If you’re lucky enough to catch a few moments with the vivacious, ever-smiling chef Tiffany Derry, savor your time with her. This culinary force is always on the move, whether it’s between her restaurant concepts (including Roots Southern Table, Roots Chicken Shak, Radici Wood Fire Grill, The Landing, and Syrup + Sno) in Farmers Branch, Grand Prairie, and Plano, or jetting off to Los Angeles or New York to host, judge, or compete on TV shows.
Roots Chicken Shak debuted its first franchise location late last year in Addison, and an Irving outpost is scheduled to debut before the end of the year. Her third annual Shef Food + Wine Festival returns to EpicCentral in Grand Prairie from October 9-11. To say she’s a wee bit busy these days would be an understatement. But she’s loving the hustle.
Everything Derry does falls under the umbrella of two entities: Tiffany Derry Concepts and restaurant group T2D Concepts. The former encompasses all of her TV show appearances, endorsements, brand deals, and products, including her own signature Shef All Purpose Creole Seasoning, available at H-E-B and Roots Southern Table; and DerryWear, a line of apparel “for the woman of the kitchen” and those who support them. On the horizon: a frozen food line and a cookbook.
Meanwhile, her restaurants all fall within T2D Concepts, a company she co-founded with Tom Foley (the second “T” in T2D).
“It’s just Tom and me in every restaurant venture. We have no outside investors, no partners, no anything else. So, it truly stops with us, which is great,” Derry says. “Sometimes we’re like, ‘Ooh, it sure would be nice to have a little extra capital.”
She believes the dynamics would completely change with additional investors. By financing the restaurants themselves, Derry says she and Foley have greater control over the business and more flexibility during slower periods, without the added pressure of repaying multiple investors.
Foley is an attorney, so he focuses on the deals and makes sure the restaurants can operate properly. He helps navigate the business when things are slow or something major happens, something Derry says is his specialty.
She got to know Foley while waiting for a potential business partner to show up for a meeting, but he was half an hour late. During those 30 minutes, Derry and Foley’s small talk led to discussions about the restaurant business, and they discovered many common interests and viewpoints. Soon after, their collaboration produced The Cupboard by Tiffany Derry in Uptown and the first Roots Chicken Shak at Legacy Hall in Plano.
The duo’s newest full-service concept, Radici Wood Fire Grill, opened its second location in Grand Prairie in April 2025. For those unfamiliar with Derry’s background, Italian cuisine may seem like a stretch for a chef known for her interpretations of southern classics.
“I actually studied and worked in Italian restaurants before I ever worked in any kind of southern restaurant,” Derry explains. “Roots Southern Table and Roots Chicken Shak were my first time ever cooking southern professionally, but it was something I always cooked at home.”
When Derry moved to Dallas to work at il Bracco in Uptown, she brought plenty of experience with fresh pastas and Italian classics. Radici, which means “roots” in Italian, continues the naming tradition of many of her restaurants while allowing her to infuse plenty of “Tiffany” into the menu. It’s also a concept she believes she can scale, however slowly.
“Roots Southern Table is obviously the one that everyone asks about, but it has a different kind of soul, and the food is something that you don’t just ‘make the recipe,'” she explains. “I didn’t feel comfortable scaling the Southern Table in the way that everyone wants.”
Radici’s menu is packed with Derry’s inspired southern twists on Italian favorites. She somehow manages to make each item feel traditional, yet fresh and original. The arancini come stuffed with generous chunks of tender crawfish. The pappardelle features braised oxtail. Wood-fired pork ribs arrive at the table accompanied by Sicilian potato salad studded with artichokes, olives, and green beans.
Derry’s bubbly personality has kept her a mainstay of food television ever since her appearance on Top Chef’s seventh season in Washington, D.C. Her most recent TV gig has been as a permanent judge on the Gordon Ramsay hit, MasterChef, which just concluded its 16th season.
“Working with Bobby Flay and Gordon Ramsay, two of the most prolific chefs, has been mind-blowing for me. I got thrown in ways I didn’t even think were possible that quickly,” she says. “Gordon is the busiest chef I know, and for a lot of my friends, I’m the busiest chef in the pack. So when I’m around him, I feel like I’m never doing enough.”
Of all her TV appearances, which include competing, judging, and even hosting, she has a clear favorite.
“Judging. Judging is fun. Judging to me is no pressure,” she says. “Hosting is pressure because you have to lead, remember lines, do all the things. Competition is stressful.”
Though it brought Derry her initial taste of fame, she doesn’t see herself ever returning to Top Chef, even though she’s been asked back at least four times. But she cherishes the friends she made on her season, including the equally endearing Carla Hall.
“She’ll be here for the festival. She’s actually doing an event from Syrup + Sno,” Derry says.
The festival she’s referring to is her brainchild, Shef Food + Wine Festival. The idea began taking shape as Derry traveled to food festivals around the country while working with Food Network. Again and again, she noticed a lack of diversity among the participating chefs. At some events, she says, she was the only Black chef and the only woman represented.
Her perspective on what a food festival could be shifted after attending The Family Reunion, a culinary event co-hosted by Sheila Johnson in Middleburg, Virginia.
“It was beautiful in every way. The food that was crafted, and the people that were there, and the way the vibes felt, and it really felt like a family reunion,” Derry says. “I was like, I could do this. I know every person here. I can create something in Dallas.”
Now in its third year, the number of chefs who want to participate continues to increase. Derry only has a budget to fly in so many people, but she says many are reaching out and offering to pay their own way. The festival raises money for culinary scholarships and a mentorship program. The chefs play football and pickleball with guests. They dance. They laugh.
“We can cook, do what we love, but do it for a cause.”
Derry adds that she’s intentional about ensuring the festival represents a diverse culinary community, particularly by showcasing women and people of color.
While Derry is deep in preparations for the food festival, she’ll take over the DiningOut Dallas Instagram account on Wednesday, September 30. She’ll offer followers a glimpse into what one of her never-typical days really looks like.
“I think they’ll be surprised at what a day in my life looks like. Two days ago, I was a dishwasher,” she says. “It’s a lot of moving pieces.”
That unpredictability is exactly what she hopes to capture during the takeover—a snapshot of the many roles she juggles and a side of her career that diners don’t always get to see.
“I really want to give them a little bit of what I really do, which is so much more than cooking.”
Catch Tiffany Derry’s Instagram takeover this Wednesday, September 30.
