Meet Chef Ronnie And Tei | Caterers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chef Ronnie And Tei and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chef Ronnie and Tei, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
Chef Ronnie grew up in Anderson, New Jersey, learning to cook by watching his mother create hearty, comforting meals full of bold flavor. She taught him how to properly season food to make it feel like a hug, while his father instilled the importance of hard work, discipline, and consistency. As a teenager, Ronnie worked with his sister at her catering company in Budd Lake, NJ, gaining experience catering large-scale events at venues like Giants Stadium and the Ritz Theatre, serving legendary artists such as Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, and Frank Sinatra to name a few. Those early experiences shaped his commitment to exceptional customer service.

Ronnie and I later met at the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta. I worked as a corporate server and Ronnie wore many hats. We worked under an amazing catering director named Anis Hada, who taught us the importance of giving clients a great overall experience. Our shared background in hospitality and the values we were raised with shaped us both personally and professionally, forming the foundation of our business: great service, quality meals, bold flavor, and thoughtful presentation. We serve people the way we would want to be served—because, as my late grandmother always said, treat people the way you want to be treated.

What should our readers know about your business?
We are a drop-off catering service that delivers and sets up buffets, so it’s one less thing for our clients to worry about. Our business name comes from our nicknames—Ronald (Ronnie) and Tierra (Tei) and our moto is “food that makes your belly smile”.

We launched our business during COVID after being laid off, and started by in selling plates to family, friends, and our community. As things reopened, those plates quickly turned into catering requests. A few months after we launched, my sister connected us with a pharmaceutical representative who, for safety reasons, requested high-quality, individually packaged meals. We provided and delivered to medical facilities across the Atlanta and surrounding area. This became the foundation of our business.

Today, most of our work comes through word of mouth. We cater both private and corporate events, serve as vendors at the Snellville Farmers Market, and sell meals out of Streakers Bar at Politan Row in Dunwoody. We’re known for bold, high-quality food, our signature Sweet Heat Sauce, and reliable, all-around great service.

It’s been a journey—and we’re still pushing forward, one drop-off at a time.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We are homebodies and love nature. If we were entertaining friends, we would take them for a walk up or around Stone Mountain, or take a ride up to Blue Ridge to see the scenery. It’s always good to got out to eat, but we would probably make dinner for our friends, have drinks by our fire pit, talk and catch up.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We want to give a huge shoutout to our amazing family and friends for all the help, connections, love, and encouragement that kept us going when things got tough. We truly couldn’t have done this without you.

We’d also like to give a special shoutout to

Chef David Aaron, owner of Latin Fresh Group. After tasting Chef Ronnie’s food and seeing our potential, he pushed us to go all in and believe in ourselves. That encouragement was exactly what we needed to take the leap of faith and get to where we are today.

Website: https://ronnieteis.com

Instagram: Ronnieteisga

Facebook: Ronnie Tei’s

Image Credits
Tierra King