Conversations with Chef Anthony Dixon Sr

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Anthony Dixon Sr.

Hi Chef Anthony, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Hi, Kansas City!!! I am Anthony, Chef and Owner of Seasons Classic Catering. Im so thankful that you all thought enough of what Im doing out here to interview me for your magazine. For as long as I can remember I wanted to own a business. My interest in being an entrepreneur began by watching my grandparents run their barber and beauty salon on Troost. I never knew what I would own but I knew I would own something.

As a child, I began to learn to cook from my mother and grandmother because they told me you like to eat so you need to learn how to cook. My mother is literally the best cook I have ever met in my life. She catered small parties and weddings as a way to make money as she wasn’t always able to work full time due to her taking care of my brother who had special needs. While attending Missouri Western State University I would often prepare dishes and BBQ for my fraternity brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha and my roommates and started to get the desire to work in the culinary world.

A month before graduating from college my father was murdered and I told myself then that everything I did had to mean something because we only have so much time here on the planet. Upon graduation, I worked as a teacher and counselor and then in 2014 one night I had a dream and I kept hearing a voice say its time to start your catering company. I had no idea what the company would be called but at 3 am I got up and purchased web space and began building a website for a company that didn’t exist.

Fast forward a few months, I was speaking with my cousin Miki who is a Pastor and Life Coach and I told her that I was starting a catering company.

She loved the idea and about a month later she called me and said she was hosting a women’s conference in Kansas City and needed a caterer and wanted us to do it. She asked us what was the name of our company and I literally had no idea and on a whim threw out Seasons Classic Catering and then my baby was born. I along with my new wife, and mother began to cater small events around town part time while all still working full time jobs.

As business began to pick up I started to get eager to cater full time. I began to pray and talk to my wife about the idea of me quitting my job. Well, you have to be careful what you pray for because in 2016 one month before my son was to be born I was let go from my job. I talked to my wife that day and I and I told her give me a few months and if I can bring in what I was in the corporate world I would never go back and if I couldn’t I would start looking for a job. Three days after I was fired I received a phone call from the Negro League Baseball Museum whose building I had catered an event in months earlier saying they needed a caterer for a large event.

The night after I catered the event, Bob Kendrick the Director of the museum promised to bring me back one day and he kept his word and literally gave me the confirmation I needed to start my journey as a full time Chef and Caterer. From our humble beginnings to now we have prided ourselves on helping our clients create memories with amazing food and gracious service. in 2019 we were finalist in The Pitch’s Best of KC Best Caterer category and I recently won Best Chef in the 2021 Kansas City Peoples Choice Awards.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Of course not lol! There have been many ups and downs along the way many of which have made me stronger in business. I always tell anyone interested in being an entrepreneur that it has many waves and if you are able to ride the waves and understand that sometimes your boat is going to rock you will be fine if you hold on a little while. The pandemic affected the food industry incredibly hard. When I started to see business after business close I met with my team and said we have to get back to the basics and pivot a bit.

We went from doing large catering events (many of which we had to give refunds for) to doing in home private dining and we also started what we called the “Chef Ant’s Stimulus Package” which were to go meals prepared for the public who don’t typically get to experience the food that we prepare. Along the way last year I suffered like many devastating losses of friends and family. My wife and I lost a daughter to a still birth in September. I actually had to leave the hospital the next morning to cater an event because although life was happening for me I didn’t want to disappoint someone on one of their biggest days. Those are the kinds of thing people don’t see that you experience in private when owning a business.

June 2021, my oldest brother passed away and then in July, my wife gave birth to our newest blessing. He was born at 26 weeks and is currently in the NICU. It is hard raising our other two boys, running a business, and going to the hospital every day but I believe that if God didn’t think I could do it he wouldn’t put me through it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a private chef and caterer. I own Seasons Classic Catering a family owned business based in Independence, MO. We specialize in Southern Cuisine but literally can prepare anything. We are known for our Soul Rolls an egg roll filled with Soul Food. I think Im most proud of the reputation that we have built and the fact that we continued to push forward even through a global pandemic. I think the thing that sets us apart from others is our attention to detail and the flavors that we deliver for our clients. Our slogan is “It’s just different” which means when you book us you are going to get an experience unlike any other.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I believe in mentorship and have been lucky to have great friends in the industry doing amazing things that I can lean on for advice when I need help.

I think in the world of social media it makes it really easy to have access to people that you typically would not be able to touch. My advice for anyone looking for a mentor is don’t be scared to reach out to someone you admire and ask for help. We have not because we ask not.

Contact Info:

• Email: seasonsclassiccatering@gmail.com
• Website: www.seasonsclassiccatering.com
• Instagram: @ChefAntKC
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeasonsClassicCatering