HomeChefs: Taste is everything

Nashauna Drummond, Lifestyle Coordinator

Now you can stay home and make your meals taste like they were prepared in a gourmet restaurant, thanks to the new range of local spices on the market - HomeChefs.

"I'm a culinarian, so it's easy to create flavours," notes the creator, Simone Walker-Barrett. "Our products are unique because they are made by a chef. The end result is achieved by taking local herbs and adding spices that you would get in a gourmet restaurant, and not just scallion, garlic and thyme," she disclosed.

In the business for over 18 years, Walker-Barrett is a certified hospitality educator, lecturing at the School of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Technology.

She began her line exactly three years and five months ago while studying at the American Culinary Institute. She explained to Food that to make extra cash she made the curried goat seasoning, which she sold at farmers' markets and also to friends and family.

HomeChefs now comprises seven flavours - all-purpose, curried goat, oxtail, chicken, herb and garlic, pork and grilled/roast meat seasoning. And the best thing is you don't have to marinate your meat in the seasoning!

Last year, Walker-Barrett invited one of her former students, Delareese Mills, to partner with her. Mills signed on without even trying the products.

"I know she's already good. If she has an idea, I can run with it. She's that good," Mills confidently told Food of her former teacher, friend and now business partner. An educator at Heart Trust/NTA for 13 years, Mills is the operations supervisor at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation.

The three-person team is rounded out by Marketing Manager Orville Mighty.

"I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen," he admitted to Food. However, one day he prepared dinner using HomeChefs all-purpose seasoning.

"My wife was like, 'You can cook. You going to spend more time in the kitchen.' It was a week before I told them. I wanted to bask in the praise," he said laughing.

Twice per month, Walker-Barrett and Mills, along with their husbands, sisters and students of Ebony Park Heart Academy, get to work making the seasoning.

"We wash it stalk by stalk," notes Walker-Barrett.

After each batch is made, it's left to ferment for four weeks and the only thing left to be added is salt. They note that, being very health conscious, HomeChefs' seasoning is made with sea salt.

Being such a small, family-oriented business, Walker-Barrett actually got the name from her nine-year-old son, Jacoby.

Naming the brand

She explained: "One day we were brainstorming and my son said to me, 'Mommy when people use this they are going to cook like a chef'." That gave her the idea for the name.

"When I heard it, I knew that was the name," chimes in Mills.

The team is confident of the success of their product. They note that when they do presentations in supermarkets, though persons may be hesitant, once they try the product, it translates into sales.

"It is evident to us that we have a quality product," said Mighty.

The quality of their product was also further sanctioned when they walked away with two awards at the recent All Jamaica Grill Off. They received first place in the seafood category and third in the chicken category.