Born in Würzburg, Germany, and raised largely in Houston after moving there at age four, Chef Aubrey “Maubs” McCoy has spent much of his life in motion.
The son of a military family, McCoy attended multiple schools, traveled often, and absorbed cultures, cuisines, and life lessons wherever he landed.
Today, those experiences fuel Villa Kitchen, the culinary and community-centered enterprise he co-founded and leads as CEO.
McCoy — married to his birthday twin (July 20), Siobhan Skerritt McCoy — is not simply interested in serving meals. He wants to create experiences rooted in culture, wellness, local agriculture, and neighborhood empowerment.
“So essentially, I’m Chef Maubs,” McCoy said. “I’m the co-founder and CEO of Villa Kitchen. And what we do is we take fine dining, elevated farm-to-table experiences rooted in our community.”
Elevating neighborhood harvests
At the heart of Villa Kitchen is McCoy’s commitment to sourcing food directly from local growers throughout Houston communities, including Fifth Ward, Third Ward, Sunnyside, and Acres Homes.
He collaborates with urban farmers like Ron McFarlane, founder of Harlem River Farms, to create dishes using locally grown produce.
“And what I do is I elevate what they give me,” McCoy said. “If they bring me sweet potatoes, red potatoes, collard greens, I elevate it in a way where it tastes like you got it at a restaurant, but you’ve sourced it straight from your neighbor.”
For McCoy, food is more than flavor. It is community economics, sustainability, and self-determination.
He works with a co-op of growers and organizations, such as the Kalos Project, to help regenerate neighborhoods through food sovereignty, meal planning, and nutrition education.
“We focus on making sure we regenerate our own community by being sovereign by growing our own food and then knowing how to cook it properly,” McCoy said.
That vision also includes practical education. Through community cooking classes at places like the Third Ward Multi-Purpose Center, McCoy teaches residents how to make the most of fresh ingredients sourced from local growers.
“Instead of going to a farmer’s market and letting that food spoil,” McCoy said, “you can learn how to get sautéed onions like you taste at the restaurant in your own home.”
Early entrepreneurial dreams
McCoy’s entrepreneurial instincts surfaced long before Villa Kitchen existed.
As a child, he watched his mother operate vending machines. Seeing snacks that were not selling in certain locations, young McCoy found another market — his classmates.
“I sold them food, snacks after practice so that they could nourish themselves,” he recalled. “So, I kind of always knew I’d be an entrepreneur in food.”
That instinct for solving problems and meeting needs continues to define his work today.
From data science to food systems
Before fully embracing culinary entrepreneurship, McCoy built a career in technology and data science.
He earned degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University and Texas Southern University, including studies in communications, family and consumer science, and information systems. Along the way, he worked for major companies including Hewlett-Packard, NRG Energy, and Amazon.
Even while thriving professionally, McCoy observed troubling consumer behavior.
“I saw that families were always consuming, but it seems like they were in a trauma-bound cycle where they were spending money emotionally,” McCoy said.
Those observations pushed him toward creating healthier food systems and more intentional relationships with food.
That mission inspired Farm2ChefConnect.com, a free online platform McCoy developed to connect residents directly with nearby urban growers.
“You can look and search your local urban grower next to you,” McCoy explained. “And that way, you are sourcing without having to go to a farmer’s market.”
The project combines his technical expertise with his passion for community agriculture.
Cooking as healing
For McCoy, cooking became something deeply personal long before it became a profession.
“One of the modalities that I used to heal my generational trauma was cooking,” he said.
Drawing inspiration from Black chefs and culinary traditions across the African and Caribbean diaspora, McCoy rediscovered comfort, memory, and identity through food preparation.
He recalled learning to fry plantains like his Aunt Gloria and how those experiences grounded him emotionally.
“That brought me back to a home center,” McCoy said. “I learned how to meditate, and I learned how to cook in different ways that made me feel more centered.”
His understanding of food as emotional and spiritual nourishment now shapes the entire Villa Kitchen philosophy.
Lessons from grandmothers and global kitchens
McCoy’s culinary education stretches far beyond classrooms.
He credits his grandmother, Joyce Baker of Kashmere Gardens, with teaching him foundational lessons about food and self-sufficiency.
“She was like, ‘You’re going to stop spending money on pickles,’” McCoy recalled with a laugh. “You’re going to learn how to grow a cucumber, and I’m going to show you how to pickle it.”
He was only 10 years old, but the lesson stayed with him.
“We focus on making sure we regenerate our own community by being sovereign with growing our own food and then knowing how to cook it properly.”
Aubrie McCoy
Travel also profoundly influenced his palate and perspective. McCoy loves visiting “hole-in-the-wall” eateries around the world, learning recipes and techniques from grandmothers and home cooks across cultures.
“I love to travel and go to hole-in-the-walls and taste food from someone’s abuela or someone’s grandmother,” he said.
From German schnitzel to cactus tacos, those experiences have helped shape his distinctive culinary style.
‘The hardest working man in America’
McCoy’s passion and work ethic have earned admiration from collaborators throughout Houston’s urban agriculture community.
“I met Chef Maubs probably about a year or so ago,” McFarlane said. “He’s very enthusiastic about the stuff that we’re doing in terms of gardening and growing and food.”
McFarlane laughed while describing McCoy as “the new James Brown; the hardest working man in America.”
For McCoy, however, the work is bigger than food alone. It is about helping communities reconnect with health, culture, ownership, and each other — one plate at a time.
