Sharday McGee, owner of Bouji Bites, is busy. Whether the corporate finance supervisor turned catering entrepreneur is finishing off a hot honey sauce for her Cajun salmon, making her beloved mac and cheese, or frying nine turkeys for Thanksgiving, a smile is always on her face.
McGee wears a Bouji Bites shirt, her burgundy twists frame her face and her signature Ruby Woo red lipstick reflects her charismatic personality. Inside the kitchen in late November, she is constantly moving, shifting from the ovens to the stove and back to the cutting board. On Nov. 22, she was in the shared cooking space at the Allegheny General Hospital Suburban Campus in Bellevue, operated by Catapult Greater Pittsburgh, of which McGee is a graduate.
That day, she was preparing lunch options: seafood pot pie, fried fish sandwiches, Cajun honey salmon and French fries were on the menu. Her most popular catering item is her macaroni and cheese, which features a perfectly browned crust that guarantees cheesy goodness.
“My macaroni and cheese is like a traditional grandmother’s macaroni and cheese,” McGee said. “It’s not like the new-age cheese sauce macaroni. It has the hunks of cheese, it’s baked in the oven and that’s it.”
McGee is nearing 200 invoices for the year. The lunch she was preparing was special — she had some downtime and thought, “I might as well just pop out and make lunch for anyone that wants it,” she said.
The lunch dishes were available for purchase to anyone at the hospital during the CobblerWorld Grab n Go café hours, and she also advertised on Facebook and Instagram so others could stop by to grab a bite.
With the holiday season in full swing, her downtime is elusive. She posted her Thanksgiving menu, and the orders poured in.
“I’m going to have to fry nine turkeys … so pray for me,” McGee said with a laugh.
McGee lost two daughters in a house fire and her entrepreneurship began as a way to honor them. She started by selling jewelry on social media, gaining positive feedback from viewers who found comfort in her live videos. Her business eventually evolved into Bouji Bites, which began with her selling dinners to staff outside the Pepsi Beverages warehouse in McKees Rocks.
It grew into a catering company from there.
McGee attributes much of her cooking flair and culinary style to the women in her family, especially her grandmother, who was from Alabama. Growing up, she often watched her grandmother and mother cook. There were no written recipes, so McGee committed everything to memory, saying it’s in her genes. The only possible written recipe is for her grandma’s pound cake.
McGee doesn’t write down her recipes, either. With no measuring cups, she said she seasons until her spirit says to stop.
“I was always in the kitchen, but I got a passion for it from cooking shows,” she said. She’s considering writing a breading cookbook, “Bouji Breading,” to teach readers how to make the perfect fried chicken, along with a possible $5 cookbook for beginner cooks to make the process less daunting.
Every Saturday morning, she watched cooking shows instead of cartoons.
“I was there in front of the TV watching ‘Jacques Pépin Cooking at Home,’ ‘Yan Can Cook’ and ‘Lidia’s Kitchen.’ When I learned Lidia was from Pittsburgh and had a restaurant, I was so excited, but I never made it down there,” she said.
When the Food Network launched, McGee was thrilled.
She’s inspired by her mentors, such as Roxanne Easley from Roxanne’s Catering and Terina J. Hicks, owner of CobblerWorld.
“Sharday has become my daughter,” Hicks said. “To be a good mentor, you have to know who you are, have your business on solid footing, and pour into someone to help them avoid pitfalls … of course, giving, loving, caring and being supportive.”
Growing up, McGee was a picky eater. She spent many nights crying at the dinner table because she didn’t want to eat her food. Her grandmother might have made black-eyed peas or pig feet, which she refused to eat.
“I’d be like, ‘I’m not eating this … I want some cereal,’” she said.
Despite her pickiness, McGee’s favorite childhood memories are holiday meals.
“I got to eat with my cousins, sit around a big table and hear grown folks talk,” she said. “We’d be like, ‘Shhh… Grandma’s talking. What did she say about Miss Sue? Oh, she said she doesn’t like her, see?’”
McGee always loved seeing her grandma cook a big meal for the family.
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“My grandma grilled a whole pig outside, and my great-grandma was there, my whole family was there and I just thought, ‘this is amazing,’” McGee said.
She remembers her mom cooking chitlins, which she never acquired a taste for.
“They smell so bad,” she said. Her mom would also make Delmonico steak and baked potatoes, one of McGee’s favorite meals. She’s made “Marry Me Chicken” and “Marry Me Pasta” and they have all faired well.
While McGee initially disliked certain foods, her palate eventually expanded. She now experiments with dishes, though she won’t try snails.
When McGee thinks about her happiness she credits it to her spirituality and understanding that there is a lesson in everything.
“I feel like life is too short to walk around so miserable. It’s like you’re here make the best of your time while you are here,” she said. “Regardless of what is thrown at me, I’ll be okay.”
In 2022, McGee left her job as a personal banker supervisor at Dollar Bank to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. “I was terrified. I didn’t know what was going to happen — if I was going to fail or succeed — but it’s been amazing,” she said.
Now, McGee aims to bring home-cooked meals to the corporate world. She plans to launch Bouji Bistro, offering cold sandwiches, salads, hot sandwiches, vegan and vegetarian options.
“I remember meetings where they’d order Chipotle or the same nasty pizza,” McGee said. “I want people to get excited about their weekly meeting because they’re having Bouji Bites.”
One corporate catering job boosted meeting attendance after staff raved about her food.
“That’s what I want,” McGee said.
Her favorite dishes to make are pasta, especially chicken carbonara, which her family loves. She learned the carbonara recipe from Giada De Laurentiis on Food Network.
“I’m very blessed and fortunate,” McGee said. “Cooking is something I love to do, have fun doing, and I’m good at … I couldn’t ask for a better time here on earth.”