Look for Chef Flavas spinach artichoke dip at Walmart stores October 22nd.
That’s the dip created by chef Chris Moore, who, along with his wife chef Regina Moore, is the owner of Chef Flavas.
“We won out of 13,000 companies on an open-call invitation,” Chris says. Out of that 13,000, 11,000 were “invited to the event to pitch their product. There were maybe 330 companies that ended up getting the golden ticket to get inside Walmart.”
That was last June. In October, their dip will go into stores for a test launch in Memphis. If that goes well, after three months Walmart will try to put it in stores regionally.
Tim Stachowiak, vice president of sales for Phoenix, Arizona-based Next Phase Enterprises, which works with Walmart and Sam’s Club, is a fan. “I’m not a foodie,” he says. “I don’t get wowed by a lot. But my initial reaction was, ‘That’s the best spinach artichoke dip I’ve ever had at retail. If not the best, the second-best I’ve had at a restaurant.’”
Chris’ mom, the late Valerie Hall, taught him how to make the dip. “I took it and put my own little spins on it,” he says.
The dip, which he describes as “creamy, tangy, garlicky, and cheesy,” can be used in many dishes. “Our motto is ‘Unlock the inner chef in you.’ You can make stuffed salmon, stuffed chicken, oysters Rockefeller, put it in pastas, and spread it on top of your steak. It’s an aid for people in their kitchen, so they can have guaranteed ‘flava’ when they make meals.”
His mom was instrumental in his career path, Chris says. “I was always up under my mom when she was in the kitchen.”
His mother was a caterer, and his father owned a restaurant. Chris used to pretend to cook. He turned the family pool table into a “hibachi grill,” he says. “I’d take pool balls and put them on the plate and serve them to my brother.”
His mother let him try his hand in the kitchen when he was 11. “She allowed me to cook peas and carrots. That’s the first thing I ever made. It was the best peas and carrots I’ve ever made in my whole life.”
As for cooking, Chris says, “That’s the only career path I ever wanted to do.”
The couple met at L’Ecole Culinaire culinary school in Memphis and went into business together after they graduated. “We started out selling dinners out of our two-bedroom apartment,” Regina says.
They opened a restaurant, Moore Food Catering, but they weren’t experienced enough to own a restaurant, Chris says.
He worked at various restaurants, including the Atlantic Restaurant in Edgartown, Massachusetts, where he cooked for Michelle and President Barack Obama.“It was just so surreal for me. I had ‘cooking for the Obamas’ on my bucket list since 2008 when he got into office.”
In 2017, Chris made it to the second round of the Chopped “Squab Goals” episode on Food Network. He had to create a meal out of “mystery basket” ingredients in 15 minutes.
Regina came up with the idea for Hemp Flavas, their line of CBD-infused condiments. After she made a CBD-flavored cake, Chris thought it needed something else. “I felt it was a little dry. I took the CBD oil and made a sauce with it and poured it on top of the cake and it turned out phenomenal.”
That led to more CBD-infused products. But they also wanted to come up with products for people who didn’t like CBD-infused food. That’s when they came up with Chef Flavas, which also includes egg rolls, three types of pastas, and a frozen Alfredo sauce.
The couple now work out of OtherFoods Kitchen, but they’re currently looking at buildings for their Chef Flava restaurant, which they want to turn into a franchise.
It will be Italian fusion, including a variety of pastas. Chris says, “I love Italian food.”
Chris and Regina make a good team. “I’m the chef. She’s the ‘flava.’ She makes all the stuff pop. I’ll create and she’ll make it marketable so people know about it.”