Growing up in southern New Jersey offered Taryn Shapiro, owner of Plano, Texas-based Dinner Independence, LLC, the opportunity to develop her love of all things culinary early on. When she was only seven years old she already had her first client--her parents. She made family-style food for the bargain price of $1 per meal! The exercise was a true benefit to her parents, who both worked outside the home, allowing Taryn and her family to have more nutritious and tasty meals than her dad's 'Cheez Whiz on Toast' specialty. Thus her love of food ignited. Further fueling the fire was her exposure to a variety of foods and cultures via fine dining and travels including living in Switzerland for a year and experiencing the food and cultures in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Austria and Lichtenstein. Food became much more than a necessity. It was a passion!

After high school, she attended Rutgers University in New Jersey, majoring in Spanish, with minors in both German and economics. Following her time at Rutgers, Taryn was anxious to get back to her true calling, and enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) located in Hyde Park, New York. Upon graduation from the CIA, Taryn moved to Dallas to enter a Hotel Management Training program with an esteemed hotel company experiencing all facets of hotel management from catering to housekeeping. Taryn chose to focus on restaurant management and earned valuable experience in the management side of the food business. It would prove to be extremely useful in her future endeavors.

She took a break from the restaurant world, working in sales and finance and raising her three children, but continued to keep herself active in the industry by testing recipes with the James Beard award-winning website Leitesculinaria.com, where she is now a senior-level recipe tester. She is also active in the American Institute of Wine and Food (AIWF) where she continues to volunteer, educating inner-city youth about healthful food and proper nutrition.

She soon realized that it was time to get back into the business full time and concluded the personal chef industry held the most enticing options for both her and her family. She recognized that today's families don't always have time to plan and prepare nutritious, tasty food on a regular basis. She spent more than a year formulating her business plan and testing recipes. By the time her youngest son started Kindergarten, Dinner Independence, LLC was ready to launch.

Now Taryn has come full circle, back to the food industry as a personal chef, once again preparing family meals. Dinner Independence, LLC had its first client in August 2005. The following year, Dinner Independence, LLC opened a commercial kitchen, allowing the company to offer meal delivery to both residential and commercial clients. The menu changes weekly, keeping variety and creativity at its maximum. Although Chef Taryn's prices have increased from her $1 per meal days, it is money well spent and worth every bite!

Contact Chef Taryn Shapiro
Dinner Independence
www.dinnerindependence.com
chef@dinnerindependence.com