The girl with the pink apron

At just 22 years old, Kingstonian Charissa Henry is already making waves on the catering scene.

The Immaculate Conception High graduate started her catering company Pink Apron in 2014, an extension of her culinary experiences growing up.

Henry grew up in an environment where food and people were a part of her life from early.

“My parents were always entertaining guests in one way or the other. My mother’s cooking was always the highlight of our guests’ experience,” she told All Woman.

When preparing for her guests, Henry’s mother would allow her to stay in the kitchen and help out.

“She always treated me as if I was her student, and showed me all her little tricks, but still allowed me to use my own creativity and experiment with various ingredients.”

As such it was no surprise when Henry pursued her passion throughout high school. 

“I pursued studies in food and nutrition for both the CSEC and CAPE levels,” she said.

Her love for the culinary arts also saw her pursing a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and food service management at Johnson and Wales University in Florida.

While still a culinary student she interned at one of Walt Disney’s world resorts in Orlando, what she described as an “awesome experience”.

After graduation, Henry landed a job as a banquet chef at The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Coral Gables where she worked for a year and was exposed to catering on a large scale.

“I learnt quickly the technicalities which are involved in the execution of an event — from guest relations to ordering, to cost control and just overall creativity and innovation to always keeping the clients happy.”

From her experience overseas, Henry looked to owning her own company.

“When I returned to Jamaica in 2014 I reached out to various chefs as a means of feeling out the Jamaican food scene,” she said, explaining that she has been privileged to work on a catering team with chef Brian Lumley.

With the peak catering period of summer coming to a close and Christmas around the corner, Henry decided to branch out on her own and start her own catering company, Pink Apron in November 2014.

Pink for her was the most logical colour to be included in the name for her company.

“Anyone who knows me well, knows that I absolutely love the colour pink, and am slightly obsessed with it, which can be seen in my many pink chef coats, aprons, knives, potholders and mitts,” she laughed.

“I hope to expand my company’s offerings, and move on to providing catering services for larger events. I also want to offer cooking classes for individuals who may simply want to sharpen their skills in the kitchen, or who may not have any experience at all with food, and would like to learn from scratch.”