Today we’d like to introduce you to Count and Jessica Foreman.
Hi Count and Jessica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Count Side: Our story is unique, in the sense (we) or I have not been traditional. I wish I could tell you that I finished high school, went to culinary school, started a family, and opened a business with funding and partnership. This story seems to be the easiest but with everything in life, there will be bumps in the road.
My story is the complete opposite, my name is Count Foreman and along with my wife, Jessica Foreman, and with the help of my two sons Kount 21, and Jesshuan 19, we own Sauté Kingz by Chef Count. We are a Family owned Street vending and award-winning catering company. We have a brick and mortar, a restaurant in the Midtown area of Daytona beach. Our story is 23 years wrapped up in a couple of pages, but I hope you enjoy and be inspired!
I was born in Manhattan, NY, raised in Jamaica, Queens. I was a Latchkey kid, which meant both my parents worked and I had to take care of myself at times. My mother, Audrey Foreman, taught me how to cook at the age of eight. It was our time together and she taught me so I would never be hungry when I was by myself. I lived in Jamaica Queen until the 10th grade (1992), I started to get into trouble and my family decided to move to Pensacola Florida where my grandmother lived. When I arrived in Florida, I stuck out like a sore thumb, baggy clothes, timberland down, NY accent with an attitude to match.
It was a culture shock to me; Florida was very different from that concrete jungle. When I started High school in Pensacola, the administration had made up their mind I was in trouble before I got into any. This was supposed to be my fresh start, but I quickly went back to getting into trouble, got kicked out of school, and turned heavy into the streets. By 17, I was the street, a high school dropout, and one foot into the prison system, which happened very quickly, and by the time I was turning 19 (April 11), I was now an inmate Foreman. Now with some serious time on my hands, I had to decide that this was not going to be the end of my story.
I was young and was not going to let prison just be time wasted. I started to study and enroll in High school classes, and I graduated with my high school diploma. Then I also completed my electrical apprenticeship and a data entry certificate. I also worked in the kitchen which helped me further my culinary skills and became the inmate’s favorite cook. I became a dorm leader and stayed out of trouble. I was able to get reduced sentences for good behavior. In 1999, four years later, I went and was shipped to work release in Daytona Beach Fl. My first official job was at a Don Pablos Mexican and there is where I furthered my cooking technique and skills.
This is where I met my future wife. I knew the minute I saw her, even though she didn’t even know it.
Jessica: I have lived in Daytona beach since 1992, after moving here from Connecticut. I went to Campbell middle school and Mainland high school. After my father died at 16, I spiraled down and no longer felt like a teen. I had to go to an alternative high school where I had to keep a job. I hated fast food, so I decided to step it up. I started working in a restaurant when I turned 17. I was a senior in high school and started as a busser at Maria Bonita which was a mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant. I was a chip girl, a busser, hostess, then a server, and then a trainer to management in a couple of years.
I decided to apply to a corporate restaurant in May of 1999, I walked into Don Pablos to apply for the serving position. I had a quick interview and was scheduled for a second one right away. As I waited for my ride, I saw this young man that was being dropped off at Don Pablos. He came over and introduced himself as Count (which I thought was a nickname) and we had a conversation. He was well-spoken and asked me if I was going to start working there, and that he looked forward to seeing me.
I started shortly after, and Count made it known he was feeling me. I left Don Pablos a couple of months after, but we started dating shortly after. He told me about his situation being on work release and that he was a changed man. I had taken his word; I knew the risk and honestly, it was my first time being with a person with a past, but he was always serious about his job and focused on getting out. On July 25, 1999, I picked Count Foreman up from work release. He was a free man, since that day we have been together since.
Count: There are dates you will always remember like your birthday, graduation day, the day your kids are born for me was the day I gain my freedom on July 25, 1999, back to society, my fresh start in Daytona Beach. I continued to work at Don Pablo for another year and then on April 23, 2000, Kount angel was introduced to this world. I was now a father. I am now entering fatherhood and I held my 9lb 8oz little man, everything I did was for my family. I worked in several other chain restaurants in Daytona until about 2002, with much needed change we left for Orlando. I applied at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney, got hired after my application and off I went to work at one of the busiest restaurants in the world. I trained in grill, sauté, and appetizer on the main floor.
A few months later, I was part of the opening team at Cheesecake Factory at the Millenia Mall. Then on November 24, Jesshuan Foreman was introduced at Arnold Palmer Hospital. I had been working 2 jobs due to our expanding family. I continued to work 2 jobs and Jessica went back to serving and cleaning houses. We were grinding hard to provide and further our work experience through the diverse restaurant and the booming tourist industry. We continued to work in Orlando until about 2006 When my mother-in-law got sick and went back to Daytona. This time with my expanding work history I was able to secure a line cook job, but the pay was nowhere near close to Orlando.
