Meet The Chef

After graduating from Loyola University in Chicago, I worked in the non-food world for a few years, but I just couldn't shake the food bug that had bitten me as a child. So I decided to take the plunge and enrolled in culinary school at The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago. While in culinary school, I assisted a few local caterers, working my way through a list of jobs from server to captain to all things in between. This is where I learned the ins and outs of the catering business. I fell in love with it. It combined my love of food and fresh ingredients with my enthusiasm for entertaining. After graduating culinary school, I worked in several facets of the food world from restaurants, to teaching cooking classes, to developing recipes for a meal preparation company. In 2008, a friend approached me to cater a reception for 180 guests at the Chicago Cultural Center. That's when Sprig was born. -Liz Chaidez