March 24, 2025 • 54 mins
The restaurant industry is changing, and mentorship is leading the way. The James Beard Foundation is breaking barriers with paid stage opportunities, giving emerging chefs hands-on experience in world-class kitchens without the financial strain!
🎙️Tune in to the latest episode of the Restaurant Roundtable as we dive into how this initiative is redefining mentorship and shaping the future of dining.
ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Kraft Heinz Away From Home presents:
THE RESTAURANT ROUNDTABLE
Wondering what the secret is to running a restaurant that doesn’t just survive–but thrives? You’ve found it. The Restaurant Roundtable brings together accomplished restaurant owners and special guests to uncover practical strategies for building better businesses, healthier lifestyles, and stronger communities.
And you can find this episode’s amazing hosts and chefs at:
- Chef BJ Lieberman: https://www.instagram.com/eatchapmans/
- Chef Elena Terry: https://www.instagram.com/chefelenaterry/
- Jared Thomas: https://www.instagram.com/chiefchef_biggz/
- Geoff Kie: https://www.instagram.com/adob3/
- Shameeka Leacock: https://www.instagram.com/shameekaeats/
- Chef Lamar Moore: https://www.instagram.com/chef_ljm/
- Chef Paul Young: https://www.instagram.com/chefpaulyoung/
- The James Beard Foundation: https://www.instagram.com/beardfoundation/
To learn more about the James Beard Foundation and its programs visit https://www.jamesbeard.org/ or follow them at:
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- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beardfoundation
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-james-beard-foundation
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
We're just going to talk about the awesome Stadge program
that you all set up with Craft Times.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Everyone, I'm dj Ewan and we have a special episode
today where I would love to recap for you the
amazing trip that I just had to Chicago where I
got to spend time with the James Beard Foundations Legacy
Network in the Craft Times test kitchen. It was really
an amazing experience. I got to interview some awesome people
who are both mentors and mentees in the program, as
(00:28):
well as folks from the James Beard Foundation and Craft Times.
So this is the restaurant roundtable. Pull up a chair
and let's have some fun. I'm here with Shamika Leecock
from the James Beard Foundation Legacy Network and we're just
going to talk about the awesome Stadge program that y'all
set up with Craft Times. So if you want to
(00:49):
introduce yourself to the folks at home and tell us
about what you do.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, thank you so much, Chef BJ. My name is Shumika.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I am the Associate director of Community at a James
Beard Foundation and I'm manage our program call the Legacy
Network at the Foundation. In addition to a new iteration
of the program or extension of the program called the
Legacy Stage Program.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
These programs are funded by Hines.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
They are one of many initiatives and programs at our
foundation where we get to support chefs and members of
the culinary community.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Particularly.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Legacy is a virtual program actually for chefs of color
and other culinary professionals who are looking for support. You know,
we identify that the organization there's a critical gap when
it comes to chefs of color and other culinary folks
of color in terms of their ability to progress or
succeed really in the field, in the industry, and so
(01:43):
we've developed this program called Legacy Network to sort of
support that.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So you have a long history of connecting people with
cool experiences and programs.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It's my favorite thing to do. I always want to
work on behalf of others. And this has been a
great experience working with chefs, working with winemakers, journalists to
understand their passion, their motivation, their commitment, and sort of
being able to be part of the foundation and guide
them in that way.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's been really great. So the Legacy Program does that.
Our resources at.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
The Foundation are different initiatives that I'm involved with all
connected dots for that.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Before we get too far into it, let me tell
you what a stage is. It actually comes from a
French term stagier, which literally means apprentice, and they actually
have stagiers in hospitals and stuff like that, where you
apprentice under essentially a master who is also their craft.
As it translates to kitchens, a stage can be many
(02:43):
different things. At its base, it's going to work for someone,
typically for free, to either gain knowledge or to try
out for a position. So in my life, I've stadged
in many restaurants. A lot of them were what I
call for fun, where I'm not looking for a I
just literally want to see the way that a restaurant
that I idolize works, or a cuisine that I've never seen before.
(03:06):
And in my day, you showed up at a restaurant's
back door pretty much and with your knives and you said, hey,
I'm here, I'm hoping to do a stage for the day.
If you were lucky, the chef had an email and
you were able to reach out to him ahead of
time to plan it. But when I was in culinary
school in New York, I tried to go down to
the city every weekend and do a two day stage
(03:28):
at a different restaurant. So I've dodged a two meachel
in star places. I've stadged it hole in the wall taverns,
And that's one side of it. The other side is
typically when you apply for a job, you want to
go do a working stage or a trail. Sometimes they'll
call it. Where you go and you work in the
restaurant for sometimes three hours, sometimes a whole shift, just
before you're hired to see if it's a good fit.
(03:50):
It's really hard as a cook or a chef to
do an interview and know if you're going to be
a good fit in that kitchen. You want to see
the culture they want to see from you. Life work
is if you can follow directions, if you can follow recipes,
and it's a really typical thing. At our restaurant, a
Chat and Ze Market, specifically, we'll bring people in for
(04:10):
a one day stage before we hire them. We'll do
an interview first, and then if we like them and
they move on to the next stage, they'll come in
for a stage.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We see the stage program as an extension of the
Legacy network and it is unique, I think in your
experience in the experience of a lot of chefs who
have been brought up in the industry. This particular stage program,
it's funded by Hinds, which we really appreciate their support
and their commitment to sort of equity. But when it
(04:39):
comes to the stage program, what we essentially do is
provide an outlet for the alum the advisors of the
Legacy Network to be paired with a JBF recognized chef,
and the program has allowed us to cover the cost
for both the stage hosts, the chef who's hosting the
stage year and the stage here, including their traveling accommodations,
(05:01):
and I think it's really important that we were able
to do that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It's reducing the financial barriers, right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So, some of our stagiers had the opportunity to stage
in a city that they don't reside in. We had
the opportunity to work with chef Eric Williams, who's from
Virtue Restaurant right here in Chicago. I've eaten there before
time I'm going to go this evening, so I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Actually it's been a little while since I've been there.
But the food is amazing and we were talking off
camera earlier, but soul food is like my absolute favorite thing,
and he is just crushing it there.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yes, and you know he's a JBF awarded chef, So
being able to stage in a restaurant like his own,
a fine dining restaurant, is I would call sort of.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
A once in a life opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And so working with Chef Eric Williams, who sort of
kicked off the stage program this past year, was great
for our stagier Jared Thomas, who I know you'll be
speaking with.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And then the second stodge with in New York City with.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Chef farryal Over at hobin maher restaurant owned by Chef
Marcus Samuelson and Chef Meijen a stage with him, and
our third stage just wrapped up back in January with
Chef Jeff and Chef Crystal who's the owner of Wappape's
restaurant Opland, California.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
So again just sort of.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The opportunity to be able to design a stage program
that's really unique. Most doages, I think historically, have been
working the line in the kitchen, right this particular stage
really allows the stadge here an entry to every facet
of the business, so not just working the line, but
(06:36):
also learning about front of house, being able to learn
about accountant marketing, what it takes to really operate a business,
thinking about sort of management strategy, the leadership, how do
you get to the place where you.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Have this successful business.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And so this is a week long opportunity for three
stages this past year.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
That's amazing. Now I can't even tell you how awesome
it would have been when I was dodging if people
had let me behind the curve and to see how
the front of the house works. You know, normally I
was peeling carrots in the basement for eight hours and
hoping that I got to see some of the food.
That's really amazing. Thank you for everything you're doing for
our industry, and thank you. You know, this is a
(07:14):
passion of mine as well, is to give opportunities to
people who maybe haven't seen things. And getting to go
to a different city, getting to have somebody mentor you
in that way, yeah, is just really incredible. So thank
you for the work that you're doing.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think one thing that we recognize as the gransprit
Foundation is that we're really listening to what chefs and
those in the industry needs, and those are evolving and
So the program is going to continue to grow, and
we're going to make shifts and changes as we need
to make sure that we're supporting the industry.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It's a never evolving industry, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah. And when you're pairing up a candidate with a chef,
are they normally in the same city or are you
sometimes relocating people to do this?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, that's I think the really interesting part about the
pro The fact that it's virtual means that we can
really open up the program to anyone across the United States.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So while my goal and.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Our goal is always to try to peer folks who
are in close proximity to get to each other, it
actually works out where we could have an advisor in
Houston paired with.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Someone who's in California.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So the beauty of technology allows them to sort of
work together and oftentimes they sometimes have an opportunity to meet.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's awesome. And the ultimate goal of this is to
find a job place for people at the inn of it,
or is it just to further their their career knowledge
so that they can take the next step.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I think it's more about furthering their professional goals
in the industry. Our participants already extremely motivated.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Those who are advises, as.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I mentioned, are younger in terms of industry experience, but
truly motivated and want to stay in the industry. So
it's really about sort of helping them, guiding them through
the course of the program or their career goals. So
most of our participants are actd to identify some goals
that they want to either begin or accomplished by the
(09:09):
end of the program, and that can range anywhere from
finalizing a business plan to develop in a pop up series,
or learning how to best pitch to investors for.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
A CpG product.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Being a chef is a lot more than cooking. I
can say that I think that being a good leader
of people, understanding what people want out of a position
and making sure that they're afforded the opportunity to grow
in those ways, but also being a part of a
larger team. Every position, every job in a restaurant is
(09:40):
equally is important. Whether it's a porter, a dishwasher, a
food runner, the head chef, the lead bartender, it's all
equally important because every single piece needs to fit together.
So as the restaurant owner, it's our job to kind
of make sure that everybody's in a spot that they
can be successful, that their job is clearly defined to them,
and they're getting the things that they need to nourish
(10:02):
their growth in this industry. And the first step of
that of that growth is being able to see many
different situations in restaurants. So that's kind of where stodges
kind of come into play. I've done many stages in
my life for many different reasons, which we can talk
about momentarily, and we host stages at the restaurant all
(10:22):
the time for again a host of different reasons, but
a big point of it is to make sure that
everybody is being put in a position that they can
be successful when they're in the restaurant. I mean, mentorship
in the kitchen is kind of the most important thing.
I've had a lot of mentors in my life, and
some of them I didn't necessarily learn all the best
(10:42):
things from, but I do like to say that a
big part of learning in restaurants is what not to do.
So you know, those are the people who really shape
the way that you see the industry and the shape
the way that you see food. If you're lucky, you
have a mentor that allows you to ask questions to
bounce ideas off of. And I feel like if anyone
(11:04):
feels like I'm their mentor, one thing I know for
sure that they feel is that I want to talk
about food with them. I want them to understand the
way that I think about the way that things piece together,
and I want them to take that and push it forward,
push the idea forward. Tell us about the impact of
the stage program, both on the stages and also on
the mentors.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, so I.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Think that they differ depending on the stagian the stage hosts.
