To run a successful food business, knowing how to cook is only half the battle. At least, that’s what Roxanne Easley, owner of Roxanne’s Catering, has come to understand in her more than 20 years in the industry.
While Easley has always loved to cook, she believes it’s her passion and talent for serving that have taken her from a one-woman operation to a full-service catering and event company with more than 47 employees on payroll.
Now, she’s passing on that hard-earned expertise to Catapult Culinary cohort members as the instructor of our Catering 101 course, which focuses on etiquette and professionalism.
“I noticed that a lot of people know how to cook, but not a lot of them know how to be professional,” Easley shared. “They think all they have to do is show up with the food. I teach them that how they present themselves — from how they dress to how they show up on social media — matters. Because what we’re really doing is providing a service.”
Catapult’s Director of Entrepreneurship, Lachelle Bell, knew Easley was the perfect person to teach this topic, well, because she quite literally wrote the book on it.
“As I was writing a book about etiquette and professionalism in food service, I got a phone call from Lachelle to come and teach at Catapult,” Easley recalled. “God always has a way, because after she called me, I finished writing it, and I based my course curriculum off it.”
Now in her fourth year teaching Catering 101, Easley continues to equip Catapult Culinary participants with the knowledge and soft skills they need to succeed in an often-overlooked side of the industry.
Through the course, cohort members learn how to price their products, the importance of social media conduct, time management skills, and the importance of a first impression, among other things.
For Easley, these lessons are especially vital for Catapult’s mostly minority entrepreneurs who often face additional scrutiny.
“The biggest thing I hear back from clients is, ‘You guys are so professional.’ It used to offend me a little bit, but I had to understand that, because there aren’t many Black caterers in Pittsburgh with companies as large as ours, expectations are often low. We have to set the bar high to let people know that we can do the same things as anyone else."
Beyond professionalism, Easley takes a hands-on, open-book approach, sharing advice on everything from competitive pricing to staffing and scaling a business.
It’s a mindset that mirrors Catapult’s commitment to fostering not just individual growth, but community growth — by promoting collaboration, shared learning, and healthy competition among minority-owned food businesses.
