Larry Blevins was seven years old when he held the Louisiana state record for catching the largest catfish (84 pounds?!). He now holds the MarginEdge record for coolest IT Specialist. How did this freshwater-fisherman-turned-Executive-Chef become [me]’s amazing new IT Specialist? What sparked his love for the restaurant industry and later IT? And whatever happened to that catfish? (Spoiler: he was taxidermied.)
In true [me]ople fashion, Larry’s story through the restaurant industry is far from conventional. He grew up in the South with his mother and grandmother, spending many Louisiana summers (and winters, springs and falls) hunting and fishing.
“Where I grew up, everybody hunts and fishes. We didn’t buy fish; we ate mostly freshwater fish. We used to hunt regularly for rabbits, squirrels, venison and deer. We'd drive an hour south and pick up a bunch of shrimp of different kinds from a guy in a pick-up truck,” he recalled. Hunting was as much a pastime as it was a doorway into his passion for cooking.
His first restaurant job was at a TGI Fridays in Augusta, Georgia, when he was 18. Working as a server before getting into bartending, his initial pull to the restaurant industry was pretty simple: “I thought it would be easy money.” But what started as a way to make some cash turned into a decade-plus-long culinary love story.
In 2006, he left the South for the DC area and continued pursuing restaurant roles, working at burger and pizza joints and serving at waterfront restaurants. He also got into a few sidequests: carpentry, selling blinds and a brief but memorable stint as a car salesman. A few years into working in the DC area, something became clear: no matter what road he took, his heart was parked in the restaurant industry (no car salesman puns intended).
So, in 2011, he took the leap and enrolled in culinary school at L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Maryland. After studying at a school with famous alumni chefs like Carla Hall, Larry was ready and determined to make his own place in the culinary world. Post-graduation in 2012, he took on an externship as a line cook while also working as a daytime fry cook at an Asian bistro.
But, as with both life and soufflés, there are highs and lows. “The Asian bistro closed pretty quick. The area was surrounded by construction,” he recalled. With his externship completed and newly out of work, Larry was on to his next venture.
By the end of that year, he landed a job at a cafe and wine bar in the area, where he spent the next six years working front-of-house roles before becoming a Sous Chef. From there, he found himself as the Executive Chef for a popular tiki bar on The Wharf in Washington, DC.
Dinner rushes, tiki-tots (a Polynesian play on tater tots) illuminated by string lights and distant conversations about whether or not the mango habanero wings were still on the menu, paired just right with the waterfront background. But time was tiki-ing (we tried), and after a little over a year, Larry knew it was time to move on.
In his quest to find his next steps, Larry met a restaurant partner who liked his gumbo recipe (is there anything better?). It wasn’t long before they hired him for a new restaurant and wine bar. Four years in, Larry was the Executive Chef and life was good. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Like many restaurateurs during the pandemic, Larry felt like things were up in the air. Businesses were closing, the future of the industry seemed rocky and he now had a wife and two young sons to support. The not-so-sweet icing on the cake was that his current restaurant gig didn’t have a flexible schedule and wasn’t complying with COVID protocols.
“After that,” he recalled, “my passion for being a chef kind of left. I made a promise to my wife that by the time our kids were starting kindergarten, I would have a more family-friendly career.”
This jump-started his career in IT and cybersecurity. “Being in the kitchen made me more of an introvert,” he recalled, “I figured something like IT would be fun for me.” But things didn’t pan out immediately. “The job market collapsed.”
He went back to being a chef for six months, working at a retirement home in Virginia while taking an IT bootcamp during his off-hours. Eventually, he landed an internship with a cybersecurity consulting company before moving into a full-time role there.
But he just couldn’t stay away from the restaurant industry for long, and in May 2025, he landed a role at MarginEdge as an IT Specialist.
Whether it’s making sure everyone’s technology functions properly, helping set up systems for new employees or coming to the rescue during wifi outages, Larry helps [me] run smoothly. His favorite part about MarginEdge? “The atmosphere. It has a very hospitality vibe to it, so it kind of feels like a restaurant’s staff. Your developers and data scientists feel like the back-of-house kitchen staff. Your sales and marketing gurus feel like the front-of-house staff. I don't know if that’s intentional, but it very much has that vibe to me.”
When not busy with [me], Larry enjoys creative projects, like building his sons a bunkbed from scratch or pickling a variety of foods. His days spent chefing and catching impressively large catfish may be in the past, but he’s thrilled to take on this new chapter of his life and career. And we are beyond exc-IT-ed to be a part of it!