For our stagios, I conduct post interviews with all of
the stagiers just to get feedback on their experience, but
also to how best developed the.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Program going forward.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And Meiji, who's one of the stagiers, talked a little
bit about the impact of her experience working with Chef
Ferryaal in the front of house managers and how them
are They are women Latin, and she really think took
notice and was inspired by how they operated amongst the staff,
(12:02):
how supportive they were.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Of each other, and for all of ourstadge years, their.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Ultimate goal is to have their own brick and mortar
restaurant at some point, and I think that's why the
stage experience is so valuable for them.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
But I think for her, she really took away how
to operate a.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Business in terms of your staff instructure, how to best.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Support the team. And that was just one example of
one of the benefits for her.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
When it comes to our stage host In all three
cases of our stage.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Hosts, Chef Ferial, Chef Eric.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Williams, and Chef Crystal, they've never actually implemented a stage program,
and Chef Crystal's feedback was.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
This was a great experience.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I now know or have an idea how I might
want to implement this a similar program at her restaurant.
So I think that the takeaways differ for everyone, but
I think it's this lasting impact. I think our Stadgiers
now have a better direction of where they want to
go when developing their own restaurants just from this week
long EXPERI it.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
So I think those are some of the benefits.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I know they'll tell you more about what it's been
for them today.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I am really excited to introduce Elena Terry from Wildberry
in Wisconsin. Just wanted to give you the Florida introduce
to yourself what it is that you do and how'd
you get involved with the James Beard Foundation?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Awesome? Well, hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I'm excited for today too, getting to see some familiar faces.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So I'm Elena Terry.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
I'm the executive chef and founder of a nonprofit organization
named Wild Berries.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We do community outreach.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Education, advocacy, agriculture, everything around food in our tribal communities,
but not exclusives to tribal communities.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That's awesome. So how did you get involved with the
James Beard Foundation and the mentorship program?
Speaker 4 (13:48):
So the James Beard Foundation reached out to me. Wild
Berries really is based on culinary mentorship program, and they
asked if I would be willing to be an advisor
in this new program that they had coming up called
the Legacy Network, which was for bipoc culinarians not exclusive
to chefs.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And I was like, absolutely, any way that.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I can help support my community in that being like
the food industry, I'm down, sign me up.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
How many how many people have come through your like,
how many mentees do you do you have at this point?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So from my cohort, I've been able to work directly
with four of the advisors and also some of the
advisers who have become very good friends of mine in
the industry. I think with our initial cohort, I'm pretty
close with almost everybody that we were went through the
program with.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, you've been giving a lot of hugs since it
just like feels good.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
To see family again.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, what does your cooking and wild Dairies mean to
you as far as your community and bringing people into
the process.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
So Wild Berries began as a culinary mentorship program for
individuals in our community who were overcoming alcohol and other
drug abuse issues or emotional trauma through the healing power
of food is medicine, but we really took the philosophy
that it is undeniably nutritious, but like the medicine comes
(15:13):
from us being like the signior, the way we interact
with each other, the energetic exchange when you're around people
and space is sharing a meal or when you're out
in the garden cultivating what it really truly needs to
be grounded in a space and with our ancestral foods
and our ancestral lands. You know, the healing journey really
started with me and going back to this way of
(15:36):
life and saying like, if this is my journey to
be by my food and I want to be a chef.
Then I have to trust that putting them together will
be a space that I'm creating where I can heal
and maybe I can show others how.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Are there other ways that you've been involved in the
James Beard Foundation.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yes, I was able to cook for the Good food
for Good and bring in additional mentees that we have
that are working in other programs. And then this past
year I was able to do a dinner at the
Platform for or By James Beer Foundation where I was
able to bring in two of my legacy network mentees
to come and work with me. So the relationship is
(16:16):
ongoing and it just keeps expanding the resources and the
ones that I'm able to bring in and not only
teach them how to work in the kitchen and these
spaces for a day, but getting the time to have
these beautiful exchanges while we're in those spaces, Like it
just continues to build these hopefully long lasting relationships.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
With each other.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It is funny getting to do like guest chef dinners
and stuff. When you're on a cutting board next to
someone for like six hours straight, you learn a lot
about it. You make this really weird flakes friendly connection.
By the time the dinner's over, it's like you've known
each other for two years. But I really do feel
like we're all kindred spirits at the end of the day.
And you know, no matter where you are in the
food world, all that we want to do is make
(16:59):
people happy, make people healthy, and create a better world
for for all of us. Like white opportunities, do you
wish that you had that you're able to give people
now coming through your kitchen?
Speaker 5 (17:10):
I say, when I was keping up, you know, being
able to understand how to operate a small business. I
was very fortunate because I worked for Obverminton Shimicks and
I had an amazing Chab who's a mentor that taught
me to financial literacy, that taught me how to cost
our recipes. You know, as I grew older, there was
the gap was is now you're on your own? But
you know, the Foundation has been a good piece of that.
You know, I have done numerous things that the Jameson Foundation.
(17:33):
Of the last couple years, I've done Taste twenty. I
did a boot camp which is amazing to talking about
finding literacy, literacy and also the acimate of a restaurant,
but then also doing that in our restaurants too, and
believe or not, you know, like our colts are team.
They come from different walks of life, so they have
different things that they teach it that they learned, and
but being able to now transform a lot of what
I do and like doing events like this, you.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Know, and I was selling there like we you know
here I've cooked together now in the last few years.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
It's like taking what we do in a restaurant and
all you're doing is setting up inside of a space
like this. We're not doing anything different than we're doing
a restaurant at where the recipes are the same. We
may have played it differently, but how we excuse the
same way to save tom And when we talk about
the literacy behind that, I wish someone did teach me
the consistency behind it. But I get on my team
about being consistent and the same thing we do every
single day because people appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Daryl being here in the kitchen with you today as
just wondering if you could introduced Daryl and you all
can talk about the experience that you've had working for
chef and how you got into the industry.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
Sure so.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Daryl West, We've been working together a little bit over
two years, starting a restaurant south side Chicago called Rons
the Wannery. Darryl started out as a just washer, then
work his way up to a prep cook and a
line cook when I open, etc.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
He was one of the first people that I call Darrow's.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Very dependable, very knowledgeable, keeps his hand down or as
he tells me all the time, chef, I'm ready to work,
I get to work. He has been not only a
big part of my career and growing up, but when
I look at, you know, opening a restaurant, talk about
legacy and teaching and training.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Daryl's been a big part of that.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
We've done numerous offside events together, including this when we
did a big dinner last week. He has definitely not
only just a really good cook, but a really good brother,
a really good friend, and I'm definitely excited to see
him continues to grow and glad he's product.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Martin. Can you explain the history of the programs? How
long have you been doing them?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah? Absolutely so Well.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
JBF I Should Start is a five oh one c
three non profit organization. I think we're most known for
the JBF Awards, but our organization has lots of programs
and initiatives, and so the Legacy Network was founded about
four years ago in twenty twenty one, to provide again
culinary professionals, especially chess with the opportunity to engage with
(19:51):
each other. I think we identify that chess of color
essentially could use mentors and training and resources, and the
way we've done that through this program is to peer
them up with advisors or mentors, and so our advisors
are typically those who are emerging in the industry, those
(20:14):
who typically have less than five years experience, but are
really motivated, really committed, really want to be in this industry.
And so through our virtual program, we meet monthly over
the course of seven months. And in addition to being
peered with an advisor, that person is usually a chef
or an owner who has been in the industry for a.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Really long time.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
They not only are peered together, but then we also
provide educational training.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
To really look at topics that affect the industry.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So our trainings and workshops are around marketing in addition
to financial literacy. These are all really imperative topics and
areas that we think that our participations can benefit from.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
That's awesome to hear. I totally agree with all those things.
Everyone thinks that being a chef is just cooking, and
at the end of the day, there's a heck of
a lot more that goes into it. How many folks
have come through the program at this point, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
We're really excited about this.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So this month we will have graduated a total of
one hundred participants.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Oh my god, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
We're really excited about that.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And so each year the program cohort has been about
thirty participants. And yeah, over the course of the program,
they gained so much knowledge and support from each other,
from the network but also those who service their advisors.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So do you want to tell us about what we're
doing here today in Chicago and the beautiful craft Times
Test kitchen.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, we're super excited.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
As I mentioned, the Legacy program is a virtual program,
so we don't always get the opportunity to really get together.
And I think you know more more than anybody than
quarns of coming together. And so while the program is
super beneficial in that way, I think this event that
we have today, called the JBF Legacy Network meet Up
(22:05):
here in Chicago at Heinz's Food Lab is just a
great way.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
To kind of culminate the program.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
We're wrapping up this month, and so we have a
number of advisors and advisors for not only this year's cohort,
but previous cohorts who are flying in from all across
the country.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
For the restaurants, for the chefs who want to host
stages as their a sign up or are you actually
going on just finding people who are already in the James.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Beard Now yeh no, that's a really great question.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
When we thought about who we wanted to serve as
a stage host, we looked at folks who were within.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
The JBF community already.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Many of them or all of them are either JBF
award winning or nominated chefs, and we were really strategic
about selecting them from across the country. We also wanted
to make sure that diverse cuisines were represented techniques.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Chef Crystal has an indigenous.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Restaurant and Chef Jeff is also an indigenous background, and
so she really focused in her local community on looking
at and working with local farms to produce.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
The ingredients for her restaurant.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And that's something that's really important to Jeff who served
as this stagier.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
He's really interested in food.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Sovereignty in his community and so that was a really
great pairing. So we are we are sort of looking
at who the chefs are that we believe would be
the best fit and can design a stage program that's
unique to their restaurant.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, traditionally, stages and even your your working life in
a restaurant isn't necessarily scripted or has a criteria or
an agenda for you and how you're going to grow
in a position or what it is that you're going
to be taught. What I love about what the James
Beard Foundation is doing with this Legacy network is they're
(23:55):
setting guidelines and they're they're setting goals of what these
stage is and what these mentor mentee relationships are supposed
to be, so that people are verbalizing what it is
and they want to get out of this and then
achieving those goals with help from the chef. And I
think that it's really smart and honestly something that's been
lacking in our industry for a really long time. And
(24:16):
that's again the part that really makes me think about
how we want to treat people coming through our doors
when they come in, and something that makes me wish
that when I was a stage there's been a little
bit more of a curriculum that I was following when
I was coming in to restaurants with no real knowledge
of what it was that I was about to be doing.
(24:37):
So I think this is a really positive step forward
for our industry. We are here with Chef Jeff Kai,
who is fresh office stage with Chef Crystal Papa from
What Papa's Kitchen. Why don't you introduce yourself to the
people and tell them how you got into the industry
and how you got into the stage program. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
Thanks Gatsia Telfas with ya Yakohama style Quakama.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
My name is Jeff Kai. I come from the Puba
of Laguna.
