Today, we’d like to introduce you to Shanay Wise. Shanay was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Darciea Houston.

Shanay, thank you so much for joining us today. We’d love for you to bring our readers up to speed – can you introduce yourself and share your story?
Catering Done Wisely was established in 2008 to pay homage to my late grandmother Beulah. Our goal was to bring a healthy fresh menu to all occasion events. I started with one cake, a 7-up pound cake that I watched my grannie bake for years. We were specializing in heavy hoarders and catering major events, until we ran into some obstacles with our housing. Our home was foreclosed on and all our equipment went into storage. We soon received an opportunity to be a vendor at PQC farm. I was asked to provide pickles, sweet breads and cakes. That was the beginning of my farm fresh product line! This was the perfect opportunity to promote my healthy menu and to create items that could be sold daily. In 2018, after a difficult fight for our stability, we bought a house in the heart of South Dallas. We returned to our normal catering, but with a twist. We now had a line of products that helped us to establish our brand. Catering was great for us and then came the pandemic, COVID-19. We transitioned our company from being a caterer to a caterer with a Farm Fresh product line that could supply daily items on a grocery list . We went from having 11 products to 37 products and growing. Catering Done Wisely was sustained during the pandemic and has landed a contract with a corner store and a local farm sell my Farm Fresh product line. Our goal is to continue to build our brand, cater all special evens and continue to add great farm fresh items to our menu!

Please tell us more about your brand, Catering Done Wisely
The Farm Fresh product line sets us aside from other catering companies. We also intentionally shop with local stores, farmers and vendors to purchase organic and fresh products. I’m most proud of the products that are on our Farm Fresh menu that I planted and grew myself. The El dip Frio de Jalapeño has my very own home grown Pickled Jalapeños. I use my very own basil, dill, oregano, tarragon and homemade extracts. We have mastered vending in the COVID-19 climate.

Darciea Houston and Filthy Rich Nutrients have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Darciea Houston and Filthy Rich Nutrients and your experience with them.
Darciea and I have been friends since 2014. We attended the same historically black college, Paul Quinn College. Darciea lead the WE/ME farm on campus in a mighty way. She was solely responsible for adding me to the on campus farmers market. We had several things in common and gardening was one of them. I’m definitely a gardener, but Darceia is a farmer. Her experience and work with live stock was amazing. In 2018 Darceia personally built a garden at my home that I needed in order to grow herbs for my catering company. She helps me plant dill, cucumbers, tarragon, spicy oregano, jalapeños, squash, sweet potatoes and lemon-mint. All of these items I use to create products from my Farm Fresh food line. I have referred Darceia to my good friends and family that were interested in gardening! They have done well with her guidance and Filthy Rich products. The Filthy Rich nutrients was put to the test when the winter storm came. However, most of my herbs made it through the storm and are producing at a very high rate, even with fall upon us. My two sons were taught how to compost, plant and harvest as young kids. The garden has given us a great family activity and desire to plant more. Since I make pickles, it is imperative that i grow them. This year, because of Darceia, I was finally able to grow pickling cucumbers!! I am so excited about my fall crop because the Jalepenos are producing every three to four days. Darceia’s understanding of her clients needs and desires really helps my company

Website: www.cateringdonewisely.com

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