What Makes A Great Charcuterie Board?

Forget the lackluster plates of precut cheeses and pepperoni. CHS Coastal Charcuterie mixes texture with visual appeal, making every grazing table or board a work of art.

“I feel like a lot of charcuterie boards are kind of plain,” says Kelsey. “So I try to incorporate a lot of colors and textures. In a standard board, I always do three to four soft and hard cheeses, a few meats, bread, fruits and honey with a couple sweets - just to add a little bit of character and originality to make it stand out.”

You might see white brie next to sugared cranberries or fresh peaches. “Whenever I start any type of board I don’t know how it’s going to end up until I start making it. I just rearrange and mix and match. I try to be creative and come up with something people will love.”

You won’t see your average cheeses on a CHS Coastal Charcuterie board. “Triple cream brie, Asiago, Machego. I like to use different flavor goat cheeses - honey, cranberry cinnamon goat cheese,” says Kelsey. “I didn’t even know that was a thing until I started and it’s probably one of our most requested cheeses.”

CHS Coastal Charcuterie Shops Local

As CHS Coastal Charcuterie has grown - launching mid-pandemic in July - Kelsey has been listening to customer requests and feedback as she finds new options to include on her boards. She also tries to partner with local businesses when possible.

“One of my favorites is Apis Mercantile,” says Kelsey. “They’re a local honey company. Any honey that comes on any board is from Apis.”

“It’s great because we’re able to help them and spread the word about their company, and they do the same for me. They have great customer service. I’ve been using them since the beginning. [Apis] is fairly new, within the past few years. They’re right here in the Lowcountry and are great people.”

Most importantly, Kelsey says “Their honey is delicious. It’s the best I’ve ever had, and it’s nice to put something unique and local to us on the boards.”

“We get our meats and cheeses everywhere - we’ve gone to different farmers markets, trying to final all different places to source them from.”

What To Order From CHS Coastal Charcuterie

Kelsey’s creations are proof that a colorful grazing board - no matter the size - is perfect for any occasion.

“Honestly we have some people that will place an order and they’ll just tell me the theme, what kind of party, the age of people they’ll be catering to and I just go from there,” says Kelsey. “We can provide gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan boards.”

One of Kelsey’s personal favorite orders are birthday boards though - especially for College of Charleston students. “Parents will tell me what all of their favorite sweets are and I customize it that way,” says Kelsey. “I really like when they give me a few options and just tell me to go for it. I get to play and do things creatively that I normally wouldn’t get to do.”

For everyday parties, you can order the CHS Coastal Charcuterie Movie Night Board or the Snack Attack Board - “perfect for sleepovers, parties, late night study sessions or really any day that ends in a ‘Y’!”.

If you’re looking for single serve options, there’s also the Magnolia Cones - everything you’d expect to see on a charcuterie board wrapped into one adorable cone.

Around any holiday, keep an eye out for CHS Coastal Charcuterie’s special holiday themed boards.

“We try to do at least one or two boards to match each holiday. [This year for Christmas] I had someone make these custom boards that are in the shape of a wreath. Another option we had for Christmas was a hot cocoa board - peppermints, marshmallows, chocolate sweets,” says Kelsey.

“The most ordered has been the Sweetgrass Grazing Board. It comes with the platter included,” says Kelsey.

If you’re looking for something specific that’s not listed on their menu, just give Kelsey a call or place your custom order through the CHS Coastal Charcuterie website.

So What’s Next For CHS Coastal Charcuterie?

Having just launched this past summer of 2020, CHS Coastal Charcuterie has already grown to fill anywhere form 35 to 65 orders per week.

“65 has been the most,” says Kelsey. “Now we’re booking weddings, cocktail hours - just different events throughout Charleston. It’s been a lot of fun to be honest.”

What could make a booming business even more fun? The announcement of the CHS Coastal Charcuterie Food Truck. They anticipate the truck to be up and running by the end of February/early March of 2021.

“Our goal is to do different pop-up events,” says Kelsey. “Weddings, festivals - we want it to be a rolling charcuterie food truck. For neighborhood events, we’ll do single serve. If you’re renting for a wedding, pair [your charcuterie] with wine - the couple would just need to pre-purchase the wine to go with.”

You may also see more Charcuterie 101 classes in the future.

“It wasn’t a plan on my end originally,” says Kelsey. “Studio Barre reached out and asked if I’d be interested to do a class at their event space. I had never done one before, but it turned out well! It sold out very, very fast. There’s already a list of people who want to sign up for another!”

“It’s definitely something I would consider doing again in the future - possibly incorporating the food truck as well. It’s something I’d like to keep in mind and pursue in the future for sure because it was a lot of fun,” says Kelsey.

CHS Coastal Charcuterie: Advice For New Business Owners

With so much growth in such a short span of time - and much to come in the future - Kelsey relies on a solid preparation game and customer feedback.

“I always try and follow up with the customer. I’ll try and take a good picture of the board and send it so they’ll have a good shot of the board, make sure they enjoyed it, so if there’s any kind of advice [they have] - I genuinely want to know if they enjoyed it, and have a more local, more personal Lowcountry feel.”

“My biggest piece of advice [to other business owners] is to make sure you’re prepped and have as much done ahead of time as you can,” says Kelsey. “If someone called me last night like ‘Hey, I’d love to order two boards for tomorrow morning,’ I’m able to squeeze them in. But in order to do that I have to know that I’m completely prepped for the following day.”

As for Kelsey’s favorite part of running CHS Coastal Charcuterie?

“Knowing that this business is able to be a part of so many different aspects of peoples’ lives - that a bride and groom can look back on this massive spread [that they had at their wedding],” says Kelsey. “It’s a creative and fun way to be a part of so many special events - bridal showers, corporate events, holiday parties, all kinds of stuff!”

For the latest updates - including when their new food truck will be ready! - follow CHS Coastal Charcuterie on Facebook and Instagram.