Speaker 7 (25:01):
I'm Bigcorn clan, little Troquiz clan, and yeah I'm from
a little village in New Mexico called Siama. And but yeah,
I'm really excited to be sharing my story with you
here today. I first got my start, you know, in
the kitchen in flag Staff, Arizona, where I was in school,
and so that's where I kind of spent like four
years just really getting into the deep and dirty of
(25:24):
like a big kitchen space. And so that was kind
of one of my first really big experiences that I
really like carry with me to this day. And ever
since then, I've kind of been doing like more pop
ups and kind of doing more like things that I'm
really passionate about. And so but since then, I've kind
of been blending a lot of different things together because
(25:44):
I'm also a filmmaker as well. So I also have
my master's in communication about documentary studies emphasis, So I'm
also a filmmaker, and I also kind of blend these
two of like indigenous food sovereignty, documentary and food, you know,
coloring culinary industry to can't really blend these things together
that kind of like express myself in the way that
I feel like is really authentic to me.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
I mean, it's wild. I've done a lot of stages,
none of them have been involved in seed saving and
that bar. I'm so inspired by the experience that you
had there and by what she's doing at that restaurant.
I spoke to Jared Thomas, who just a few weeks
ago completed his Stage of Virtue in Chicago.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
I'm from the Bronx, have Caribbean background, and I was
working with chef Eric.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Williams at the stage at the Birge restaurant.
Speaker 8 (26:34):
I had a week long intense training teaching me about
the kitchen, the back of the house, in front of
the house, learning about customer service, learning about busting tables,
and I had a phenomenon time.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
What was your favorite part about the stage?
Speaker 8 (26:51):
My favorite part was actually being able to cook in
a different city and being challenged by a chef that
has won awards and have different restaurant and actually took
the steps to becoming a big chef. One of my
favorite things also was being challenged in my career. And
(27:12):
I thought I knew a whole bunch of things in
the culinary arts world. But culinary is bigger than just
actually be able to.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
Cook in the kitchen. You have to know different parts
of the kitchen, know how to It's.
Speaker 8 (27:22):
A whole bunch more than just cooking. It was just
it was a lot of information, very informative, and that back.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
In my day when I would do stages at restaurants,
we would pretty much get to know peel some carrots,
be in the basement. Maybe we'd get to see some
of the food no one ever took the time to
like treat it as a mentor opportunity where we learned
about food costing and and p and ls and all
the things that go into what it is that it
takes to own and run a business. So I'm really
interested in just how this program has evolved, what staging
(27:51):
really is. And I really love picking your brain about
how it worked for you because I'd honestly like to
incorporate some of these things into my restaurant when we
bring stages in. So can you tell us a little
bit about how you got into the Styge program, How
did you hear about it, how how'd you go about
getting hooked up with Chef Eric?
Speaker 8 (28:08):
First and foremost, I'm a part of the James Beard Foundation,
the Legacy Network, I'm alumni, and I seen the email
from Shimika. She sent out a whole bunch of us
that we that we have an opportunity that there's a
stage in three different areas. One was with was in
Chicago with Chef Eric, the other one was in Washington,
(28:29):
d C. With another chef, and the other one was
in New York. And honestly, I looked at the different
restaurants and I just went through their menu and you know,
just did just to see like what this restaurant is about.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
And Chef Eric stuck out to me the most, and
I just gave it a shot.
Speaker 8 (28:48):
I read his menu and the information the questionnaires they gave, like,
I showed him.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
That I was really interested in your restaurant. I really
wanted to know more. And yes, within like moths later,
I ended up getting selected and I'm reading the email,
I'm like, wait, what.
Speaker 8 (29:05):
Like you know what i mean, Like I did my
research about a restaurant that actually selected me to participate
in the stage.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
I said, no way, you know, so I was very happy.
Speaker 8 (29:15):
And then I just came up with different questions and
different things that I would like to learn while I
was there. So I would say this it helped me
in like several ways, like even shaping how I think
and not being so hard on myself and actually being.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
Able to go for goals, being able to actually.
Speaker 8 (29:35):
Try different cuisines and learning underleaf different chefs to you know,
just to get myself well around it.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
So with Chef Crystal, what specifically did you go to
her kitchen to learn and what did you take away
from that experience?
Speaker 7 (30:01):
Yeah, I'm really thankful to Shamika and the drink Beard
Legacy Network to to send me the application to apply
for Chef Crystal at you know, at Wapapa's Kitchen, because
I felt like, truly that being she's one of the
premier indigenous food restaurants in the world in my opinion,
she really encompasses everything that is really tight to her
(30:25):
core values of like community and tradition, and so I
really got to experience that and really felt that for
the time that we spent together in Oakland, and so
I knew I was going to spend a lot of time.
I wasn't sure what I was gonna be doing in
the kitchen, but I was just like trying to mentally
and physically prepare myself, you know. I was like, I
live in the desert, in the high altitude, you know, desert,
(30:45):
so I was kind of like hiking every day and
trying to like.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Really you know, get myself. I was.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
I wasn't sure I was going to put myself into
but I just really wanted to be prepared to receive
all that knowledge, to receive all the you know, all
all the vibes, all the meta that's going to be
coming my way because you know, we that's going to
be going on to my whole life journey of all
that stuff. But mainly Cheff Crystal, she was just she
really wanted to show the community side of it because
(31:12):
it's really intergenerational.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Her community connects.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Deep with the Inner Tribal Friendship House, So that was
a really big major part in Indigenous history in America
because that's one of the focal points where people could
go to after being part of like the relocation process.
So it's kind of like where Indigenous people could could
gather in community and share songs. And her father was
(31:38):
kind of like in the leadership of that in the organization.
And so since then, we did community feeds, we brought
food to the community for free, you know, Like we
also celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the Inter Trouble Friendship
House with Chef Crystal and we made blue.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Corn cakes with like a very compo on there.
Speaker 7 (31:58):
So it's just like everything community community oriented that we
knew that that morning we were preparing the cakes and
having that moment with Chef Crystal, which is like, so
I kind of just to be in that moment of
like this is what this is what that that good medicine,
that that good vibes, that good energy that she that
loves that she puts into that that food, and it's
given out to the community, and it's just it's received.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I love that you call food medicine. I couldn't agree
with you more. It's what we nourish our bodies with.
And I also love when the story behind the food
has a deeper meaning. And it seems like all these
crossroads meet up perfectly with with this uh, with this
place and the chef and I did a little bit
of looking at her food before before today, and it
(32:43):
just looks spectacular and and it tells the entire story.
And and when you can we can taste that love
and that medicine during during that meal experience. I don't
think anything's more exciting than that. Was the stage experience.
Like for you, I'm a I'm a prep guy.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
First started you know, like in my colninary where I
was a prep guy.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
So I just like knew what to do. It was
ready to get to work.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
So that's kind of what we started off with, the
work of the gradual transition of like going from the
prep you know, learning the basics of a few recipes,
but also learning how everything gets stored and put away
and gets prepared for the line and so and then
kind of making that transition into the line, and then
also learning the front of the house, but also management
(33:24):
as well, right, But we also spent a few days
in the community as well, and also just exploring some
of the places that were really important to set the
context for all the work that they do.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
So, for example, we.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
We went to the Cultural Conservancy, which is like the
farm that supports Chef Crystal, and they grow like heirloom
squash there amongst other heirloom produce and things like that way,
and we collected the squash, brought it back to the kitchen,
and we harvested the seeds and so those are heirloom
seeds that are, you know, generations old and also going
to be feeding generations ahead, you know. And so that's
(33:59):
why it's so important to like really be conscious of
like all the great things that come with all the
things that we're growing and the produce to recognize that,
like the intergenerational aspect of it. So that was really
cool to be actively seed saving and those seeds are
going back to the farm.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
And then also.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Another great aspect that I thought I had the opportunity
to try was the acorn acorn flour. And so when
you oakland acorns, so but then also the acorns are
it's a traditional food substance. Yeah yeah, right, I finally
made that for me that connection there too, and and
(34:39):
so she also works with one of the cultural centers there,
and so they made like an acorn bite that encompass
like the youth and like you know, the elders and
kind of rehydrating these connections and talking about food because
they were trying to do also do food exhibits for
that cultural center and so you know, just recognize them
that it's also like Pomo land and all these other
(35:01):
places that are important before the indigenous peoples in the area,
but like recognizing that oaks and you know, the oak
trees and the acorns are important part of that history.
And so to taste their chef Crystal had also had
a crepe on the menu that I got to try,
and then we also got to try some of the
the packaged items that they made using the acorn flower.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
So just that's just an example of how how long
our food systems go. So what's next for you now?
That you're done with the program.
Speaker 6 (35:36):
So now that I'm done with the program, I am.
Speaker 8 (35:43):
I am advancing my catering business as far as now
I'm taking like leap of faith and actually going to
different corporations and actually presenting myself.
Speaker 6 (35:56):
I'm actually now starting to I never did this before,
but actually.
Speaker 8 (36:00):
Write a business plan, like I didn't know how important
it is, how important.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
It was to just just write down a plan.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
And the plan doesn't have to.
Speaker 8 (36:10):
Go exactly how you read it, how it's written, but
it's a sense of direction. And now I have a
I'm not saying this to say this because you don't care.
Speaker 6 (36:21):
I'm being serious. I have a clearer sense of direction of.
Speaker 8 (36:24):
What I'm doing is correct, building my brand, wearing my clothes,
selling my clothes, going to pop up shops in different cities,
and just expressing myself and.
Speaker 6 (36:34):
Just showing people like who I am and like, you
know what I could do.
Speaker 8 (36:37):
So right now, in the nutshell, just just just give
me a little bit more time, Give me a little
bit more time. But in a few years, I hope, No,
not that I hope I will have a kitchen. It's
not that I hope I will have a kitchen. Don't
have all the details I'm gonna get there, but I
will have until you do.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, I've been lucky enough to have a lot of
mentors through my career. Specifically, one of the best pieces
of advice that I ever received was from Aaron Silverman,
who's the chef and owner of Roses, Luxury, Pineapple, and
Pearls Little Pearl, all restaurants that I was a part
of the restaurant group, but when we started really working together,
(37:20):
he said that you should wait until you're in the
industry for ten years before you consider opening your own restaurant.
At that point, i'd been in it for about four
I was like, I cannot imagine waiting another six years
before I'm ready to open my own restaurant. And one
morning after we opened our third restaurant in DC, I
woke up and I realized that I was ready to
(37:41):
open my own restaurant, and I cocked it. I had
been in the industry for almost exactly ten years at
that moment, so I really always appreciated that piece of advice.
Other things that I've taken away from mentors is letting
me behind the curtain of how they think about not
just a single dish, but putting an entire menu together
(38:01):
to every single piece need to fit together. And I
think that's a hard thing when you're a cook to
kind of take your blinders off from your station and
see the restaurant as a whole. And I always appreciated
that chef's name is Travis Grimes. He was the head
chef ed Huskin, Charleston. He was like my first true
mentor that I that I just really wanted to emulate
(38:23):
and be like him.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Taking what we do in a restaurant and all you're
doing is setting up inside of a space like this.