Then my wife started to self-contract herself as a server for a catering company and was able to get me on board. Now I was being introduced to catering. I continued to cater and work as a line cook in Ormond until 2007. I decided to stop catering due to the fact Jessica and I tried to be moved into a management position, and we were rejected. We were good enough to work, but not in a management position so we decided to start our own.
Jessica: After we decided to start our own catering company it seemed impossible, we did not have credit, and the recession was just beginning. So, I started to grow Domestic Divas cleaning & concierge service while offering private chef to the cleaning clients. The hustle needed to continue so we started to street vend for extra money. This would give Count a way to introduce his cuisine to the public and not just in the restaurant we worked for. We started to street vend on the corner of Second Ave and Keech St in front of Nu look Barbershop. Count created a sauté station in a tent pop-up setup. The Ave or Mary Mcleod Bethune is the historic street where the historic Bethune Cookman University, which is also called Midtown of Daytona beach.
The Ave was known for its black own restaurants, beauty shops, and street vendors. It was known for the barbeque, fried fish, and soul food stands. We were the new kids on the block (literally), but we didn’t want to serve the same type of food, so we took what we had learned and put our own spin. When we first started, we gave away more samples than we sold, it was some resistance at first, we were new, and it was not the norm on the Ave.
We continued to cook on the Ave on the weekend and grow our client base. Chefs cooked live Chicken, Steak, and Shrimp Alfredo and Scampi Pasta, with his signature coconut rice and grilled Salmon. The chef was the neighborhood personal chef, using fresh herbs and vegetables. This was all cooked to order. Soon Chef Count was labeled “Daytona Pastaman”, We slowly kept investing in equipment. From 2009 to 2010, the chef decided to enroll at Daytona State and started the culinary program on top of working, being on the Ave, and taking personal jobs. I was expanding my residential cleaning clients and helping on the Ave. At this time the boys would come and be by our side while we set up. They had learned to unload, wash dishes, and expo.
With everything in motion then my oldest was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and became very sick. We had to get him help at Arnold Palmer. We went back and forth, and it was very difficult to regulate his sugars which were at coma levels. It was the most terrifying moment we had to deal with, but we had to come to terms with what our next steps were to be official. We had to put our education on hold for a minute to concentrate on Kount’s health and to really get everything in order. We had gotten all our paperwork orders but now it was time to find a place. That hunt was the longest hunt in the world. We found a place on the Ave but that turned into a nightmare and a valuable lesson which we will get into later, but it was not until 2016 when we found a place.
We signed a lease to a small catering kitchen that was literally a 2-car garage, but it was our stepping stone. We quickly began laying out the bistro-style kitchen while applying for the food competition. Our first one was King of the Grill in Ormond Beach which we went against some of Ormond and Daytona multi-million-dollar restaurants and hotel chefs at The Rockefeller Casements. We were just unknown to that area, but we won First place with Chef signature flank steak and chimichurri sauce.
That was the beginning! Then right after King of Grill, we were chosen to cater the Black Diamond Soiree from the Alphas, which was a large event for us. This event was another make-or-break moment and everything had to be executed perfectly. It was a success. After that, the catering came rolling in.
Count: After the Black Diamond Soiree, not only was I known as a street vendor, a King of the Grill, Private chef and now the catering was starting to take Off. We continued that momentum and competed in more food competitions like the Black Expo in Jacksonville, back to king of the Grill and Port Orange Family Days. We continued to set up on the Avenue and then we had to pick up services from the bistro kitchen. Jessica was still clean, and I would be there to help her as her client base grew. We were grinding hard, but we knew we were quickly outgrowing the bistro kitchen.
We need a full kitchen with a hood and space for prep, the 450 square foot garage was getting tight so in 2019 we went back on the search. Finally, on January 14, 2020, we went to a restaurant that became vacant at 200 S. Martin Luther King Blvd. in Daytona Beach, we were going to be back in midtown. On February 4th, 2020, we signed a 2-year lease, quickly we started to renovate the new place. Again, as soon as we started the pandemic hit! We were faced with the unknown!
This was nothing that I have ever faced before. Nothing in life is smooth, when you decide to become an entrepreneur and follow your dreams you have to take everything that comes with it; be able to adjust, and not be afraid of failure. The road is never smooth, but you have to continue regardless of the curve.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Jessica: It has never been a smooth road! We were young and naive when we first started, especially our first rental restaurant. We had believed in a professor that owned a property on the Ave, but he turned out to be a slumlord. It took us a year to renovate the kitchen and he did not want to fix the much-needed electrical work throughout the building that was needed to even keep the equipment working. He leased the building to someone else, that was a failure for us!
