Popular food truck chef grows 3 new businesses: Seafood boils, meal prep & catering

How can two years make a difference in the life of a young chef?

Since our last chat with Ricardo Lory in May 2022, he’s now 25 and much has changed.

And it’s all good.

Back then, his Chef Global’s Kitchen food truck recently won Gulfshore Life’s “Best of” award for Collier County.

He soon bought a second truck, now parked late afternoon Wednesdays through Sundays at Freedom Square. The other truck is often booked for special events.

A few months after we met, a Facebook marketplace mishap presented the opportunity to buy Bob Schultz’s Creative Catering on Yahl Street.

Though a financial stretch because of the new truck, the somewhat turnkey purchase included a fully equipped commercial kitchen, separate storage areas, and a client roster of 1,000 contacts. He then rehabbed the space with new tiles, walls and lights.

Three businesses, one chef

Following culinary school in Tallahassee, cheffing positions at Disney World and Norwegian Cruise Lines facilitated Lory’s ability to mass prepare anything from pastrami sandwiches to high-end cuisine.

He often hears from patrons who last used Creative Catering years ago and chuckles as he shares a typical call.

“Hey, you did my party back in 2016. I want the same party next month.”

Alas, Lory was a student at Palmetto Ridge High School in 2016, graduating in 2017.

Or when Lory arrived to prepare Thanksgiving for 14 guests in Port Royal, they asked, “Who are you?” expecting Schultz.

Positive word of mouth following that and other catered events led to offering in-flight catering for private jet passengers and crews flying out of Naples Airport.

Then there’s his personal chef service. Not so new, but the customer he now targets is.

Shifting from star athletes like Michael Walker of the Edmonton Elks, his long-time childhood friend who also grew up in Naples, his business is now citywide.

Lory’s focus: Fairly priced meals nodding to nutritionally balanced dishes.

“Charging someone too much to be healthy is diabolical. Our current deal is if you get 12 meals a week, it’s $10 per meal. It’s more economical than cooking. You're not going to find that anywhere else.”

On an average Monday during season, his delivery driver drops off up to 200 meals.

Taking inspiration from his cruise ship days, Lory automated his menu planning system with a 12 to 15-week rotation of offerings listed on his website so clients know exactly what they might eat.

“I’m trying to make it like Amazon, so clients don’t need to leave their house.”

Integrating reusable insulated bags, his driver drops a full bag stocked with meals; clients place the empty bag from the previous week at their door for pickup. Customers can choose a mix from vegan, protein-emphasized and balanced meal options.

Depending on the number of meals ordered, the price range is $10 per for 12 meals each week up to $15 for a single meal.

What’s next on Lory’s global domination plan?

In 2024, his focus is on sustaining momentum by expanding his catering capacities beyond Naples.

He’s also rebranding his business with “flavors from around the world, catering from around the world.”

On the trucks, he’s keeping his “Chef Global’s Kitchen International Fusion Cuisine” slogan but adding the tagline “Home of the Seafood Boil Bag” with different varieties of crab, lobster and conch, bringing the food and long tables to clients’ homes for a “lifestyle experience.”

Likening Parmesan Pete’s to Naples “first name for Italian food, I want to be the seafood boil guy.”

Why seafood?

It’s a Naples food staple and Lory’s niche; he is very particular about his Florida suppliers having grown up in the restaurant business. His parents Wilda and Rene Lory moved to Naples from Haiti in 1998 and owned Star Lounge & Grill and Waterside Café in East Naples.

Despite his back-to-back win for Collier’s best food truck in 2023, Lory believes the market is oversaturated and is “leaning out” from that aspect of his business.

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After almost four years of investing in his business, created in April 2020, and living here for most of his young life, he wants to give back to the Naples community.

“It’s been paid forward to me,” explaining he was among the kids on the receiving end of Blessings in a Backpack, the national nonprofit's local chapter.

“This is a dream.”

(5750 Yahl Street, Naples; 239-315-9673; For meal prep and food truck information, visit chefgk.com. For catering and seafood boils, visit creativecateringnaples.com)

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: 3 new food businesses from 1 chef: Seafood boils, meal prep & catering