One of the great things about Roma Foods is that we constantly bring our customers fresh, homemade food made of the finest ingredients. While ingredients make our food good, it is our team at Roma that makes our food GREAT. An invaluable member of that team is Chef Paul. Chef Paul, a.k.a. Paul Higgs, has been Roma’s in-house culinary master for 16 years and loves sharing his 35 years of experience and passion for cooking with our customers. His cooking skills, culinary talents and warm personality are some of the qualities that bring customers coming back to Roma.
It’s hard to believe that Chef Paul called anywhere his home before he came to Roma, but it is his past culinary experiences that continually challenge him to make new and exciting dishes for our customers. Not many grocers and delis can say that they have a full-time in-house chef on premise and we love that Chef is such a big part of our Roma family. Chef Paul started his culinary ventures in the Deep South as the Head Chef for several resorts in Georgia and Alabama. After feeling slightly burnt out from the restaurant industry, Paul took a break and did construction for a year. His project for Niagara Mohawk brought him to the area and after completion, he decided to stay and start a family here. Chef Paul, his wife and five children now call the Capital Region home!
Chef Paul’s career at Roma Foods started as a part-time gig in the small back room known as the “old kitchen.” When he started working at Roma 16 years ago, he would work the night shift in the bakery making bread and preparing food for the following day. “I would come in at 11pm with the bakery crew and work until the morning. During the day, I worked as the Food and Beverage Director at the Ramada Inn in Schenectady, NY,” he explains. Over the years, his growing role at Roma allowed them to expand from salads and prepared foods to a full-blown catering menu. These days, you can find Chef Paul cooking and baking all sorts of delicious dishes for our customers. When asked what he loves most about working for Roma Foods, he simply said, “I love coming to work every day because I love cooking. I love creating new dishes for customers, especially ones that aren’t on our regular menu.” Along with the staple favorites just as his sauces, soups and daily dinner specials, Chef Paul regularly prepares unconventional dishes at the special request of customers. “I have had customers ask for Chinese, French and Asian cuisine for their catering needs. Those are my favorite to prepare because I can get creative. Chicken teriyaki and seafood dishes are some that I have recently prepared,” he explains. In addition to his cooking skills, Chef Paul enjoys baking traditional Italian pastries and desserts such as cannollis, pies, cookies and brownies.
When asked about his domestic duties, Chef Paul admits that he cooks the majority of meals for his family at home as well. “I usually leave here and cook dinner for the family,” he says with a chuckle. Hopefully he has some hands to help him in the kitchen: of his 5 kids (3 boys and 2 girls), he shares that all of his boys have worked or at currently working at Roma! “It has become a family tradition.”