Words in business are useless, but it taught us to make sure all paperwork I’s are dotted, and T’s are crossed. That situation did not stop us. We were back on the Ave. We never even got to cook in that place. With no bank loan, no partners, everything has been financed by us. We had to work several jobs at a time, clean houses, street vend, you name it. We had to sacrifice weekends, parties, going out, savings, I mean we were focused on going to the next step. I remember flipping the rent money into a food sale. I mean we were giving it our all including taking L’s.
I ignored my health and my Gallbladder inflamed; the bile poised my body. I became sepsis. in January 2016, I was in ICU fighting for my life, I was in complete organ failure by the grace of God I survived but the recovery took months. As I recovered, I couldn’t help Chef Count or work as much but I was searching for a new kitchen. After we got our tax refund, in May of 2016 we were moved into the new catering Kitchen.
We also had to learn how to deal with hate. We had people call the city and code enforcement on us, there were people trying to discredit our “little” business, the same ones that laughed at us were starting to be threatened. There were plenty of times we felt that pressure, we were risking it all, especially during 2020! We just signed a lease to a new place right before the shutdown. That first, last, security and renovation cost depleted saving fast. With the pandemic, my cleaning company came to a stop. All my clients had businesses that were shut down so now, I am unemployed.
I decided to get my CDL and got on the road while Count repaired the building and went back to cooking outside this time in front of the new building. Again, back to the basics as a street vendor.
Count: Nobody knew how long the pandemic was going to last, but I couldn’t wait or slow down. I went back to selling food outside while renovating the kitchen. Now we had less income and more expanse. I had to buy equipment, refrigeration, turn on utilities, gas, product, and rent. It was constant spending and the stimulus helped but that was all, No PPP, NO Unemployment, it was just that sink and swim mode. It was stressful, we couldn’t just let 13 years of hard work get to where we just vanished because of Covid-19.
Trust me we understand the impact it had on everyone, and the lives lost. We were careful and took it seriously, but we knew no one was going to bail us out and from prior experience, I did not trust the funding process. Regardless of the obstacles we faced, we didn’t give up. Little by little and after a year and a half of grinding we open in April of 2021. When I say we went through paperwork delays through the state, unexpected repairs to the hood, to the delay from city paperwork and financial restraint it was by the grace of God that we opened.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Count: I am a caterer, private Chef, street vendor, and Foodperv! We are a family owned business, my son Jesshuan is my sous chef, quality control, and he makes his signature ice cream. My wife Jessica is in front of the house, event coordinator, accountant. I consider myself an international soul food chef. Every ethnicity has its own soul food. I love to put my own twist on classic cuisine. I love to cook with spirits and fusion Blends.
I am known for sauté pasta stations with chicken, shrimp, steak, salmon, fried lobster, lamb chop, and crabcakes. Everything we do is prepared fresh including my homemade sauce like our scampi, Alfredo, cabernet steak sauce, and our chimichurri. I love cooking with fresh vegetables and herbs. I am mean on the grill, one of my first stations I mastered working at Planet Hollywood and I love to smoke meat. I barbeque upon request but that will change soon.
The catering menu is different from the menu we serve at the building. We tend to customize and tailor menus for events like Filet a la Oscar to our award-winning champagne lambchop, and collard green gratin. From Brunch, cocktail hours, to live omelet station, Hibachi, ramen bowl, and vegan cuisine we have been able to offer a spread to our client base. Cooking is my passion and so is showing the kids and teens in our community.
Jessica: I am proud of the fact that my husband and my sons have been able to help others and the kids from our community. He kept his promise of not going back into the street. He has been a father to his son every step of the way and to the other young men that have looked up to him. He has continued to pursue his dreams and goals no matter what he has had to face.
I am proud of all his accomplishments and the fact that we have been part of the ride and done everything as a family. Chef has put his best foot forward and his passion has shown in his food. He has won Multiple King of the Grill, family days, Taste of Jacksonville, as well as winning an NAACP award. He has been able to create a business in his own way and style.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Count: We can be reached at Sautekingz2016@gmail.com or visit our website at ww.sautekingz.com.
My number is 386-597-3860. Please follow me on IG @sauteking411 or on Facebook Chef Count Foreman or Jessica Foreman at 386-597-3861, looking forward to meeting chefs, bakers, and treat makers. We are willing to do a pop-up (we still Street vend) in your area or you can come to our location.
Please stay tuned for dates on Sauté Kingz and Queenz junior chef academy. Hope to hear from you soon!
Contact Info:
- Email: sautekingz2016@gmail.com
- Website: www.sautekingz.com
- Instagram: @sautekingz411
- Facebook: Saute Kingz by Chef Count
Image Credits
Doe Photography and Xavier Walton
