Today we’d like to introduce you to Terrence Daley.
Hi Terrence, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from Northern Virginia, about an hour outside of DC. In high school, I was pretty rowdy and felt like I didn’t have a clear direction in what I wanted to do for a career after college. I was planning on going to art school, but after seeing a few friends graduate with an expensive fine arts degree and no job in site, I decided against it.
I was nudged by my mother to start working at a place called Market Salamander, a working chef’s market created by DC celebrity chef Todd Grey. I was taken under the wings of the young chefs that worked there. Seeing how fast-paced, hard-working, hard-partying and incredibly talented these guys were, I knew immediately that I was in the right place. I started working in the kitchen as a dishwasher/prep cook and then went from prep cook to line cook, and so on. Eventually, I was encouraged to go to culinary school once I graduated high school so I went for it.
I went to New York to the Culinary Institute of America, where I earned my degree in culinary arts and culinary arts management. During that time, I was able to work in NYC at restaurants like Danielle, and Cafe Boulud, along with doing stage work at countless other fine dining restaurants in the city. Once I left NYC, I moved down to Miami for some warmer weather. There I worked at Cindy Hutson’s Ortanique On The Mile. Eventually, I was having too much fun in Miami so I went up to Palm Beach to go work for the Four Seasons to focus on my career. After climbing the ranks at The Four Seasons for four years, I moved into the private sector. I worked for several high-profile families, as well as becoming the executive chef aboard several yachts and had the pleasure of traveling around the Caribbean and the US cooking for private clients.
I was a bit tired of cooking for other people’s pallets and was a little sick of the redundancy in the private sector. So my wife Laura and I decided to switch things up and move to Charleston, SC. There I was able to work alongside serious professionals and industry leaders in some of the better and more interesting restaurants that Charleston had to offer. Allowing me to cook food that was interesting and new, I was able to get super excited again about my profession, to hone my craft and to see things with fresh eyes. Once, I had hit my stride after two years in Charleston was when COVID hit. That shut down the entire city along with my restaurant as well as so many others. My wife and I ended up moving to Titusville to be closer to her family and to try and find some stability in the early days of the pandemic. That’s where I started selling artisan bread and fresh pasta out of my house under the cottage food act. At first, it was just for a little extra money and to fight boredom during the lockdown, just selling to friends and family. Every week my orders started to increase and once word got out about me, I couldn’t keep up. Eventually, this led to me starting the process of opening a brick-and-mortar. So here I am!
As you know, we’re big fans of The Daley Trade. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Daley Trade is a small-scale local kitchen providing the highest quality pastas, bread & provisions to help our customers improve and elevate your home cooking experience. We want to bring everyone the most delicious products possible by using the best seasonal, local, and sustainable ingredients available. We source all of our eggs, produce, and dairy from local Florida farmers and make everything from scratch in-house.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Once we open up our brick and mortar, we will have an ever-changing menu based on seasonal produce and proteins. We also like to have fun and mix things up to keep things fresh and exciting for our customers. In the meantime, we are going to continue with weekly specials for our contact-free deliveries.
Contact Info:
- Email: thedaleytrade@gmail.com
- Website: www.thedaleytrade.com
- Instagram: @thedaleytrade
- Facebook: facebook.com/thedaleytrade
