When A-B Tech Chef Instructor Michelle Bailey, 42, started working in restaurants in her early teens, the job was simply a way to pay her bills. But by the time Bailey was 17 and had worked her way up to executive chef, she had fallen in love with the sights and sounds of the kitchen.
“I loved all the moving parts,” she said. “I was fascinated with how many things were always going on. Everyone is playing their own instrument; the chef is the conductor, and you’re putting on a big show for everybody.”
Bailey, a 2007 graduate of A-B Tech’s Culinary Arts program, started as a full-time culinary instructor on campus early this summer. She also is lead coach for this year’s student culinary team, which is competing in Las Vegas in the American Culinary Federation’s National competition this week. Bailey has first-hand experience as a member of the first A-B Tech team to win the competition in 2007. That team won a gold medal after defeating schools including Johnson and Wales and the Culinary Institute of America.
That experience, she said, was invaluable in setting up her present career. “To put yourself under that amount of pressure and be able to remain calm and perform at a high level, that opened doors professionally.”
Bailey, who is originally from Tennessee but grew up in Asheville, has worked as an executive chef for 15 years in local eateries including The Marketplace, The Venue, and Highland Lake Inn. Most recently, she was chef and co-owner of Smokey Mountain Supper Club, which had a menu built around an open fire grill and oven. She also cooks at events, including the annual Le Pied Du Mont Boucherie Festival at Comfort Farms, Pig Island NYC, and Salt Fire Smoke.
About a year before Helene hit, Bailey began her own pop-up catering company, WNC Culinary Ventures. In Helene’s aftermath, she volunteered to feed the community, using her own portable custom-built fire table “Jolene” to dish out thousands of meals from Citizen Vinyl’s commercial kitchen. She was at the grill outside Citizen Vinyl when A-B Tech donated all the meat from its freezers to feed the community for free.
When the dust cleared, Bailey made the choice to change career directions, jumping at the opportunity to teach at A-B Tech, where she’s worked as an adjunct and judge for the team’s capstone dinners. She also has hosted A-B Tech students for summer internships at Smoky Park over the years.
These days, Bailey is enjoying helping the culinary team refine its recipes and perfect its skills for the upcoming ACF competition. She was a bit nervous stepping into Chef Instructor Chris Bugher’s shoes mid-year, but the transition is going smoothly.
“It’s been seamless,” she said. “The students are extremely dedicated and work very hard. And I’m working with Chef Hertz, who has been helping coach for a long time.”
Having been on the culinary team herself, Bailey has unique insight into preparing her students for the competition.
“The number one thing is to make them feel as supported and prepared as possible,” she said. “I’m excited to see them in the national arena competing. They’ll have the opportunity to watch people compete in different types of competitions and meet chefs across the country. It’s a huge learning experience … All they need to do is do the best they can, and we will be so proud of them.”
Learn more about A-B Tech Culinary Arts program at Culinary Arts and Hospitality.