Honoree | Kaitlyn Roberts, Easy Entertaining Inc.
Kaitlyn Roberts’ love of cooking can be traced back to her childhood and her late grandfather.
A school principal in upstate New York, he had a summer restaurant that was open when classes were out of session. He served simple dishes, Roberts said, nothing overly complicated but special nonetheless. More than the stirring, sautéing and spicing of dishes, her grandfather liked what food did: it brought people together. He enjoyed having family and friends over to socialize and to enjoy what he had prepared for them.
Her grandfather even went so far as to build a second, separate, full-sized kitchen on his property at home. “It was almost as big as their house,” Roberts, proprietor of Easy Entertaining Inc. of Providence, said with a laugh. “It was considered sacred ground and my grandmother was not allowed in.”
Roberts also appreciated how food unified people.
But first – a legal career beckoned.
She graduated from Wofford College in South Carolina, headed for law school. During her undergraduate years, during which she received fire-code violations for cooking on Bunsen burners in her dorm, she completed a study-abroad program in Italy, and was exposed to the country’s brand of fresh, local cuisine. Back at school, the dean of foreign study suggested Roberts look into culinary school in Italy.
So, Roberts finished her undergraduate degree and let her parents know she wanted to get off the law track. She enrolled in the Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence, Italy. But she found she was on a learning curve, truly blazing her own path in a foreign country.
“I was starting way behind,” Roberts said. “Most females were in pastry,” meaning that her area of study – savory foods – was also out of the norm. But she persevered, and fostered a love for Italy’s fresh, local, seasonal dishes, a culinary passion she brought back to the U.S. well in advance of the farm-to-table movement.
In 2006, Roberts established Easy Entertaining in Providence.
The business has grown from bringing in a few thousand dollars a year while Roberts worked multiple jobs at the same time just starting out, to its current status: a commissary, public café and event space in a unique venue at Rising Sun Mills, a former jewelry-manufacturing plant. There are now about 30 employees on the team. This year’s projected sales are $1.5 million.
Changes have been made to accommodate growth. The company closed for more than two weeks for a renovation in January. A year in the planning, and complicated with winter weather, the interior was gutted with walls removed and a new kitchen built, complete with walk-in refrigerators and other improvements. The redo increased Easy Entertaining event capacity from about 75 to 120 people.
Just as she uses local ingredients, Roberts made it a point to use local, small-business contractors for construction. This focus on giving back is a priority.