We're not doing anything different that we were doing a
restaurant at Grigord. Recipes are the same. We may have
played it differently, but how we excuse the same way
to save tom And when we talk about the literacy
behind that, I wish someone.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Did teach me the consistency behind it.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
But I get on my team about being consistent the
same thing we do every single day because.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
People appreciate that. Yeah, and cooking with love, which you
can obviously tell in your food that silly it comes through.
I mean that's huge.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
You know, I grew up around my grandmother and my
grandparents who grow up on farms and you know, take
care of people. And I think that's the other biggest
peaks of it is being able to take care of
our own.
Speaker 6 (39:01):
Uh you know we missed that.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
We talk about family mill all the time in the
restaurant and this is nothing different than that.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
You know, these are you know, our cohort that I've
been shoveling. Now I heard some of this came in
this morning. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
And being able to break great for a second and
have a conversation, you know, talk about all things are important.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Being able to pair out with people and teams that
are there except to found that say thing, that's what
we do.
Speaker 5 (39:19):
We get excited about having a meal, like we came in,
we said, I prep, we want to grab something to eat,
talk about.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
The day, you know, you keep it going. That's what
its spot. Food is really the big unifier, and you know,
historically it's been the thing that held communities together and
the harvest really meant something, and butchering an animal wasn't
(39:48):
just something that that happened, that was planned. And I
really love that that you're getting back to the the
natural kind of rhythm of things that I think that
a lot of us have kind of forgotten about and
gotten away from. But I also love that you learned
how to butcher through just generations of being taught. Can
you tell us a little bit more about about what
that means to you and kind of your coolest latest
(40:12):
butchery story, I guess if you sure.
Speaker 4 (40:16):
I mean it means that every time that I stop
and do this practice of caring for like a gift,
which really is what butchery is. It's caring for this
gift of life that we're given, it takes me back
to these days that I spent with my grandmother or
my great grandmother, and not only.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
The practice of doing it, but the lessons that went
along with it. Like I am not the harvester.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
I'm not the hunter or the person that goes out
and gets the animals, but I really find a lot
of enjoyment in processing and being able to take that out.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
To my community and share.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
And so anytime that we do those practices, it's very
ceremonial for us and appreciating the gifts that you know,
we were given for our community. So I was able
to recently, I mean, like a couple days ago, got
back from San Antonio, where I was able to go
and support one of my advisis from the Legacy Network,
Lucille from the Texas Tribal Bison Project, and they were
(41:10):
on their third annual vice and harvest, but it was
getting large and she wanted some support and facilitating the
process of you know, butchering, distribution, packaging of the bison
to make sure it was done in a way that
the community could receive it well. And I was like, absolutely,
let me come down and help you. So I was
able to physically and emotionally be a support for my
(41:34):
advisy in a time that I was able to step
aside after all of the work was done. You know,
very physically exhausted advice and is not a small animal.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
To have to care for.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
But to step back and to see all of the
success of somebody that I have just been like cheering
for just genuinely want to see succeed, it was very
emotional for me as her advisor. You know, Lucille is
somebody that I look up to in the work that
she's doing. So for her to try me and my
advice and my support and to be able to share
(42:05):
those moments of like glory with me.
Speaker 6 (42:08):
Like that is what this is about.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
So when we were speaking earlier, you had said that
it started as a really small bison farm and it's grown.
Key to tell us all of that, I'm really interested in.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
That's so when I first met Lucille, we were part
of the pilot cohort for the Legacy Network, and she was,
you know, in a mobile trailer and she was acquiring
land and had a very small herd, and so I
just went down there, and they have recently purchased their
second spot of land.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Their herd is like twenty nine.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Head right now, and they are able to now supply restaurants,
community members.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
They have like a wik program.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
It's just amazing the things that she's been able to
do to provide something where she really enjoys the work
and loves it.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
To her community.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
I can imagine how proud you must be.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
That's like I I mean, yeah, even now I'm getting
goosebumps just thinking about it.
Speaker 6 (42:59):
Like, what an amazing.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
That's really really amazing. How does training others affect the
way that you cook? I think you and I were
speaking earlier about the reciprocal nature of this program.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
I mean, everybody has something to teach you and that
they want to share with you and for me, I mean,
this is a journey ultimately that I'm on. And every
person that comes in my path or shares with me,
that trusts my guidance or you know, is able to
receive the education that I give them in a good way,
like that changes me and transforms my journey a little bit.
(43:36):
Like you did talk to Jeff, and you talked to Jared,
I believe, and there are two of my mentees as well.
And I was able to take Jeff to France with
me and we were able to cook at the US
Embassy in Paris.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
That's amazing, yes.
Speaker 4 (43:48):
And then we toured France and talked about the work
that we do. Our relationship is a mentor and a mentee.
And after that I was able to watch Jeff like
go and get his.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Piece of this.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
I started all of these things, Like the inspiration is
is in that and being able to witness these beautiful
things happening in our community, the culinary community.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
What are you doing now that you're done with the
SAGE program? Have you started your own thing? Are you?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (44:16):
So?
Speaker 6 (44:16):
Now I do freelance, So I do catering and pop
up shops.
Speaker 8 (44:23):
So Now I use the knowledge that they taught me
and and I applied it with myself, and I'm able
to I'm.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Able to.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
Cook and get paid for. Before I was doing a
lot of cooking and I wasn't learning like the finance
behind it. I'm just buying this and buying that, and
I'm just making it or a lot of time I
will be undercutting, but learning about like the way how
to do budgets, and.
Speaker 6 (44:48):
I'm able to like maximize my profit.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
What did you take away from that experience that you
brought back home with you, I guess a different way
to frame this is what what are you doing now
that you're done with the stage program? And what did
you take away from Chef Crystal that you're incorporating into
what you're doing now. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (45:06):
So when I first went in that week, I was like,
all right, you know, kind of had this mindset of
like going to work on pizzas. You know, pizza is
my thing right now, trying to incorporate that into my
next endeavors for the year. But now it's like evolved
into remitriate the land, so giving the land back to
like our indigenous indigenous matriarchs to make sure our lands
are protected, you know, then we're also growing food for
(45:29):
our communities that is healthy and nutritious and culturally reflects
us as well, that is a culturally matched to.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Food for us. One of the things that I really
want to take away from what I saw with the
stage program and talking to the cooks is having a
little bit more of a curriculum ourselves when we're bringing
stages in. Most of the time, when we have a
stage at someone who's applying for a job, typically we've
had them just kind of jump right in with the
prep of the day and then cook something for family
(45:57):
meal country to that. I think that us having a
little bit more of a curriculum to that would be
really helpful to see if they actually fit into our kitchen,
but also giving something fulfilling to the stage so it's
not a one way transaction. What has been your greatest
(46:18):
takeaway of being a part of the mentor advisor program
for James.
Speaker 5 (46:22):
Beard, you know it's twofold, is being able to, you know,
work with other people in the industry, like now finally
meeting them face to face. You know, it's a virtual
program and we all sat behind the screen and talked
and you know, being able to virtually talk to the
team like Tibu put together like a a what'sapp so
we all keep in contact. That's watching people's successes, watching
(46:42):
people challenges and then also bring it back to like
my team, like we're having conversations about you know, a
lot of the classes that I've seen in like the
financial literature, you know, talking about what legacy means, like
he cares the legacy and his family what he does.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
I care at legacy and what my family does. Virtues
is known as a soul food restaurant. I've eaten there before.
It's spectacle. What did you take away from that restaurant
that you've brought into your career from like a culinary standpoint,
I guess a different way to ask it is what
type of food do you feel that you specialize in?
And what did you take away from Virtues that helped
you there?
Speaker 8 (47:13):
So with Virtue, one thing that I that I did
take was the mashed potatoes and short rops, Like the
way I was, like the prep time behind it and
just like learning how to do like mashed potatoes a
(47:33):
different way compared to like what I was used to,
and it was like it was more flavorful compared to
I first started doing it, and just learning how they
find a lot of ingredients that they get from is
like from actual like farming. So it was just interesting,
like the different sources that they got their food from.
And now I'm working on myself from venturing out and
(47:57):
finding different sources to get like my meat, my pro
and all of this brings quality to the meal. So
that's one thing I would say that I definitely I'm
taking from them. That's There's a lot of things I
learned from Virtue, even like how they prep their mac
and cheese. Learning about food preparation, like I always knew
(48:18):
about it, but they went in depth food preparation to
to make sure you execute serving the food in a
timely fashion and presentable.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Can can you tell me anything about how she operated,
Things that that you took away from the experience that
you thought were really special.
Speaker 6 (48:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
I really enjoyed working with the staff.
Speaker 7 (48:37):
Like for me, it was also meant another quick command
another Laguna person out there who was on her on
her chef staff. But now I was just working with
everybody and feeling that that community and understanding like uh,
you know, the stuff that has to get done, but
also having that that little camaraderie and being able to
to share a laugh or two with everyone.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
No, And that's another.
Speaker 7 (48:58):
Point I wanted to also make out two of rematriation
is that Chef Crystal, she has a good amount of
female chefs and staff that work for her and her
daughters and as well. So that's just like really cool
to see that that they're taking on those those roles
and asserting that and also showing that they how they
(49:19):
operate as a whole unit to the world, you know,
because they have people that come all over from all
over the world, all the you know country that come
and that's one of the first stops that it's like
off the train metro there and it's it's right there.
It's like Wapapas's kitchen. So I'm really proud of the
staff there that they really show a great amount of
dedication to their their craft and they understand the whole
(49:40):
cultural context. They're not only in the kitchen, but they're
also volunteering at the at the gardens at the at Cultural.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Conservancy to help propagate those heirloom seeds.
Speaker 7 (49:50):
So it's all a go full process and she really
wants people that align with those core values to be
on her staff because they know how much love and
that intention that goes into the the food.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Amazing. I'm really inspired by this conversation. Thank you for
taking the time to have it with me. Is there
anything else you want to plug before we're all done here?
Any Where can people find you?
Speaker 6 (50:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (50:11):
Yeah, it can find me on Instagram, Adobe, but it's
a D O B three, so's Adobe with a three.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Gotcha.
Speaker 7 (50:18):
You can also find me on TikTok Jeff Kai Jeff
Kayproductions dot com. It is also you find me is
I'm also a filmmaker process?
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Yeahs I have last Jeff, Jeff, enjoy your time in Chicago.
Maybe we can go get a pie together while we're here.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like plans.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Let's enjoy the event, all right? Cool Jeers. What is
the biggest takeaway that you've gotten from the program so far?
Speaker 4 (50:40):
I think the biggest takeaway is that my family's bigger now,
you know.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
It's these relationships are.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
So much farther than a zoom meeting or even a
day in the kitchen together.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
It's that you know, they are like my nephews. They
are I'm invested.
Speaker 6 (50:55):
I'm in it.
Speaker 3 (50:56):
Let's like, yeah, let's do this and can keep succeeding.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
And I'm part of that beautiful community through the James
Beard Foundation, and I really believe in the programs and
am hopefully a living testament of the success when you
invest in people who you know. The Legacy Network was
formed because we do struggle as bipoc culinarians, not only
in the kitchen spaces, but also as supply chain individuals.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
So being able to say like we see you, you're valuable.
