Tacoma native Chantel Jackson has attracted an audience nearly 75,000 strong on TikTok and another 20,000 on Instagram, where her moniker is The Lunch Lady. She’s also known as The Singing Chef, belting out tunes in the kitchen, at catering events and on stages in a lilac-hued chef’s coat and bonnet. In 2022, she sang the national anthem before Nelly’s show at the Washington State Fair, and in 2023 competed in the Karaoke Cup World Finals in Las Vegas after placing in the Top 10 in Washington state.
Meanwhile, she has managed her own private chef and catering company, Thyme Well Spent, since 2016. Locals might also recognize her name from CJ’s Philly Food Truck, which hit the road in 2017. As of late October, she now has a brick-and-mortar in Tacoma’s South End.
“This is like my retirement,” she said with a laugh. She first leased the space at 5608 S. Park Ave. three years ago, a sign went up last year and she recently had a baby…