Marcella Joseph
MARCELLA JOSEPH
Columbia, SC | 803-988-5489 | [email protected]
Retail | Fine Dining | Fast Casual | Casual Dining
Biography
Born and raised in the heart of West Palm Beach, FL, home grown culinary sensation Marcella Joseph honed her knife skills at some of the finest schools and restaurants this industry has to offer. Realizing that her gastronomic goals would not be met without a solid education in the epicurean arts, Marcella chose to attend and be trained at the internationally acclaimed Johnson & Wales University.
After completing her studies, Ms. Joseph quickly learned that by combining the culinary techniques cultivated from her classical education, with the homespun ingenuity learned at the feet of the women that came before her, leaps in gastronomic greatness could be achieved. Of all of these women – these unofficial mentors – one woman in particular helped to feed that creative spark that burned just beneath the surface of Ms. Joseph’s talented hands: her great grandmother. “I have always had a love for cooking… I can remember making the best and most delicious pound cakes with my Great Grandma. I would stand on her little yellow step stool and watch her make these tasty and amazing creations. Her biscuits still have people talking…”
An unquenchable thirst for knowledge, paired with an unparalleled work ethic, would take Marcella Joseph far and much further than the Floridian shores that nurtured her mind, body and soul. Ms. Joseph commenced her career as the Store Baker and Prepared Foods Supervisor at Whole Foods in Pompano, FL and as Executive Sous Chef at the Tower Club in Ft. Lauderdale.
As a Chef, she has created custom tasting menus, wine pairings and curated special events for award winning restaurants namely, South Carolina’s Rossa Trattoria and BLD Modern Diner and other VIP type of events. Additionally, she has participated in corporate cooking demonstrations and interacted with special guests.
In becoming an Executive Chef, Ms. Joseph took advantage of opportunities to hone her craft and learn new techniques which prepared her for specialized skills in corporate costing strategies, retail production, menu planning and resource management.
The long nights perfecting her signature cooking style, and the time and effort spent nurturing relationships with fellow chefs and hospitality professionals, resulted in Ms. Joseph being offered the opportunity to chart the course of the concepts under the CityGrit Group as its Culinary Director. As CityGrit’s Culinary Director, Ms. Joseph implemented and streamlined production systems for all three restaurant concepts (smallSugar, Il Focolarè, and The Wine Bar at CityGrit) concurrently, which allowed them to work profitably in lock step with their non profit, Feed the City. It was here that Ms. Joseph’s ability to transform raw whole foods into elevated edibles began to be recognized – locally, being named one of “Columbia’s Tastemakers” in the 2022 Food & Wine Issue for Fig Magazine, and on a wider scale by being invited to participate in cooking exhibitions nationwide.
While it seems that the current course of Marcella’s journey is charted to take her far beyond the sun kissed shores upon which she started, her focus for the future seems to be on an area a lot closer to home… “One of my community service goals is to open a community garden with a restaurant that serves the local community with nutritious, wholesome, and delicious food. I especially want to go to the areas that are considered ‘food deserts’, and remedy that issue. Since starting a family of my own, I have become aware of the lack of nutritionally dense and fresh food available in underprivileged communities. My plan is to change all that by making elevated cuisine more affordable and accessible to the masses.”
With her eye on the prize and the knife on the board, Marcella Joseph is poised and prepared to make an impact in the culinary industry.
