Chef Viv Explains How She Built A Winning Competition Menu

Send us Fan Mail A thousand-dollar check, a phone set to record before the winner is announced, and a chef who walks in believing she’s taking it home. We’re joined by Chef Vivian of Aunt Viv’s Kitchen, fresh off her Chopped and Chewed win, and we get specific about what actually separated her from the field. She breaks down the full competition menu, the logic behind each round, and the unglamorous part people forget: prepping for volume, timing, and the reality that brunch food doesn’t always hold up once it’s sitting. We also dig into the strategy side of culinary competitions and catering: why color contrast and plating can matter as much as flavor, how to build dishes that still look great under heat lamps, and what “wowing the judges” means when you know there’s a rubric. Viv shares her path from cooking young, to hospital work, to a COVID-era pivot into personal chef services and catering, plus how she thinks about value, pricing, and momentum as a food entrepreneur in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then we switch gears into our Triggered segment and talk culture with no filter: cleanliness, social expectations, dating standards, the dopamine chase, and why boundaries and accountability keep coming up in every conversation. If you like chef interviews, food business talk, and real-life debates that don’t stay on the surface, this one hits. Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who loves good food and real talk, and leave a review that tells us which part had you nodding the hardest. Support the show Follow us on social media www.instagram.com/noadvisorypodcast