About French Magnolia
A Private Chef Experience, Years in the Making
Food has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, but the experience Thomas and I create through French Magnolia Cooks has been shaped by much more than cooking alone.
It comes from decades spent in professional kitchens, fine-dining rooms, wine programs, interior design, private events, entertaining, and hospitality. Over time, those experiences taught us that a memorable evening is not only about what is served. It is about how people feel while they are gathered together.
Through French Magnolia Cooks, Thomas and I bring together chef-driven cuisine, thoughtful wine, gracious service, and a shared belief that the best hospitality allows you to be fully present with the people around your table.
Meet The French Magnolia
Born and raised in the South with deep French roots, I am the French Magnolia — known to those close to me simply as Missy. My Southern upbringing, French heritage, and natural appreciation for hospitality, beauty, food, wine, and gracious living form the foundation of the brand that carries my name.
Thomas and I founded French Magnolia in 2016, bringing together experiences that had been developing separately for decades.
Since then, we have created more than 1,250 private tables and welcomed more than 10,000 guests through dinners, celebrations, weddings, chef’s tables, and other gatherings.
We also designed, owned, and operated our own French brasserie and wine bar. That chapter strengthened our understanding of cuisine, wine, service, and the hundreds of small decisions that shape the way a guest experiences an evening.
Legacy of Excellence
In early 2022, a cinematographer and producer from PBS Appalachia approached me about developing a culinary television series.
I had long wanted to tell the story of food beyond the finished plate — to follow ingredients back to the farmers, growers, hunters, producers, and places that give them character.
That vision became French Magnolia Cooks, the PBS culinary series Thomas and I write and produce together. Across 22 episodes, we explore cooking, regional ingredients, wine, producers, and the people and places behind the food.
French Magnolia Cooks – A love letter to the American farmer
The series has earned three Emmy Awards, including Best Show, and has been distributed through PBS to audiences across the country.
More than a cooking show, French Magnolia Cooks is a love letter to the farmers, growers, winemakers, craftspeople, and communities that make gathering around the table possible.
The same philosophy seen on screen continues at every French Magnolia table: respect the ingredients, understand the place they came from, care for the people being served, and never lose sight of why everyone gathered in the first place.
Who Is French Magnolia?
I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, with Southern hospitality woven into everyday life. At twenty-three, I moved to New York City with an Interior Design degree, determination, and a love of food that would eventually become a lifelong pursuit.
I learned professional cooking by doing it. I began with prep work and worked my way through the kitchen, learning the responsibility and rhythm of each position along the way.
Design was never far from that work. I eventually founded MC Interiors LLC, serving clients in New York City, Atlanta, and Charleston for more than a decade. I loved helping people understand their homes, but I also loved what happened inside those homes — dinners, celebrations, intimate weddings, and the simple pleasure of welcoming people well.
In 2007, I returned to formal study and earned a degree in holistic nutrition, deepening my interest in ingredients and the relationship between food and how people feel.
I later returned to the culinary world full-time, working through Charleston’s fine-dining kitchens before accepting an Executive Chef position at a five-star Relais & Châteaux property in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
Those chapters all became part of French Magnolia.
Why French Magnolia?
My French heritage and Southern upbringing are not competing influences. They have always felt quite natural together.
The French side of my story shaped my appreciation for technique, beauty, ingredients, wine, and the pleasure of everyday rituals. The South taught me that hospitality is ultimately about people — feeding them, welcoming them, and making room for them.
French Magnolia grew from the place where those parts of my life meet.
“The land and its people inspire me to give a passionate voice to its people.”
— Chef Missy
Two is Better Than One – Enter Thomas Fraley
Thomas is the steady counterpart to much of my creative energy.
He has spent more than thirty years in hospitality, wine, and fine dining, and he has an instinct for the details that make people feel genuinely cared for.
Raised in Arkansas and Tennessee, Thomas moved to Atlanta at eighteen to study electronic engineering before answering a different call to service and joining the United States Army Reserves. After his military service, he entered hospitality and found the profession that would shape the next three decades of his life.
Through fine dining, he developed a deep appreciation for the relationship between exceptional food, old-world wine, thoughtful service, and intentional hospitality. His career eventually led him to Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta, where he was recruited to oversee service and the wine program for an intimate Chef’s Table experience alongside the Executive Chef.
Over the years, Thomas has worked in and led fine-dining and hospitality operations across Atlanta, Charleston, and the High Country of North Carolina. His experience includes Relais & Châteaux-affiliated properties, restaurant openings, wine programs, front-of-house training, hospitality consulting, and serving guests ranging from intimate private parties to global leaders and Presidents.
Today, Thomas leads the wine, hospitality, and service side of French Magnolia.
At our wine-forward dinners, he is often at the table sharing the places, producers, traditions, and stories behind what is being poured. The conversation is engaging rather than formal and educational without becoming a class.
That is exactly how we want wine to feel at a French Magnolia table: part of the evening rather than something standing apart from it.
“Missy & I have been instilled with the spirit of hospitality and a gift for loving people with food and wine.” – Thomas Fraley
Together, This Is the French Magnolia Experience
Thomas and I bring different strengths to the table, but we share the same understanding of what hospitality should feel like.
I lead the cuisine and creative expression of the table. Thomas brings wine, service, pacing, and guest experience alongside it.
Together, we create private dinners, weddings, wine experiences, and intimate gatherings around one simple belief:
How people feel at the table matters just as much as what is served on it.
The result should feel personal, thoughtful, and refined without feeling formal — an evening where the details have been considered so you do not have to think about them.
When You Hire a Private Chef, It Should Feel Like This
Inviting us into your home is an act of trust.
We take that seriously.
From our first conversation to the final course — and from the kitchen to the wine, table, service, and cleanup — Thomas and I want the details to feel thoughtfully handled so you can be fully present with your guests.
You gathered the people. Let us take care of the table.
Step Inside French Magnolia
Join the Society.
We begin with your first party favor: Little Blue Book of Hosting—a complimentary 50-page collection of field notes, rituals, and lessons gathered across more than 1,000 chef tables.
From time to time, we’ll share what’s inspiring us—French restaurants we love across the U.S. and abroad, from cafés, bistros, and brasseries, along with places worth traveling for.
And, when it matters, notes from our work in television and beyond.
No noise. Always intentional.
Something worth opening.
Your information is kept private, and we’ll only reach out thoughtfully from time to time.