The Truth About Tiffany Derry From Guy Fieri's Tournament Of Champions Season 3
Guy Fieri's show, "Tournament of Champions," is coming back for its third season. According to Food Network, a large number of participants (32, to be precise) will compete against each other for the first time in the show's history in a bid to impress the judges with their dishes and win $100,000.
One of the participants is Tiffany Derry, a chef who will be a part of the West Coast team. According to her official website, Derry is a multitalented entrepreneur with several brands to her name, such as Tiffany Derry Concepts and T2D Concepts. The latter is a hospitality group that has launched Roots Chicken Shak, an eatery that has been described as "the home of Chef Tiffany Derry's famous duck-fat fried chicken." According to its website, Roots Chicken Shak offers "duck fat-fried chicken" in different forms such as chicken tenders, wings, sandwiches, and more. Derry is also the mastermind behind Roots Southern Table, a restaurant in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Additionally, Derry has her own apparel line called Derry Wear. The chef wrote on the brand's website about her love for T-shirts, "While growing up, I was never a girly girl, you know into lots of dresses and blouses; but one item I always wore were T-shirts. I love a great Tee with a strong statement that invokes others to smile or comment."
She was meant to be a chef
Tiffany Derry was always fascinated by the kitchen and started exploring her love of food as a child. As described on her website, she was raised on her family's farm in the South and got the opportunity to learn from her grandmother, an enthusiastic cook who taught Derry an important lesson: "Cooking is more than just putting a few ingredients together — it's a passion."
Derry tried to get into the culinary space at a young age. She applied to IHOP for a cooking gig when she was 15 years old but got a role as a server instead. Her website claims that she was rejected because of her race, as well as her gender. However, she was determined to succeed and started cooking when the kitchen was short-staffed. Her hard work was noticed, so she was offered a managerial role in the kitchen. Several years later, she spoke about working at IHOP in an Eater interview and said, "It was actually inspiring. I had an epiphany one day, putting the whipped cream rictus on a short stack of smiley face pancakes: You can either be angry or you can be happy. You can't be both."
Later, the ambitious chef studied the culinary arts at the Art Institute of Houston and worked at several restaurants before launching her company, Tiffany Derry Concepts in 2013. Also, Derry has previously participated in shows such as "Top Chef," "Hungry Investors," "Bar Rescue," "Chopped Junior," and many more.