Chef Mavis Linnemann-Clark founded The Delish Dish and Made By Mavis Jams & Jellies to bring her passion for gourmet food, global flavors, and knack for Southern hospitality and events to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

As a young girl, Mavis worked in bakeries, candy stores, and coffee shops, all the while improving her baking skills at home with chocolate mousses and layer cakes. Later, Mavis studied magazine journalism at Syracuse University in New York and in Florence, Italy. After graduation, she fell in love with cooking while living in Philadelphia near the historic Italian Market. When she wasn’t cooking, she traveled, visiting five continents and taking cooking classes in Umbria, Italy.

In 2008, she moved to Chicago and began hosting dinner parties to make new friends. In 2010, she enrolled in Kendall College, a world-class culinary art and hospitality management program. At Kendall, Mavis was classically trained in French culinary techniques and participated in a Mexican Master Class with renowned Mexican chefs. In 2011, she graduated with a certificate in Catering and Personal Chef. She now has 25 years of experience working in the food service industry.

Mavis moved back home to Northern Kentucky, got married, and established The Delish Dish in 2012 to bring globally inspired dishes and artisan jams to her hometown. She launched the business out of her apartment. Mavis was, and continues to be, dedicated to making almost everything in-house from-scratch and as authentically as possible.

In 2013, Mavis was a finalist in the spring class of Bad Girl Ventures (now Aviatra Accelerators). That same year, she joined the Northern Kentucky Incubator Kitchen and launched her artisan jam line, Made by Mavis Artisan Jams. In 2015, Mavis was proud to be one of the faces of the Kroger Buys Local campaign through the Kentucky Proud program, and won the Start-Up Spirit Award from the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce for her entrepreneurial efforts.

As the catering business grew, The Delish Dish became a full-service boutique catering firm providing detailed event and wedding planning and catering services, and the business had outgrown its allotment of the shared kitchen.

In late 2016, Mavis had the opportunity to take over the 5,500 sq. ft. kitchen at 1032 Madison Avenue in Covington, Ky. In 2017, she launched Kickstart Kitchen, a food business incubator that provides temporary leased commercial kitchen space for food entrepreneurs to launch or grow their small businesses.

In 2018, Mavis and The Delish Dish team were awarded the Small Business Administration’s Kentucky Woman-Owned Business of the Year and the Small Business Development Center’s 2018 Pacesetter Award.

In 2019, Mavis was awarded the Next Generation Leader Award in the Entrepreneurial Category by the Northern Kentucky Young Professionals branch of the Northern Kentucky Chamber.

After 8 years of growing her business, Mavis was excited to welcome her daughter Alanna into the world in January 2020. That same year, Mavis was announced as the 2020 Kentucky Small Business of the Year  by the Small Business Administration. Although the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected her companies, Mavis is proud that the companies survived the pandemic by pivoting to carry out meals and have since returned to their original iterations.

Mavis welcomed her other daughter, Althea, in January 2022. That same year, The Delish Dish won the contract to operate the concession stand at the regional theater, Playhouse in the Park, and began operating the stand in March 2023, when the newly renovated theater was re-opened.

Mavis still owns 100% of the company and currently has 14 full-time employees and 30 part-time employees, and rents out Kickstart Kitchen to 6 small and growing food businesses. The Delish Dish celebrates 12 years in business in February 2024.

The Delish Dish has several major preferred venue catering partners, including but not limited to: Premier Parks (Ault Park, Alms Park, Krohn Conservatory, among others); Rhinegeist Brewery; Braxton Brewery; Cincinnati Nature Center; The Marmalade Lily; The Spot on West 5th; and Clifton Cultural Arts Center, to name a few.