The Art of the Remix

Salt & Charm’s founder traded a career in music for a culinary journey

By Judy Royal  »  Photos by Matt Ray

When life nudged her off the path she thought she’d always walk, Abbye McGee didn’t fight the detour. Instead, she followed it straight into the kitchen. What began as a personal reinvention blossomed into Salt & Charm, a culinary haven powered by creativity, innovation and an all-female executive team.

McGee, who has lived in Wilmington since she was 13, thought she would always be a musician. She earned a music degree from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and spent years in creative arts leadership roles before life threw her a curveball.

“After my divorce, I started having people over to my house and feeding people,” McGee says. “It was so fun cooking for friends and not much pressure, so I could experiment and take time.”

The dinner parties grew, and soon McGee realized she could transfer her talents from her small kitchen to a professional one.

“I started cooking and baking professionally kind of by accident,” McGee says. “I had always been interested in food, but not professionally at all. My grandma taught me how to cook as a child, and that was the extent of my culinary background.”

While managing the bakery at Earth Fare supermarket around 2017, McGee began taking on a few personal chef clients. What started as a side gig soon became the catalyst for a new career.

“It just kind of organically grew until I had enough clients to leave my job,” she says. “I also started doing large-scale meal prep services for those who didn’t want the expense of a personal chef, and that took off during COVID. Our business grew to the point where we opened our first brick-and-mortar location to handle the volume.”

Salt & Charm (eat.saltandcharm.co), which focuses on private chef, meal prep and catering services, opened at 702 S. 17th St. in 2021.

“I used to say about myself that I’m a little salty, but I try for charming,” McGee says with a laugh. “It kind of stuck. And it’s also a play on culinary and hospitality, so it worked for a name.”

Salt & Charm draws from a wide repertoire of recipes for its catering menus, though McGee’s Southern roots often shine through.

“My favorite food of all time is a good biscuit,” she says. “Making biscuits is therapy for me. Our history is in elevated Southern cooking.”

Under the leadership of Executive Chef Allegra Grant, who draws inspiration from traveling and storytelling among friends and family, the menu often takes creative turns.

“I absolutely love our hoisin and ginger braised short ribs for a different approach to the classic red wine braised short ribs,” Grant says. “However, let me tell you about something magical I dreamed up this summer: Southern chocolate salami. Bourbon-spiced pecans, dried cranberries and Nilla wafers are mixed with chocolate and a few other secret ingredients to make a chocolate ‘salami’ for our Holiday Dessert Box. It’s presented as a rolled dessert resembling a salami.”

Catering and Events Director Emily Schwery rounds out the Salt & Charm executive team. She has been with the company since the beginning, first joining as one of the original chefs. While her role has evolved from the kitchen to operations, some of the brand’s recipes remain favorites in her own home.

“Two things I make every year that are featured on our blog are my pancakes and pumpkin roll,” Schwery says. “When you have a house full, there’s no better way to feed the masses than a stack of pancakes. And my pumpkin roll is a staple on our Thanksgiving lineup—it’s sure to impress and easier than you’d think to bake.”

If the kitchen isn’t your forte, Salt & Charm can help you pull off unforgettable holiday meals just the same. The company caters gatherings of all sizes, from intimate dinner parties to corporate events for up to 300 guests. It also offers Thanksgiving and Christmas menus featuring appetizers, sides and desserts available for order and pickup.

Since starting Salt & Charm, McGee has partnered with childhood friend and food photographer Matt Ray to open The Starling, a whiskey and wine bar on Queen Street, and The Ibis, which offers coffee and cocktails on Princess Street. In addition, this summer she launched The Kitchen at Salt & Charm, a pop-up venture next to The Starling that features a public-facing service window. “It’s a good creative outlet for our chefs, and it’s good for the bar,” McGee says. “It’s about what we have on hand that we want to use and what we feel like making today.”

McGee credits her team for the company’s steady growth over the past five years and says the plan now is to settle into what they’ve built and “just keep making great food.”

“Learning to embrace what life brings to you is a skill,” she says. “I’m a creative at heart, and having new things to do and tackle is how I thrive. I had to say yes to what life was handing me, and that’s why I have the businesses I have now.”