowns. As entrepreneurs and small business owners, we face challenges that are a bit different than others. Those of us in the catering and hospitality industry is particularly vulnerable and feeling the pressure as events and meetings get canceled during the pandemic.

I asked myself, what I could do to help during this time. I want to be of service AND keep my business afloat.

The answer I came up with is to help with the demand and need for home-delivered meals. You still have to eat and having delicious and tasty food during this time is very important. You and your loved ones have to stay healthy and fit.

That being said, I’m launching a division of my company called “Curbside Cuisines”. So many people are staying home and still have a desire to support their local business, so here’s a way for you to do just that.

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Recently I was honored to have been asked to participate in a fund-raiser for Lost-n- Found Youth. Lost-n-Found Youth is an Atlanta, Georgia -based organization that assists homeless LGBT youth. The organization, at the time of its 2011 founding was the “only organization actively taking Atlanta’s LGBT homeless youth directly off the streets”.

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I applied for, and was awarded a full scholarship to attend “Building a High-Performing Business” at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College this past November. My scholarship was due to the generosity of Tuck School of Business and Wells Fargo. Tuck is known for its distinctive educational model and the professors truly stood up to its reputation. Founded in 1900, the Tuck School was the first institution in the world to offer a master’s degree in business administration.

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We recently took the Occasional Occasions show on the road! We were honored to have catered a beautiful wedding in Auburn Alabama at Crooked Oaks Farm. Crooked Oaks Farm is a stunning wedding venue located just 20 minutes from Auburn, Alabama. The venue is located on a hunting preserve owned and operated by College Football Hall of Fame Coach Pat Dye. The venue was full of nostalgic memorabilia and if you were an Auburn fan, you really felt home.

This was not the first time that we had catered an event out of town, but it was the first time we were in the position to bring all of our own equipment. I took many of my A-Team to the event with me. The road trip was a time for us to laugh, tell jokes and just bond. We rented a 12 passenger Sprinter and hitched a trailer on the back.

The venue, a covered outdoor space, was beautiful and the weather was special ordered for that day. My team did an incredible job, starting with my Chef Freddie and his team completing and delivering all of the food.

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Recently I attended the NGLCC (National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce) Conference in Tampa Florida. The NGLCC conference is the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ and allied business leaders in the world, and it was attended by leaders from small businesses, major corporations, and chambers of commerce from around the United States, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, and beyond!

The energy and inclusiveness of the event were inspiring. But out of the many things that I experienced and saw, including attending some phenomenal classes and networking events, there was one thing that truly caught my attention and blew me away.

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Recently I attended the NGLCC (National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce) Conference in Tampa Florida. The NGLCC conference is the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ and allied business leaders in the world, and it was attended by leaders from small businesses, major corporations, and chambers of commerce from around the United States, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, and beyond!

The focus of the conference was to garner introductions of LGBTE Certified companies with the Supplier Diversity teams of major corporations. We had the unheard-of opportunity to schedule a 15-minute matchmaking face to face meetings with many of these organizations.

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Recently I attended the NGLCC (National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce) Conference in Tampa Florida. The NGLCC conference is the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ and allied business leaders in the world, and it was attended by leaders from small businesses, major corporations, and chambers of commerce from around the United States, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, South Africa, and beyond!

While in attendance, it was such an honor to have been nominated and selected as one of the LGBT Veteran Entrepreneur of the year 2019 by the NaVOBA (The National Veteran-Owned Business Association).

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The wait is over! Cooking with Chef Carlton (6 episodes) on AIB is airing weekly, and we couldn’t be more excited to see our favorite Chef in action! Will you watch with us? Here’s how:

You can watch via https://aibtv.com/cookingwithcarlton/ in real time! AIB is also on Comcast 295 an on ATT-Uverse 6. The show premiered on July 17th, and the shows will run through August 21st. We will be sharing the recipes from each episode on our website “cookingwithchefcarlton.com” after each episode is the premiered.

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As a proud member of the LGBT Community, Occasional Occasions by Carlton takes pride in being a member of the community making a difference. We are an LGBTE Business Enterprise recognized by the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in the Atlanta market.

I recently had the pleasure to speak briefly at the “Rise of the Rainbow Economy”, AGLCC LGBT Business Summit Expo held at the Atlanta Marriott Northeast location.

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Recently I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the highly acclaimed… Chef G. Garvin. Acclaimed chef, cookbook author and TV host Gerry Garvin (aka G. Garvin) is most widely known for his television series, Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin, which ran for seven seasons on TV One. Garvin also appeared in a Cooking Channel special, Georgia Roadtrip with G. Garvin. He is America’s most down-to-earth chef, and his claim to fame is showing everyday cooks how to keep it simple with a Southern twist.

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