Speaker 4 (51:25):
Those are things that somethings are really difficult for us
to get in this industry. So having that support, having
that space, I mean, it was a wonderful catalyst for
long term relationships to develop. And I hope that if
anybody can see this is it working, This is the
program working. Like we're about to have this beautiful meetup
(51:45):
of people who cannot wait to share what has been
happening in their lives, and I honestly am so excited
to hear it. It's a great blessing to be able
to witness it all.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
How would one both apply to be in the Stars
program as a mentor and also as a trainee or
I'm sorry if I'm saying that.
Speaker 2 (52:05):
Yeah, an advisor, yes, or mentor I think is this
most commonly referred to.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
So, our JBF programs are all featured on our website
at Jamespear dot org. We heavily promote our Legacy Network
program on our website and all of our channels on
social media LinkedIn Facebook, and so participants can or potential
participants can apply through our website and those are going
(52:34):
to be going out soon for the next year, this
upcoming cycle for the program, and so that's where folks
can learn more about it. We also have an industry
intake Forum, so anyone who's interested in the Legacy Network.
But some of our other programs, we have another program.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Called Chef boot Camp for advocacy.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
As well as women leadership programs. Those are some of
the other initiatives. They're all available on our west side
and we have a link to promote them with social media.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
This whole experience was just really inspiring for me, and
getting to talk to all the chefs and the mentees
and the mentors and the folks from James Beard and
craft tigns was just such an amazing experience. I took
a lot away from it, and it definitely has me
reevaluating a lot of the ways that I view mentorship
in my life. To catch up with any of the
(53:26):
amazing chefs that we interviewed, their links and acts will
be in the show notes, and please join us next
time on Restaurant Roundtable for more insights from the entire group.
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please like and subscribe. We've
got more awesome content coming your way. Also, please join
the Craft Times Away from Home newsletter. You can find
(53:49):
it in the show notes. See you next time on
the Restaurant Roundtable.
We're just going to talk about the awesome Stadge program
that you all set up with Craft Times.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Everyone, I'm dj Ewan and we have a special episode
today where I would love to recap for you the
amazing trip that I just had to Chicago where I
got to spend time with the James Beard Foundations Legacy
Network in the Craft Times test kitchen. It was really
an amazing experience. I got to interview some awesome people
who are both mentors and mentees in the program, as
(00:28):
well as folks from the James Beard Foundation and Craft Times.
So this is the restaurant roundtable. Pull up a chair
and let's have some fun. I'm here with Shamika Leecock
from the James Beard Foundation Legacy Network and we're just
going to talk about the awesome Stadge program that y'all
set up with Craft Times. So if you want to
(00:49):
introduce yourself to the folks at home and tell us
about what you do.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, thank you so much, Chef BJ. My name is Shumika.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I am the Associate director of Community at a James
Beard Foundation and I'm manage our program call the Legacy
Network at the Foundation. In addition to a new iteration
of the program or extension of the program called the
Legacy Stage Program.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
These programs are funded by Hines.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
They are one of many initiatives and programs at our
foundation where we get to support chefs and members of
the culinary community.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Particularly.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Legacy is a virtual program actually for chefs of color
and other culinary professionals who are looking for support. You know,
we identify that the organization there's a critical gap when
it comes to chefs of color and other culinary folks
of color in terms of their ability to progress or
succeed really in the field, in the industry, and so
(01:43):
we've developed this program called Legacy Network to sort of
support that.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
So you have a long history of connecting people with
cool experiences and programs.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It's my favorite thing to do. I always want to
work on behalf of others. And this has been a
great experience working with chefs, working with winemakers, journalists to
understand their passion, their motivation, their commitment, and sort of
being able to be part of the foundation and guide
them in that way.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's been really great. So the Legacy Program does that.
Our resources at.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
The Foundation are different initiatives that I'm involved with all
connected dots for that.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Before we get too far into it, let me tell
you what a stage is. It actually comes from a
French term stagier, which literally means apprentice, and they actually
have stagiers in hospitals and stuff like that, where you
apprentice under essentially a master who is also their craft.
As it translates to kitchens, a stage can be many
(02:43):
different things. At its base, it's going to work for someone,
typically for free, to either gain knowledge or to try
out for a position. So in my life, I've stadged
in many restaurants. A lot of them were what I
call for fun, where I'm not looking for a I
just literally want to see the way that a restaurant
that I idolize works, or a cuisine that I've never seen before.
(03:06):
And in my day, you showed up at a restaurant's
back door pretty much and with your knives and you said, hey,
I'm here, I'm hoping to do a stage for the day.
If you were lucky, the chef had an email and
you were able to reach out to him ahead of
time to plan it. But when I was in culinary
school in New York, I tried to go down to
the city every weekend and do a two day stage
(03:28):
at a different restaurant. So I've dodged a two meachel
in star places. I've stadged it hole in the wall taverns,
And that's one side of it. The other side is
typically when you apply for a job, you want to
go do a working stage or a trail. Sometimes they'll
call it. Where you go and you work in the
restaurant for sometimes three hours, sometimes a whole shift, just
before you're hired to see if it's a good fit.
(03:50):
It's really hard as a cook or a chef to
do an interview and know if you're going to be
a good fit in that kitchen. You want to see
the culture they want to see from you. Life work
is if you can follow directions, if you can follow recipes,
and it's a really typical thing. At our restaurant, a
Chat and Ze Market, specifically, we'll bring people in for
(04:10):
a one day stage before we hire them. We'll do
an interview first, and then if we like them and
they move on to the next stage, they'll come in
for a stage.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We see the stage program as an extension of the
Legacy network and it is unique, I think in your
experience in the experience of a lot of chefs who
have been brought up in the industry. This particular stage program,
it's funded by Hinds, which we really appreciate their support
and their commitment to sort of equity. But when it
(04:39):
comes to the stage program, what we essentially do is
provide an outlet for the alum the advisors of the
Legacy Network to be paired with a JBF recognized chef,
and the program has allowed us to cover the cost
for both the stage hosts, the chef who's hosting the
stage year and the stage here, including their traveling accommodations,
(05:01):
and I think it's really important that we were able
to do that.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
It's reducing the financial barriers, right.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So, some of our stagiers had the opportunity to stage
in a city that they don't reside in. We had
the opportunity to work with chef Eric Williams, who's from
Virtue Restaurant right here in Chicago. I've eaten there before
time I'm going to go this evening, so I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Actually it's been a little while since I've been there.
But the food is amazing and we were talking off
camera earlier, but soul food is like my absolute favorite thing,
and he is just crushing it there.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yes, and you know he's a JBF awarded chef, So
being able to stage in a restaurant like his own,
a fine dining restaurant, is I would call sort of.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
A once in a life opportunity.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And so working with Chef Eric Williams, who sort of
kicked off the stage program this past year, was great
for our stagier Jared Thomas, who I know you'll be
speaking with.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And then the second stodge with in New York City with.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Chef farryal Over at hobin maher restaurant owned by Chef
Marcus Samuelson and Chef Meijen a stage with him, and
our third stage just wrapped up back in January with
Chef Jeff and Chef Crystal who's the owner of Wappape's
restaurant Opland, California.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
So again just sort of.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The opportunity to be able to design a stage program
that's really unique. Most doages, I think historically, have been
working the line in the kitchen, right this particular stage
really allows the stadge here an entry to every facet
of the business, so not just working the line, but
(06:36):
also learning about front of house, being able to learn
about accountant marketing, what it takes to really operate a business,
thinking about sort of management strategy, the leadership, how do
you get to the place where you.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Have this successful business.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And so this is a week long opportunity for three
stages this past year.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
That's amazing. Now I can't even tell you how awesome
it would have been when I was dodging if people
had let me behind the curve and to see how
the front of the house works. You know, normally I
was peeling carrots in the basement for eight hours and
hoping that I got to see some of the food.
That's really amazing. Thank you for everything you're doing for
our industry, and thank you. You know, this is a
(07:14):
passion of mine as well, is to give opportunities to
people who maybe haven't seen things. And getting to go
to a different city, getting to have somebody mentor you
in that way, yeah, is just really incredible. So thank
you for the work that you're doing.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think one thing that we recognize as the gransprit
Foundation is that we're really listening to what chefs and
those in the industry needs, and those are evolving and
So the program is going to continue to grow, and
we're going to make shifts and changes as we need
to make sure that we're supporting the industry.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It's a never evolving industry, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
It is.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yeah. And when you're pairing up a candidate with a chef,
are they normally in the same city or are you
sometimes relocating people to do this?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, that's I think the really interesting part about the
pro The fact that it's virtual means that we can
really open up the program to anyone across the United States.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So while my goal and.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Our goal is always to try to peer folks who
are in close proximity to get to each other, it
actually works out where we could have an advisor in
Houston paired with.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Someone who's in California.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So the beauty of technology allows them to sort of
work together and oftentimes they sometimes have an opportunity to meet.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That's awesome. And the ultimate goal of this is to
find a job place for people at the inn of it,
or is it just to further their their career knowledge
so that they can take the next step.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, I think it's more about furthering their professional goals
in the industry. Our participants already extremely motivated.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Those who are advises, as.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I mentioned, are younger in terms of industry experience, but
truly motivated and want to stay in the industry. So
it's really about sort of helping them, guiding them through
the course of the program or their career goals. So
most of our participants are actd to identify some goals
that they want to either begin or accomplished by the
(09:09):
end of the program, and that can range anywhere from
finalizing a business plan to develop in a pop up series,
or learning how to best pitch to investors for.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
A CpG product.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Being a chef is a lot more than cooking. I
can say that I think that being a good leader
of people, understanding what people want out of a position
and making sure that they're afforded the opportunity to grow
in those ways, but also being a part of a
larger team. Every position, every job in a restaurant is
(09:40):
equally is important. Whether it's a porter, a dishwasher, a
food runner, the head chef, the lead bartender, it's all
equally important because every single piece needs to fit together.
So as the restaurant owner, it's our job to kind
of make sure that everybody's in a spot that they
can be successful, that their job is clearly defined to them,
and they're getting the things that they need to nourish
(10:02):
their growth in this industry. And the first step of
that of that growth is being able to see many
different situations in restaurants. So that's kind of where stodges
kind of come into play. I've done many stages in
my life for many different reasons, which we can talk
about momentarily, and we host stages at the restaurant all
(10:22):
the time for again a host of different reasons, but
a big point of it is to make sure that
everybody is being put in a position that they can
be successful when they're in the restaurant. I mean, mentorship
in the kitchen is kind of the most important thing.
I've had a lot of mentors in my life, and
some of them I didn't necessarily learn all the best
(10:42):
things from, but I do like to say that a
big part of learning in restaurants is what not to do.
