IRVINE — Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Irvine) honored Taylor Made Cuisine, a full-service catering and meal delivery company based in Irvine, as the 2023 Small Business of the Year for the 73rd Assembly District. Each year, Petrie-Norris invites constituents to submit a nomination for the Small Business of the Year and helps honor a small business that has made a lasting local impact.
In recent years, Petrie-Norris has secured $85 million in small business grants to support 7,154 entrepreneurs in her district. She also passed legislation to improve opportunities for small businesses to contract with the state of California.
“I am proud to honor Taylor Made Cuisine, a woman-owned business, as Small Business of the Year. From its humble beginnings in an Old Town Orange home, through the challenges of the pandemic, Taylor Made Cuisine continues to grow and set its sights on becoming a premier catering and meal delivery company in Southern California,” said Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris. “I am committed to working in Sacramento to ensure state government provides the incentives, grants, financing, and expertise needed to help small businesses grow and succeed here in Orange County.”
Taylor Made Cuisine strives to provide the highest quality products – which starts with high-quality ingredients. TMC believes what you eat should not only be good for your health, but also good for your taste buds.
"Mike and I feel very proud of our team for helping us earn this recognition from Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, and it’s no doubt that the collective synergy and dedication that our team brings to the table every day is what made this possible,” said Taylor DeCosta, Founder/CEO/Executive Chef of Taylor Made Cuisine. "I started Taylor Made Cuisine as a private chef and I never imagined it would ever include anyone besides myself. I am so grateful that it has grown to include so many other talented individuals with the same commitment to excellence and integrity as Mike and I do. TMC has now grown into a multi-million dollar business, is comprised of our two divisions (meal delivery and catering), and employs about 50 team members. As we look to the future growth of TMC, my goal for our team is to focus on building relationships with event venues in Orange County and expanding our meal delivery clientele in Southern California. We may have started small, but today we are ready for bigger and better things.”
In 2012, founder Taylor DeCosta, then 22, quit her retail fashion job and enrolled in culinary school at Orange Coast College, later receiving her Associate’s Degree in Advanced Culinary Arts.
DeCosta had a passion for food since she was a little girl; cooking and entertaining was something that always came naturally to her. In 2012, she met her husband, Michael, and used her cooking skills to impress him. Michael was the person who convinced her to turn her love of food into a career. During this time, Taylor worked mostly as a private chef, while also doing small catering events and meal preparation jobs on the side.
In 2016, DeCosta founded Taylor Made Cuisine and served as CEO and Executive Chief. Michael served as Co-Founder and CFO. She cooked and packaged meals out of the kitchen of her Old Town Orange house, converting her garage into a pantry filled with refrigerators and freezers. In those early years, TMC gained business over text messages and word-of-mouth. Because of limited space and growing orders, Taylor moved her business into a former restaurant space near John Wayne Airport. It wasn’t long before TMC outgrew the space and moved into a 6,000 square foot facility in Irvine featuring a custom kitchen, warehouse, and offices.
Taylor Made Cuisine employs 50 full-time and part-time employees in Orange County generating $2 million in annual revenue. The company has set its sights on expanding business in Orange County and throughout Southern California.