Rhett Thomas was born in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in August of 1981. During childhood, both of his parents worked in the Food and Beverage industry, allowing Rhett to take advantage of his position and spend ample time in restaurants. As a child, he was always trying to find some way to help out in the kitchen but his age sometimes got in the way of completing every task. His interest in F & B grew with age.
During teenage years Rhett spent most of his free time surfing, skateboarding and playing soccer, until he hit the age where it was time to get a job. At sixteen he applied for a summer job at a few of the locally owned restaurants in Myrtle Beach. Rhett wanted to work in the kitchen but without experience, it proved to be a difficult task; even with a little help from Mom & Dad. His only option was a busboy at one of the many seasonal restaurants in town. He soon grew very bored and found himself gravitating towards the kitchen to watch all the Chefs prepare the food. One of the Chefs took a liking to his curiosity and began teaching him how to make some of the items on the buffet. Before long, Rhett was in the kitchen working thirty-five hour weeks!
The summer flew by and before he knew it, the seasonal seafood buffet was closing for winter. With some experience under his belt, he began working at a fine dining restaurant named Greg Norman’s Australian Grille. Rhett also enrolled in a low budget Culinary Program at a Technical College. After a year of school and at Greg Norman’s, Rhett was ready for a change. A position was offered to him at The Sea Island Hotel Restaurant, where his friend Steven Stackley had been working. The Sea Island had an interesting concept: fourteen different menus on a two week rotation. This was excellent for a chef in training, because you learned to make different items almost every day. Steven and Rhett worked at The Sea Island for about a year, but both still hungered for more knowledge. That is when the duo approached our parents and asked if we could move to Charleston to attend Johnson & Wales Culinary Program. The answer was YES!!!!!
Rhett and Steven moved to Charleston in the summer of 2000 and started J&W Culinary Program in the Fall. Both young professionals acquired jobs at Blossom Café where Rhett first met his fiancée, Hailey. Everyone loved working together and always spoke about the day that they would be running their own restaurant. Each one worked in a handful of restaurants after Blossom Café only to rejoin at Savory SC. Hailey and Rhett were working for the Mustard Seed Group when the two decided to start their own Sushi Catering Company. Rhett had been rolling sushi at The Boathouse on East Bay for three and a half years before Hailey and Rhett were reunited, and she had been sailing around Central and South American seeing all kinds of cuisine. As the months went on, the Catering Company needed a store front. Rhett had started to roll sushi once a week at Savory Market, where Hailey had worked for Traci and her sister Angie before her sailing trip. One week Traci and Angie came to Rhett and said that this would be the last week Savory Market would be open. That meant no more Sushi night for us, and that was not good.
For the next week, they spent every day trying to figure out what the next move would be. Hailey and Rhett began to talk with Traci about the possibility of us teaming up to create a new restaurant. After lots of what ifs and new ideas everyone came up with SAVORY SUSHI & CATERING their pride and joy!
Enjoy!