So you know, those are the people who really shape
the way that you see the industry and the shape
the way that you see food. If you're lucky, you
have a mentor that allows you to ask questions to
bounce ideas off of. And I feel like if anyone
(11:04):
feels like I'm their mentor, one thing I know for
sure that they feel is that I want to talk
about food with them. I want them to understand the
way that I think about the way that things piece together,
and I want them to take that and push it forward,
push the idea forward. Tell us about the impact of
the stage program, both on the stages and also on
the mentors.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, so I.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Think that they differ depending on the stagian the stage hosts.
For our stagios, I conduct post interviews with all of
the stagiers just to get feedback on their experience, but
also to how best developed the.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Program going forward.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
And Meiji, who's one of the stagiers, talked a little
bit about the impact of her experience working with Chef
Ferryaal in the front of house managers and how them
are They are women Latin, and she really think took
notice and was inspired by how they operated amongst the staff,
(12:02):
how supportive they were.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Of each other, and for all of ourstadge years, their.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Ultimate goal is to have their own brick and mortar
restaurant at some point, and I think that's why the
stage experience is so valuable for them.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
But I think for her, she really took away how
to operate a.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Business in terms of your staff instructure, how to best.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Support the team. And that was just one example of
one of the benefits for her.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
When it comes to our stage host In all three
cases of our stage.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Hosts, Chef Ferial, Chef Eric.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Williams, and Chef Crystal, they've never actually implemented a stage program,
and Chef Crystal's feedback was.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
This was a great experience.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I now know or have an idea how I might
want to implement this a similar program at her restaurant.
So I think that the takeaways differ for everyone, but
I think it's this lasting impact. I think our Stadgiers
now have a better direction of where they want to
go when developing their own restaurants just from this week
long EXPERI it.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
So I think those are some of the benefits.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
I know they'll tell you more about what it's been
for them today.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I am really excited to introduce Elena Terry from Wildberry
in Wisconsin. Just wanted to give you the Florida introduce
to yourself what it is that you do and how'd
you get involved with the James Beard Foundation?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Awesome? Well, hello, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
I'm excited for today too, getting to see some familiar faces.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So I'm Elena Terry.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
I'm the executive chef and founder of a nonprofit organization
named Wild Berries.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We do community outreach.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
Education, advocacy, agriculture, everything around food in our tribal communities,
but not exclusives to tribal communities.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
That's awesome. So how did you get involved with the
James Beard Foundation and the mentorship program?
Speaker 4 (13:48):
So the James Beard Foundation reached out to me. Wild
Berries really is based on culinary mentorship program, and they
asked if I would be willing to be an advisor
in this new program that they had coming up called
the Legacy Network, which was for bipoc culinarians not exclusive
to chefs.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And I was like, absolutely, any way that.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I can help support my community in that being like
the food industry, I'm down, sign me up.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
How many how many people have come through your like,
how many mentees do you do you have at this point?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So from my cohort, I've been able to work directly
with four of the advisors and also some of the
advisers who have become very good friends of mine in
the industry. I think with our initial cohort, I'm pretty
close with almost everybody that we were went through the
program with.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, you've been giving a lot of hugs since it
just like feels good.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
To see family again.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah, what does your cooking and wild Dairies mean to
you as far as your community and bringing people into
the process.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
So Wild Berries began as a culinary mentorship program for
individuals in our community who were overcoming alcohol and other
drug abuse issues or emotional trauma through the healing power
of food is medicine, but we really took the philosophy
that it is undeniably nutritious, but like the medicine comes
(15:13):
from us being like the signior, the way we interact
with each other, the energetic exchange when you're around people
and space is sharing a meal or when you're out
in the garden cultivating what it really truly needs to
be grounded in a space and with our ancestral foods
and our ancestral lands. You know, the healing journey really
started with me and going back to this way of
(15:36):
life and saying like, if this is my journey to
be by my food and I want to be a chef.
Then I have to trust that putting them together will
be a space that I'm creating where I can heal
and maybe I can show others how.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
To do that.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Are there other ways that you've been involved in the
James Beard Foundation.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yes, I was able to cook for the Good food
for Good and bring in additional mentees that we have
that are working in other programs. And then this past
year I was able to do a dinner at the
Platform for or By James Beer Foundation where I was
able to bring in two of my legacy network mentees
to come and work with me. So the relationship is
(16:16):
ongoing and it just keeps expanding the resources and the
ones that I'm able to bring in and not only
teach them how to work in the kitchen and these
spaces for a day, but getting the time to have
these beautiful exchanges while we're in those spaces, Like it
just continues to build these hopefully long lasting relationships.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
With each other.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
It is funny getting to do like guest chef dinners
and stuff. When you're on a cutting board next to
someone for like six hours straight, you learn a lot
about it. You make this really weird flakes friendly connection.
By the time the dinner's over, it's like you've known
each other for two years. But I really do feel
like we're all kindred spirits at the end of the day.
And you know, no matter where you are in the
food world, all that we want to do is make
(16:59):
people happy, make people healthy, and create a better world
for for all of us. Like white opportunities, do you
wish that you had that you're able to give people
now coming through your kitchen?
Speaker 5 (17:10):
I say, when I was keping up, you know, being
able to understand how to operate a small business. I
was very fortunate because I worked for Obverminton Shimicks and
I had an amazing Chab who's a mentor that taught
me to financial literacy, that taught me how to cost
our recipes. You know, as I grew older, there was
the gap was is now you're on your own? But
you know, the Foundation has been a good piece of that.
You know, I have done numerous things that the Jameson Foundation.
(17:33):
Of the last couple years, I've done Taste twenty. I
did a boot camp which is amazing to talking about
finding literacy, literacy and also the acimate of a restaurant,
but then also doing that in our restaurants too, and
believe or not, you know, like our colts are team.
They come from different walks of life, so they have
different things that they teach it that they learned, and
but being able to now transform a lot of what
I do and like doing events like this, you.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Know, and I was selling there like we you know
here I've cooked together now in the last few years.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
It's like taking what we do in a restaurant and
all you're doing is setting up inside of a space
like this. We're not doing anything different than we're doing
a restaurant at where the recipes are the same. We
may have played it differently, but how we excuse the
same way to save tom And when we talk about
the literacy behind that, I wish someone did teach me
the consistency behind it. But I get on my team
about being consistent and the same thing we do every
single day because people appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Daryl being here in the kitchen with you today as
just wondering if you could introduced Daryl and you all
can talk about the experience that you've had working for
chef and how you got into the industry.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
Sure so.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Daryl West, We've been working together a little bit over
two years, starting a restaurant south side Chicago called Rons
the Wannery. Darryl started out as a just washer, then
work his way up to a prep cook and a
line cook when I open, etc.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
He was one of the first people that I call Darrow's.
Speaker 5 (18:47):
Very dependable, very knowledgeable, keeps his hand down or as
he tells me all the time, chef, I'm ready to work,
I get to work. He has been not only a
big part of my career and growing up, but when
I look at, you know, opening a restaurant, talk about
legacy and teaching and training.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Daryl's been a big part of that.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
We've done numerous offside events together, including this when we
did a big dinner last week. He has definitely not
only just a really good cook, but a really good brother,
a really good friend, and I'm definitely excited to see
him continues to grow and glad he's product.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Martin. Can you explain the history of the programs? How
long have you been doing them?
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah? Absolutely so Well.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
JBF I Should Start is a five oh one c
three non profit organization. I think we're most known for
the JBF Awards, but our organization has lots of programs
and initiatives, and so the Legacy Network was founded about
four years ago in twenty twenty one, to provide again
culinary professionals, especially chess with the opportunity to engage with
(19:51):
each other. I think we identify that chess of color
essentially could use mentors and training and resources, and the
way we've done that through this program is to peer
them up with advisors or mentors, and so our advisors
are typically those who are emerging in the industry, those
(20:14):
who typically have less than five years experience, but are
really motivated, really committed, really want to be in this industry.
And so through our virtual program, we meet monthly over
the course of seven months. And in addition to being
peered with an advisor, that person is usually a chef
or an owner who has been in the industry for a.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Really long time.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
They not only are peered together, but then we also
provide educational training.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
To really look at topics that affect the industry.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So our trainings and workshops are around marketing in addition
to financial literacy. These are all really imperative topics and
areas that we think that our participations can benefit from.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
That's awesome to hear. I totally agree with all those things.
Everyone thinks that being a chef is just cooking, and
at the end of the day, there's a heck of
a lot more that goes into it. How many folks
have come through the program at this point, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
We're really excited about this.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So this month we will have graduated a total of
one hundred participants.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Oh my god, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
We're really excited about that.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And so each year the program cohort has been about
thirty participants. And yeah, over the course of the program,
they gained so much knowledge and support from each other,
from the network but also those who service their advisors.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So do you want to tell us about what we're
doing here today in Chicago and the beautiful craft Times
Test kitchen.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, we're super excited.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
As I mentioned, the Legacy program is a virtual program,
so we don't always get the opportunity to really get together.
And I think you know more more than anybody than
quarns of coming together. And so while the program is
super beneficial in that way, I think this event that
we have today, called the JBF Legacy Network meet Up
(22:05):
here in Chicago at Heinz's Food Lab is just a
great way.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
To kind of culminate the program.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
We're wrapping up this month, and so we have a
number of advisors and advisors for not only this year's cohort,
but previous cohorts who are flying in from all across
the country.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
For the restaurants, for the chefs who want to host
stages as their a sign up or are you actually
going on just finding people who are already in the James.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Beard Now yeh no, that's a really great question.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
When we thought about who we wanted to serve as
a stage host, we looked at folks who were within.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
The JBF community already.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Many of them or all of them are either JBF
award winning or nominated chefs, and we were really strategic
about selecting them from across the country. We also wanted
to make sure that diverse cuisines were represented techniques.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Chef Crystal has an indigenous.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Restaurant and Chef Jeff is also an indigenous background, and
so she really focused in her local community on looking
at and working with local farms to produce.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
The ingredients for her restaurant.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
And that's something that's really important to Jeff who served
as this stagier.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
He's really interested in food.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Sovereignty in his community and so that was a really
great pairing. So we are we are sort of looking
at who the chefs are that we believe would be
the best fit and can design a stage program that's
unique to their restaurant.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, traditionally, stages and even your your working life in
a restaurant isn't necessarily scripted or has a criteria or
an agenda for you and how you're going to grow
in a position or what it is that you're going
to be taught. What I love about what the James
Beard Foundation is doing with this Legacy network is they're
(23:55):
setting guidelines and they're they're setting goals of what these
stage is and what these mentor mentee relationships are supposed
to be, so that people are verbalizing what it is
and they want to get out of this and then
achieving those goals with help from the chef. And I
think that it's really smart and honestly something that's been
lacking in our industry for a really long time. And
(24:16):
that's again the part that really makes me think about
how we want to treat people coming through our doors
when they come in, and something that makes me wish
that when I was a stage there's been a little
bit more of a curriculum that I was following when
I was coming in to restaurants with no real knowledge
of what it was that I was about to be doing.
