Chef Christan Willis entered the restaurant industry as a teenager.
“I was the hostess at a fine dining restaurant and my dad owned the valet,” Willis said. “I was thrown into it, not knowing I was going to take it seriously.”
Willis, an Atlanta native, reconsidered her path while studying broadcast journalism at Georgia State University. A heart-to-heart with her father convinced Willis to pursue culinary school with snowballing results — she landed an externship at Walt Disney World, oscillating between the Grand Floridian and Polynesian hotels in Orlando.
With 10-hour prep shifts starting at 4 a.m. and multiple tiers of hotel restaurants, working at Disney humbled Willis to her core.
“I cooked for 1,700 people a day at Disney,” she said. “I told myself if I could get through this, I’m going to come back to Atlanta, graduate with my culinary degree, and jump straight into the kitchens as a line cook and take it professionally. So that’s what I did.”
Willis graduated from Gwinnett Technical College’s American Culinary Foundation-accredited program, specializing in French cooking. She went on to work for Ford Fry’s Rocket Farm Restaurants group, primarily working at St. Cecilia under Chef Craig Richards and at The Optimist. At St. Cecilia, Willis said she learned the majority of her foundation for flavors, especially European cuisine and pasta. The fast-paced kitchens at both restaurants kept her on her toes, helping Willis learn to adapt to changing situations quickly.
Willis founded her private chef business in 2016. Since then, she’s added brand ambassador and TV personality to her culinary resume. But Willis had no idea just how much studying journalism would come in handy as a chef, because, like food, communication, she said, brings people together.
“I had no idea I was setting myself up for being on TV, hosting food festivals, traveling, [or] talking about food to other people,” Willis explained of her culinary career arc. “Every chef can cook, right? But a lot of chefs can’t walk into homes and cook [or] be part of the family.”
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Willis quickly learned that being a private chef was vastly different from working in restaurants, and she embraced it. She has to learn a family’s specific schedule, food preferences, and dietary restrictions. Keeping repeat clients interested in her food and working with what they already have on hand in their home kitchens taught her multitudes about flexibility and time management.
Every day is different, Willis said, but she enjoys the challenge (“chefs love chaos”) — and ultimately, it primed her for televised cooking competitions.
Willis has appeared on Food Network’s “Cooks Versus Cons” and “Raid the Fridge,” as well as the Netflix series “Pressure Cooker.” Her latest television appearance aired on June 24 on Food Network, with Willis going head-to-head against three other chefs on “Chopped.” Dozens of supporters gathered for a watch party at MidCity ATL, a cocktail bar in Midtown, to learn whether Willis had won the cooking competition, which she did and had to keep secret for weeks.
And while Willis won’t be cooking at this weekend’s The New South dinner at Auburn Angel in Sweet Auburn, Willis does plan to join for another dinner planned for later this summer.