In this new series, TCU Magazine visits with alumni in the food and beverage industry. Send recommendations to tcumagazine@tcu.edu.

Publicist Katie-Rose Watson ’11 created her popular food blog, The Rose Table, in 2014 and released a cookbook of the same title in 2021. Her series of Disney Dinners, for which she creates original recipes for a themed party she invites friends to and films, grew her following tenfold in 2018. 

After Katie-Rose Watson, right, launched her Disney Dinners series, a concept she said came to her in a dream, her food blog “The Rose Table” surged in popularity. Courtesy of Katie-Rose Watson

You majored in German at TCU. How have you incorporated that into your professional life?  

I ended up reading all of the fairy tales in their original German, so I joke that I sort of indirectly majored in fairy tales, which is very much part of my brand now. I had the best time at TCU in the German department.  

I decided to do Snow White [as a Disney Dinner]. I thought it would be really cool to take us into the Black Forest, with a German menu. I speak German in the beginning of the video.

What inspired you to create Disney Dinners?  

When I first started my blog, I would have somebody over for a really nice dinner and we’d eat in multiple courses. And I thought, “How can you make people see that you can have a fun evening and still have this fancy old-fashioned dinner party, but not make it old-fashioned?” I went to sleep and dreamt that I hosted 12 months of Disney-themed dinner parties.

I got the idea in 2017. I only had 10,000 fans at the time on The Rose Table. I launched it in January with Frozen, a perfect winter dinner party theme. I had well over 100,000 fans by the end of 2018.

While she grew up in the Dallas area, Katie-Rose Watson said her parents’ West Coast roots — mother from San Francisco, father from Seattle — have influenced her taste and cooking style. Photo by Yisha Zhao

Which recipe was the biggest challenge to develop?  

My Disney Dinners series made me such a better cook because it really forced me to get outside of my comfort zone. I had never attempted to make gumbo before, so I kept making pot after pot of gumbo. And now that’s one of my favorite recipes ever, along with my roasted chicken.

The Rose Table now has more than 300,000 followers across social media platforms. What are the challenges? 

All the algorithm games wear me out as a food blogger. They show a post to 5 percent of your fans on a good day. Last month, I had over 4 million video views. This month, I can barely get five likes on anything. You really just have to push through it because the engagement always goes back up.

French White Wine Mussels are among The Rose Table’s seafood offerings. Courtesy of Katie-Rose Watson

In December 2022, I got hacked. I ended up losing access to all my accounts, and I lost admin access to The Rose Table. The whole ordeal took six months to resolve. My sister-in-law still had access; God bless her — she kept posting for me at The Rose Table three times a day.

I was going to do my Indiana Jones party and it was just so disheartening. My best friend ended up flying in from California; we decided to do Indiana Jones anyway, just the two of us. I had the most fun with her, and my Indiana Jones party ended up getting one and a half million views. Now I refer to that as my Iron Man 3 moment where I’ve lost the Iron Man suit, but I am Iron Man. When the going gets tough, just keep going.

Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.