(24:37):
So I think this is a really positive step forward
for our industry. We are here with Chef Jeff Kai,
who is fresh office stage with Chef Crystal Papa from
What Papa's Kitchen. Why don't you introduce yourself to the
people and tell them how you got into the industry
and how you got into the stage program. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
Thanks Gatsia Telfas with ya Yakohama style Quakama.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
My name is Jeff Kai. I come from the Puba
of Laguna.
Speaker 7 (25:01):
I'm Bigcorn clan, little Troquiz clan, and yeah I'm from
a little village in New Mexico called Siama. And but yeah,
I'm really excited to be sharing my story with you
here today. I first got my start, you know, in
the kitchen in flag Staff, Arizona, where I was in school,
and so that's where I kind of spent like four
years just really getting into the deep and dirty of
(25:24):
like a big kitchen space. And so that was kind
of one of my first really big experiences that I
really like carry with me to this day. And ever
since then, I've kind of been doing like more pop
ups and kind of doing more like things that I'm
really passionate about. And so but since then, I've kind
of been blending a lot of different things together because
(25:44):
I'm also a filmmaker as well. So I also have
my master's in communication about documentary studies emphasis, So I'm
also a filmmaker, and I also kind of blend these
two of like indigenous food sovereignty, documentary and food, you know,
coloring culinary industry to can't really blend these things together
that kind of like express myself in the way that
I feel like is really authentic to me.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
I mean, it's wild. I've done a lot of stages,
none of them have been involved in seed saving and
that bar. I'm so inspired by the experience that you
had there and by what she's doing at that restaurant.
I spoke to Jared Thomas, who just a few weeks
ago completed his Stage of Virtue in Chicago.
Speaker 8 (26:24):
I'm from the Bronx, have Caribbean background, and I was
working with chef Eric.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
Williams at the stage at the Birge restaurant.
Speaker 8 (26:34):
I had a week long intense training teaching me about
the kitchen, the back of the house, in front of
the house, learning about customer service, learning about busting tables,
and I had a phenomenon time.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
What was your favorite part about the stage?
Speaker 8 (26:51):
My favorite part was actually being able to cook in
a different city and being challenged by a chef that
has won awards and have different restaurant and actually took
the steps to becoming a big chef. One of my
favorite things also was being challenged in my career. And
(27:12):
I thought I knew a whole bunch of things in
the culinary arts world. But culinary is bigger than just
actually be able to.
Speaker 6 (27:18):
Cook in the kitchen. You have to know different parts
of the kitchen, know how to It's.
Speaker 8 (27:22):
A whole bunch more than just cooking. It was just
it was a lot of information, very informative, and that back.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
In my day when I would do stages at restaurants,
we would pretty much get to know peel some carrots,
be in the basement. Maybe we'd get to see some
of the food no one ever took the time to
like treat it as a mentor opportunity where we learned
about food costing and and p and ls and all
the things that go into what it is that it
takes to own and run a business. So I'm really
interested in just how this program has evolved, what staging
(27:51):
really is. And I really love picking your brain about
how it worked for you because I'd honestly like to
incorporate some of these things into my restaurant when we
bring stages in. So can you tell us a little
bit about how you got into the Styge program, How
did you hear about it, how how'd you go about
getting hooked up with Chef Eric?
Speaker 8 (28:08):
First and foremost, I'm a part of the James Beard Foundation,
the Legacy Network, I'm alumni, and I seen the email
from Shimika. She sent out a whole bunch of us
that we that we have an opportunity that there's a
stage in three different areas. One was with was in
Chicago with Chef Eric, the other one was in Washington,
(28:29):
d C. With another chef, and the other one was
in New York. And honestly, I looked at the different
restaurants and I just went through their menu and you know,
just did just to see like what this restaurant is about.
Speaker 6 (28:42):
And Chef Eric stuck out to me the most, and
I just gave it a shot.
Speaker 8 (28:48):
I read his menu and the information the questionnaires they gave, like,
I showed him.
Speaker 6 (28:53):
That I was really interested in your restaurant. I really
wanted to know more. And yes, within like moths later,
I ended up getting selected and I'm reading the email,
I'm like, wait, what.
Speaker 8 (29:05):
Like you know what i mean, Like I did my
research about a restaurant that actually selected me to participate
in the stage.
Speaker 6 (29:12):
I said, no way, you know, so I was very happy.
Speaker 8 (29:15):
And then I just came up with different questions and
different things that I would like to learn while I
was there. So I would say this it helped me
in like several ways, like even shaping how I think
and not being so hard on myself and actually being.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
Able to go for goals, being able to actually.
Speaker 8 (29:35):
Try different cuisines and learning underleaf different chefs to you know,
just to get myself well around it.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
So with Chef Crystal, what specifically did you go to
her kitchen to learn and what did you take away
from that experience?
Speaker 7 (30:01):
Yeah, I'm really thankful to Shamika and the drink Beard
Legacy Network to to send me the application to apply
for Chef Crystal at you know, at Wapapa's Kitchen, because
I felt like, truly that being she's one of the
premier indigenous food restaurants in the world in my opinion,
she really encompasses everything that is really tight to her
(30:25):
core values of like community and tradition, and so I
really got to experience that and really felt that for
the time that we spent together in Oakland, and so
I knew I was going to spend a lot of time.
I wasn't sure what I was gonna be doing in
the kitchen, but I was just like trying to mentally
and physically prepare myself, you know. I was like, I
live in the desert, in the high altitude, you know, desert,
(30:45):
so I was kind of like hiking every day and
trying to like.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Really you know, get myself. I was.
Speaker 7 (30:50):
I wasn't sure I was going to put myself into
but I just really wanted to be prepared to receive
all that knowledge, to receive all the you know, all
all the vibes, all the meta that's going to be
coming my way because you know, we that's going to
be going on to my whole life journey of all
that stuff. But mainly Cheff Crystal, she was just she
really wanted to show the community side of it because
(31:12):
it's really intergenerational.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Her community connects.
Speaker 7 (31:17):
Deep with the Inner Tribal Friendship House, So that was
a really big major part in Indigenous history in America
because that's one of the focal points where people could
go to after being part of like the relocation process.
So it's kind of like where Indigenous people could could
gather in community and share songs. And her father was
(31:38):
kind of like in the leadership of that in the organization.
And so since then, we did community feeds, we brought
food to the community for free, you know, Like we
also celebrated the seventieth anniversary of the Inter Trouble Friendship
House with Chef Crystal and we made blue.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Corn cakes with like a very compo on there.
Speaker 7 (31:58):
So it's just like everything community community oriented that we
knew that that morning we were preparing the cakes and
having that moment with Chef Crystal, which is like, so
I kind of just to be in that moment of
like this is what this is what that that good medicine,
that that good vibes, that good energy that she that
loves that she puts into that that food, and it's
given out to the community, and it's just it's received.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
I love that you call food medicine. I couldn't agree
with you more. It's what we nourish our bodies with.
And I also love when the story behind the food
has a deeper meaning. And it seems like all these
crossroads meet up perfectly with with this uh, with this
place and the chef and I did a little bit
of looking at her food before before today, and it
(32:43):
just looks spectacular and and it tells the entire story.
And and when you can we can taste that love
and that medicine during during that meal experience. I don't
think anything's more exciting than that. Was the stage experience.
Like for you, I'm a I'm a prep guy.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
First started you know, like in my colninary where I
was a prep guy.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
So I just like knew what to do. It was
ready to get to work.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
So that's kind of what we started off with, the
work of the gradual transition of like going from the
prep you know, learning the basics of a few recipes,
but also learning how everything gets stored and put away
and gets prepared for the line and so and then
kind of making that transition into the line, and then
also learning the front of the house, but also management
(33:24):
as well, right, But we also spent a few days
in the community as well, and also just exploring some
of the places that were really important to set the
context for all the work that they do.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
So, for example, we.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
We went to the Cultural Conservancy, which is like the
farm that supports Chef Crystal, and they grow like heirloom
squash there amongst other heirloom produce and things like that way,
and we collected the squash, brought it back to the kitchen,
and we harvested the seeds and so those are heirloom
seeds that are, you know, generations old and also going
to be feeding generations ahead, you know. And so that's
(33:59):
why it's so important to like really be conscious of
like all the great things that come with all the
things that we're growing and the produce to recognize that,
like the intergenerational aspect of it. So that was really
cool to be actively seed saving and those seeds are
going back to the farm.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
And then also.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Another great aspect that I thought I had the opportunity
to try was the acorn acorn flour. And so when
you oakland acorns, so but then also the acorns are
it's a traditional food substance. Yeah yeah, right, I finally
made that for me that connection there too, and and
(34:39):
so she also works with one of the cultural centers there,
and so they made like an acorn bite that encompass
like the youth and like you know, the elders and
kind of rehydrating these connections and talking about food because
they were trying to do also do food exhibits for
that cultural center and so you know, just recognize them
that it's also like Pomo land and all these other
(35:01):
places that are important before the indigenous peoples in the area,
but like recognizing that oaks and you know, the oak
trees and the acorns are important part of that history.
And so to taste their chef Crystal had also had
a crepe on the menu that I got to try,
and then we also got to try some of the
the packaged items that they made using the acorn flower.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
So just that's just an example of how how long
our food systems go. So what's next for you now?
That you're done with the program.
Speaker 6 (35:36):
So now that I'm done with the program, I am.
Speaker 8 (35:43):
I am advancing my catering business as far as now
I'm taking like leap of faith and actually going to
different corporations and actually presenting myself.
Speaker 6 (35:56):
I'm actually now starting to I never did this before,
but actually.
Speaker 8 (36:00):
Write a business plan, like I didn't know how important
it is, how important.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
It was to just just write down a plan.
Speaker 6 (36:09):
And the plan doesn't have to.
Speaker 8 (36:10):
Go exactly how you read it, how it's written, but
it's a sense of direction. And now I have a
I'm not saying this to say this because you don't care.
Speaker 6 (36:21):
I'm being serious. I have a clearer sense of direction of.
Speaker 8 (36:24):
What I'm doing is correct, building my brand, wearing my clothes,
selling my clothes, going to pop up shops in different cities,
and just expressing myself and.
Speaker 6 (36:34):
Just showing people like who I am and like, you
know what I could do.
Speaker 8 (36:37):
So right now, in the nutshell, just just just give
me a little bit more time, Give me a little
bit more time. But in a few years, I hope, No,
not that I hope I will have a kitchen. It's
not that I hope I will have a kitchen. Don't
have all the details I'm gonna get there, but I
will have until you do.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, I've been lucky enough to have a lot of
mentors through my career. Specifically, one of the best pieces
of advice that I ever received was from Aaron Silverman,
who's the chef and owner of Roses, Luxury, Pineapple, and
Pearls Little Pearl, all restaurants that I was a part
of the restaurant group, but when we started really working together,
(37:20):
he said that you should wait until you're in the
industry for ten years before you consider opening your own restaurant.
