Baton Rouge caterer of Kulinary Kreationz builds a following

Photo by Matt Sigur

Chef Nene Wheeler had worked just about everywhere before she started her catering company, Kulinary Kreationz.

“I worked at The Chimes, Ninfas, BJ’s Brewhouse, Hooters … I did everything from bartending to working at the back of the house, being the kitchen manager and sous chef,” she says.

At Bonefish Grill, she says she learned how to become a beast in the kitchen. She was pushed on quality and presentation for each dish and quickly mastered the cooking stations.

After working for Bonefish Grill, she took a job working in food at Our Lady of the Lake. While at the hospital, she completed a culinary education program and started Kulinary Kreationz around 2009. The company offers everything from stuffed beignet sandwiches called Zydeco Wraps, praline pork chops, seafood nachos and crawfish bread.

A year-and-a-half went by at Our Lady of the Lake, then she took a leap of faith on her company and left the hospital job in 2013.

“I felt like I needed to establish myself,” she says. “I wanted to offer things that other chefs don’t have. I like to put flavor profiles together that wouldn’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.”

Through her relentless working and connecting on social media, she has gained more than 5,700 follows on her Instagram page. She has also worked events for celebrities such as Lil Boosie, Lil Wayne and Bryshere Gray from the hit Fox show Empire.

“We want to make sure that whenever [celebrities] come to Louisiana, they get that Southern hospitality,” she says. “We want to give our customers more than they expect.”