Meet the Chef

The Full Story - Chef Audy

Audrey “Chef Audy” Peeples, was born and raised in Benton Harbor, Mi. She lived in Chicago for 19 years before returning home to create her food brands, Souls Ground Foods & Natural Healing and Chef Audy. Although she’s been around food her whole life, dedicating her passion for cooking by watching her grandmother cook and helping her grandfather pull weeds in his beautiful garden, to working in a professional capacity in the food industry for decades.  Chef Audy has been cooking with love around the country for many years.  

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She has worked with such culinary talent as Chef Marvin Woods, a celebrity chef, cookbook author, and television host, at his Atlanta restaurant, ASANTE, where she was Chef de Partie.  Chef Audy has cooked for Michelin Star, James Beard Award-winning Chef, Grant Achatz Chicago restaurant and cocktail lounge, THE AVIARY. In addition, she was a Chef at A-10 HYDE PARK, which was owned by chef Mathias Merges also in Chicago. Most recently, Chef Audy had an opportunity to cook in one of Denver’s famous restaurants, Mr. Oso, in the RiNo district.  

While she was a professional in the legal field, Chef Audy owned a catering and D.J. business in Chicago and was a Personal Chef to Chicago-based clients.  She has owned her own carry-out establishments, SOULS GROUND FOODS - THE LUNCH COUNTER, Owner/Operator of WERK IT FOOD TRUCK, and SOULS GROUND CAFÉ.  

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Chef Audy has cooked extensively in the S.W. Michigan restaurants. She was on the initial team, which opened The INN at Harbor Shores restaurant, PLANK’S TAVERN, where she was Lead Cook. She was on the first team at SILVER HARBOR BREWERY and spent several years in “Harbor Country” as a Chef at MESA LUNA, GREENBUSH BREWERY - CLEAN PLATE CLUB, as well as CLASSIC CATERING.  She was briefly Sous Chef at DOUBLE TREE HILTON HOTEL in South Bend, IN., before opening SOULS GROUND CAFÉ for the first time back in 2018. Chef Audy has been Sous Chef at the SOUTH HAVEN YACHT CLUB, in South Haven, MI., and re-opened Souls Ground Café in February 2022.  

Chef Audy specializes in creating from-scratch preparation, consisting of country comfort foods that influence southern-style cooking. She prefers working with grass-fed and organic proteins, poultry, and wild-caught fish. She also enjoys preparing diverse, authentic ethnic cuisine from S.E. Asia, Mexico, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, West Indies, and Black American Soul Food. 

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Chef Audy creates artisan spices and seasoning blends to enhance and add medicinal benefits to herbal teas, juices, soups, sauces, and dressings, her passion is making her dishes as healthful and sustainable as possible. She excels in crafting culinary classics into vegan and vegetarian alternatives. She prides herself on sourcing from local food growers, while also hyper-sourcing from her own gardens. 

Chef Audy is also a Michigan Cannabis Consultant, Grower, who infuses foods with her cannabis products and hosts private adult consumption parties. 

Chefaudy@gmail.com