GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Starting college as a pre-med student, making the switch to advertising and graduating with a degree in public relations with a minor in Spanish.
Exactly what you would expect from the executive chef of a catering company.
Patria Webster's professional path is a perfect example of how accidents can somehow be a blessing in disguise. She ended up in a white coat after all but traded the lab for the kitchen.
"Food has always played a very huge role in my life," Webster said. "I am the oldest girl of five siblings, so I had a lot of responsibility cooking for them. My mom was working. I cooked a lot with my grandma growing up and my mom. As soon as I got my own apartment, I always had my friends over cooking for them, throwing the barbecues and the cookouts, so it's been with me for forever.”
At first, cooking was just a hobby. Thanks to one simple suggestion, though, everything changed.
"At the event, a few friends asked if I would cater for them in the future," she said. "Literally from there, I had a business.”
Patria let the idea marinate before getting her feet wet with a few baby showers.
Within two months, she was already catering corporate events.
Scratch by Patria became an official company. Business was, and still is, sizzling.
Patria has catered for Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist. She even put her food in front of Gordon Ramsey during her time on Master Chef.
Her toughest customer, though, is an 11-year-old girl. Her daughter, Naomi.
"(She has) the boujiest foodie palette I've ever seen," Patria said. "I mean, it started at about six when she ordered a filet at a restaurant. Like, 'No, I don't want the regular steak. I want those.'”
On the other end of the family tree, Patria still feels the influence of her great-grandma in the kitchen, even if she's not around anymore.
"She would probably say, 'You're welcome,'" she joked, "because I'm 99.9% sure that she's in the kitchen with me every day."
Maybe great grandma has been looking out all along. This business started right before the pandemic, an almost impossible time to get a catering company off the ground.
Yet here she is, three years later. The white coat is still on, and Patria's kitchen is cooking with gas.