When Amber Wallace relocated to West Palm Beach from New York three years ago, she didn’t know she’d eventually launch a catering company. At the time, she was a teacher. But after five years in education, she was feeling burnt out and ready for a change. In January, she followed her passion and launched Flamingo House, a boutique catering company named in honor of her pink-hued home.
“I’d always had this vision for this type of company sitting on the back burner,” says Wallace. While she has a supportive network of family and friends behind her, Wallace describes Flamingo House as “one-woman operated,” with her serving as founder, chef, creative visionary, delivery driver—whatever is needed to get the job done.
Under the Flamingo House umbrella, Wallace provides bespoke catering services for intimate dinner parties and cocktail events. As a creative outlet, she organizes multicourse Supper Club dinners, complete with curated tablescapes and drink pairings. She also offers workday lunch boxes as well as weekly dinner drop-offs when her schedule is otherwise light.
“It’s really fun for me to create a healthy menu and make people’s lives a little bit easier,” she says of the dinner drops.
Though Wallace has no formal culinary training, she has ample experience in hospitality, having worked both front-of-house and back-of-house in restaurants. Her style has been shaped by the places she’s lived: her hometown of New Orleans, her adopted homes in New York and West Palm Beach, and her time living abroad in Spain.
“My background really stems from watching my grandmother and mother,” Wallace explains. “New Orleans is such a food-centric place and it’s so deeply ingrained in our culture. That upbringing really informed my culinary experience.”
A celebration of place remains central to Wallace’s food, which she describes as bright and colorful. “I lean on fresh, healthy, local ingredients, taking into account seasonality,” she says. Some of her favorite places to shop include Cod & Capers Seafood, the Steak Shop by Rancher’s Reserve, Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market, and the West Palm Beach GreenMarket.
Looking ahead, Wallace hopes to open a brick-and-mortar space where she can stage her Supper Club events and—drawing on her background in education—host cooking classes and summer camps. Long-term, she’d like to start a market of her own one day, selling tablescape items and high-end pantry staples. In the meantime, you can find her in the kitchen of her perfectly pink Flamingo House.
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