Episode 56: Jeri Desloge

Host Dave Fiore speaks with Jeri Desloge, the owner of Jeri’s Midtown Café (now Jeri’s Eventful Kitchen), Jeri’s Love on a Plate and Simply Entertaining by Jeri. And while that may seem like a lot for the popular restaurateur to keep up with, Jeri has spent a lifetime working hard, going the extra mile and doing whatever it takes to make people happy.

The native of Clewiston, Fla., was raised in the shadow of the area’s sugarcane mill, where she played sports, was class president and rocked the saxophone. She first fell in love with Tallahassee attending FSU band camps and was determined to one day return.

Jeri’s first food job was at a Shoney’s as a server before transferring to the Tallahassee Outback, enrolling at Kaiser and helping to open multiple Red Elephant locations. Eventually, all roads led to the popular Paisley Cafe in Midtown, where she would assume ownership just months before COVID would temporarily shut her down.

After first thinking she would lose everything, Jeri says it was the best thing to happen to the industry because it forced positive business decisions that are still paying off today.

It paid off personally as well, as she met her husband, Bryan Desloge, then a Leon County Commissioner, in a meeting with a group of colleagues to complain about the county’s COVID policies.

Jeri talks about her love for Tallahassee, the importance of her faith and her dreams for the future.

This episode is sponsored by Barineau Heating and Air Conditioning.