Meet PCG Members – Alyssa and Andrew Wilen: Spreading Local, One Class at a Time

In the fall of 2012, PCG Professional Members Andrew and Alyssa Wilen had an idea.

“Andrew and I met when I was working as an executive chef and he was working in marketing and event planning,” says Alyssa.

Adds Andrew, “At the time, Charlotte cooking classes didn’t really exist. We wanted to do something together…so we could spend more time together, but also try to fill a need and a niche.”

Chef Alyssa Wilen had been cooking in local Charlotte restaurants for twelve years. Raised in Charlotte, Alyssa graduated from South Mecklenburg High School before attending the culinary school at the now-closed Art Institute of Charlotte.

After graduation, Alyssa held a variety of chef positions: The Club at Longview, Harpers Group, and Mother Earth Group, including Executive Chef at Fern: Flavors of the Earth.

“I had fun with that; I kind of conceptualized what an upscale vegetarian restaurant would look like,” she says.

It was while she was Executive Chef at Fern when Alyssa she met Andrew, whose graduation from Elon University and internship with the Carolina Panthers brought him to Charlotte.

After jobs at Bank of America and with a smaller marketing agency, Andrew was ready to jump back into a position with an event experience side, which led him to a job with Living Social. “My partner with Living Social and I put on these fun experiential events,” says Andrew, “And I loved that. That’s what led me to this idea with Alyssa.”

The initial idea was to bring Alyssa’s culinary skills and experience as a chef and host a cooking class event for Living Social because “all of our food events went so well; I loved that experience and [creating a warm, fun inviting atmosphere for everyone to enjoy,” says Andrew.

Six months or so later, the Wilens applied for their business license and in August 2013, Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen hosted its first cooking class, an Italian themed class, at Atherton (now South End Market).

“We decided Atherton was the right place for us to start for a lot of different reasons,” says Alyssa. “And one of those reasons being that it’s community focused and you have all of these artisan vendors. We were able to have fresh food around us all the time.”

All of Alyssa’s mentors have had a great love of local food, and as a chef, local ingredients became one of Alyssa’s passions.

When she started teaching cooking classes, it was important to her to focus on local ingredients and share with her guests why local food is important. Local, seasonal ingredients can be found at the forefront of every aspect of the Wilens’ business.

“Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen saw a need in the Charlotte food scene for classes aimed at the general public in a variety of trending culinary topics with a focus on supporting local,” says fellow Piedmont Culinary Guild member Adam Duke, owner of Duke’s Bread. Duke believes, through the Wilens steadfast support of local farmers, Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen has “[given] the public a direct line to local farms.”

Both Alyssa and Andrew relish in the fact that their business has become a bridge between local farmers and the public.

“I love we get to be the educators. We’re working directly with people and giving them ingredients that they didn’t choose themselves. And telling them ‘this is the recipe we’re making; this is how you use this ingredient; this is why it’s great.’ At the end, they get to taste the dish and see why it’s better. It’s a win-win for everybody. They write down the name of the farms, they write down the name of places they can go and buy food and they’re kind of hungry for it.”

“We are helping to familiarize people with all the great products that we have right around us to make them more adventurous,” adds Andrew. “Over the years, thousands of people have come through [Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen], and what that means these ingredients and these farms people weren’t familiar with are now out to the world. It also means so when they go to a restaurant and see the ingredients on the list of a dish, or recognize the farms providing the ingredients, they don’t shy away from that as much – because they know what it is, they’ve had it before.”

In August 2018, Andrew and Alyssa moved into a spacious new 3,380 square-foot facility on Yancey road, where they have expanded their cooking classes; as well as launched a catering business and offer a weekly Saturday brunch.

They continue to source a lot of their ingredients from those at South End Market and other local farmers for all aspects of their business.

Some of their favorite farmers include Windy Hill Farm for their variety of meat, plus Glory Farms and Coto Family Farms, both of which grow greens Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen uses in their classes and on their menus.

Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen cooking classes are “a unique way that the community can interface personally with the chefs and learn about local food,” says Karin Coto, PCG member and owner of Coto Family Farms. “Many people, especially younger adults, have little exposure to cooking in general, or to using fresh, local ingredients. The classes inform students both about how to use local food and where to find it.”

Sourcing local food from local farmers is one of the central tenets of the Piedmont Culinary Guild, of which Alyssa was one of the inaugural members. “I was at the very first meeting at Passion8 in Rock Hill,” says Alyssa. “It was a meeting of the minds to find out where there are gaps in the [Charlotte culinary] community…everyone felt like they wanted to elevate Charlotte’s food scene and share resources.”

Through education, networking and communication, the Wilens believe Piedmont Culinary Guild has elevated and strengthened the Charlotte culinary community.

“PCG does a wonderful job bridging the communication gap by letting people in the industry talk to each other more. Coming from outside the industry, I don’t really know a time where PCG didn’t exist for that. It’s clear it was needed,” says Andrew.

Six years, 18 employees, 1,000 classes and 20,053 students later, Andrew and Alyssa’s idea has also had a lasting impact on the Charlotte community.

Karin Coto sums it up perfectly. “Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen has been instrumental in helping people make a personal connection with chefs, farmers, and other components of the Charlotte food scene. Together, they practice a high standard of excellence in all aspects of their business which encourages others in culinary endeavors to do the same.”

Profile by Chrissie Nelson Rotko. Photos by LunahZon Photography and Alex Comen Photography.