At that point, i'd been in it for about four
I was like, I cannot imagine waiting another six years
before I'm ready to open my own restaurant. And one
morning after we opened our third restaurant in DC, I
woke up and I realized that I was ready to
(37:41):
open my own restaurant, and I cocked it. I had
been in the industry for almost exactly ten years at
that moment, so I really always appreciated that piece of advice.
Other things that I've taken away from mentors is letting
me behind the curtain of how they think about not
just a single dish, but putting an entire menu together
(38:01):
to every single piece need to fit together. And I
think that's a hard thing when you're a cook to
kind of take your blinders off from your station and
see the restaurant as a whole. And I always appreciated
that chef's name is Travis Grimes. He was the head
chef ed Huskin, Charleston. He was like my first true
mentor that I that I just really wanted to emulate
(38:23):
and be like him.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
Taking what we do in a restaurant and all you're
doing is setting up inside of a space like this.
We're not doing anything different that we were doing a
restaurant at Grigord. Recipes are the same. We may have
played it differently, but how we excuse the same way
to save tom And when we talk about the literacy
behind that, I wish someone.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Did teach me the consistency behind it.
Speaker 5 (38:41):
But I get on my team about being consistent the
same thing we do every single day because.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
People appreciate that. Yeah, and cooking with love, which you
can obviously tell in your food that silly it comes through.
I mean that's huge.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
You know, I grew up around my grandmother and my
grandparents who grow up on farms and you know, take
care of people. And I think that's the other biggest
peaks of it is being able to take care of
our own.
Speaker 6 (39:01):
Uh you know we missed that.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
We talk about family mill all the time in the
restaurant and this is nothing different than that.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
You know, these are you know, our cohort that I've
been shoveling. Now I heard some of this came in
this morning. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
And being able to break great for a second and
have a conversation, you know, talk about all things are important.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Being able to pair out with people and teams that
are there except to found that say thing, that's what
we do.
Speaker 5 (39:19):
We get excited about having a meal, like we came in,
we said, I prep, we want to grab something to eat,
talk about.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
The day, you know, you keep it going. That's what
its spot. Food is really the big unifier, and you know,
historically it's been the thing that held communities together and
the harvest really meant something, and butchering an animal wasn't
(39:48):
just something that that happened, that was planned. And I
really love that that you're getting back to the the
natural kind of rhythm of things that I think that
a lot of us have kind of forgotten about and
gotten away from. But I also love that you learned
how to butcher through just generations of being taught. Can
you tell us a little bit more about about what
that means to you and kind of your coolest latest
(40:12):
butchery story, I guess if you sure.
Speaker 4 (40:16):
I mean it means that every time that I stop
and do this practice of caring for like a gift,
which really is what butchery is. It's caring for this
gift of life that we're given, it takes me back
to these days that I spent with my grandmother or
my great grandmother, and not only.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
The practice of doing it, but the lessons that went
along with it. Like I am not the harvester.
Speaker 4 (40:37):
I'm not the hunter or the person that goes out
and gets the animals, but I really find a lot
of enjoyment in processing and being able to take that out.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
To my community and share.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
And so anytime that we do those practices, it's very
ceremonial for us and appreciating the gifts that you know,
we were given for our community. So I was able
to recently, I mean, like a couple days ago, got
back from San Antonio, where I was able to go
and support one of my advisis from the Legacy Network,
Lucille from the Texas Tribal Bison Project, and they were
(41:10):
on their third annual vice and harvest, but it was
getting large and she wanted some support and facilitating the
process of you know, butchering, distribution, packaging of the bison
to make sure it was done in a way that
the community could receive it well. And I was like, absolutely,
let me come down and help you. So I was
able to physically and emotionally be a support for my
(41:34):
advisy in a time that I was able to step
aside after all of the work was done. You know,
very physically exhausted advice and is not a small animal.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
To have to care for.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
But to step back and to see all of the
success of somebody that I have just been like cheering
for just genuinely want to see succeed, it was very
emotional for me as her advisor. You know, Lucille is
somebody that I look up to in the work that
she's doing. So for her to try me and my
advice and my support and to be able to share
(42:05):
those moments of like glory with me.
Speaker 6 (42:08):
Like that is what this is about.
Speaker 1 (42:10):
So when we were speaking earlier, you had said that
it started as a really small bison farm and it's grown.
Key to tell us all of that, I'm really interested in.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
That's so when I first met Lucille, we were part
of the pilot cohort for the Legacy Network, and she was,
you know, in a mobile trailer and she was acquiring
land and had a very small herd, and so I
just went down there, and they have recently purchased their
second spot of land.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Their herd is like twenty nine.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Head right now, and they are able to now supply restaurants,
community members.
Speaker 3 (42:43):
They have like a wik program.
Speaker 4 (42:45):
It's just amazing the things that she's been able to
do to provide something where she really enjoys the work
and loves it.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
To her community.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
I can imagine how proud you must be.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
That's like I I mean, yeah, even now I'm getting
goosebumps just thinking about it.
Speaker 6 (42:59):
Like, what an amazing.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
That's really really amazing. How does training others affect the
way that you cook? I think you and I were
speaking earlier about the reciprocal nature of this program.
Speaker 4 (43:14):
I mean, everybody has something to teach you and that
they want to share with you and for me, I mean,
this is a journey ultimately that I'm on. And every
person that comes in my path or shares with me,
that trusts my guidance or you know, is able to
receive the education that I give them in a good way,
like that changes me and transforms my journey a little bit.
(43:36):
Like you did talk to Jeff, and you talked to Jared,
I believe, and there are two of my mentees as well.
And I was able to take Jeff to France with
me and we were able to cook at the US
Embassy in Paris.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
That's amazing, yes.
Speaker 4 (43:48):
And then we toured France and talked about the work
that we do. Our relationship is a mentor and a mentee.
And after that I was able to watch Jeff like
go and get his.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
Piece of this.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
I started all of these things, Like the inspiration is
is in that and being able to witness these beautiful
things happening in our community, the culinary community.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
What are you doing now that you're done with the
SAGE program? Have you started your own thing? Are you?
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (44:16):
So?
Speaker 6 (44:16):
Now I do freelance, So I do catering and pop
up shops.
Speaker 8 (44:23):
So Now I use the knowledge that they taught me
and and I applied it with myself, and I'm able
to I'm.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
Able to.
Speaker 8 (44:32):
Cook and get paid for. Before I was doing a
lot of cooking and I wasn't learning like the finance
behind it. I'm just buying this and buying that, and
I'm just making it or a lot of time I
will be undercutting, but learning about like the way how
to do budgets, and.
Speaker 6 (44:48):
I'm able to like maximize my profit.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
What did you take away from that experience that you
brought back home with you, I guess a different way
to frame this is what what are you doing now
that you're done with the stage program? And what did
you take away from Chef Crystal that you're incorporating into
what you're doing now. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (45:06):
So when I first went in that week, I was like,
all right, you know, kind of had this mindset of
like going to work on pizzas. You know, pizza is
my thing right now, trying to incorporate that into my
next endeavors for the year. But now it's like evolved
into remitriate the land, so giving the land back to
like our indigenous indigenous matriarchs to make sure our lands
are protected, you know, then we're also growing food for
(45:29):
our communities that is healthy and nutritious and culturally reflects
us as well, that is a culturally matched to.
Speaker 1 (45:36):
Food for us. One of the things that I really
want to take away from what I saw with the
stage program and talking to the cooks is having a
little bit more of a curriculum ourselves when we're bringing
stages in. Most of the time, when we have a
stage at someone who's applying for a job, typically we've
had them just kind of jump right in with the
prep of the day and then cook something for family
(45:57):
meal country to that. I think that us having a
little bit more of a curriculum to that would be
really helpful to see if they actually fit into our kitchen,
but also giving something fulfilling to the stage so it's
not a one way transaction. What has been your greatest
(46:18):
takeaway of being a part of the mentor advisor program
for James.
Speaker 5 (46:22):
Beard, you know it's twofold, is being able to, you know,
work with other people in the industry, like now finally
meeting them face to face. You know, it's a virtual
program and we all sat behind the screen and talked
and you know, being able to virtually talk to the
team like Tibu put together like a a what'sapp so
we all keep in contact. That's watching people's successes, watching
(46:42):
people challenges and then also bring it back to like
my team, like we're having conversations about you know, a
lot of the classes that I've seen in like the
financial literature, you know, talking about what legacy means, like
he cares the legacy and his family what he does.
Speaker 1 (46:54):
I care at legacy and what my family does. Virtues
is known as a soul food restaurant. I've eaten there before.
It's spectacle. What did you take away from that restaurant
that you've brought into your career from like a culinary standpoint,
I guess a different way to ask it is what
type of food do you feel that you specialize in?
And what did you take away from Virtues that helped
you there?
Speaker 8 (47:13):
So with Virtue, one thing that I that I did
take was the mashed potatoes and short rops, Like the
way I was, like the prep time behind it and
just like learning how to do like mashed potatoes a
(47:33):
different way compared to like what I was used to,
and it was like it was more flavorful compared to
I first started doing it, and just learning how they
find a lot of ingredients that they get from is
like from actual like farming. So it was just interesting,
like the different sources that they got their food from.
And now I'm working on myself from venturing out and
(47:57):
finding different sources to get like my meat, my pro
and all of this brings quality to the meal. So
that's one thing I would say that I definitely I'm
taking from them. That's There's a lot of things I
learned from Virtue, even like how they prep their mac
and cheese. Learning about food preparation, like I always knew
(48:18):
about it, but they went in depth food preparation to
to make sure you execute serving the food in a
timely fashion and presentable.
Speaker 1 (48:28):
Can can you tell me anything about how she operated,
Things that that you took away from the experience that
you thought were really special.
Speaker 6 (48:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
I really enjoyed working with the staff.
Speaker 7 (48:37):
Like for me, it was also meant another quick command
another Laguna person out there who was on her on
her chef staff. But now I was just working with
everybody and feeling that that community and understanding like uh,
you know, the stuff that has to get done, but
also having that that little camaraderie and being able to
to share a laugh or two with everyone.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:56):
No, And that's another.
Speaker 7 (48:58):
Point I wanted to also make out two of rematriation
is that Chef Crystal, she has a good amount of
female chefs and staff that work for her and her
daughters and as well. So that's just like really cool
to see that that they're taking on those those roles
and asserting that and also showing that they how they
(49:19):
operate as a whole unit to the world, you know,
because they have people that come all over from all
over the world, all the you know country that come
and that's one of the first stops that it's like
off the train metro there and it's it's right there.
It's like Wapapas's kitchen. So I'm really proud of the
staff there that they really show a great amount of
dedication to their their craft and they understand the whole
(49:40):
cultural context. They're not only in the kitchen, but they're
also volunteering at the at the gardens at the at Cultural.
Speaker 1 (49:46):
Conservancy to help propagate those heirloom seeds.
Speaker 7 (49:50):
So it's all a go full process and she really
wants people that align with those core values to be
on her staff because they know how much love and
that intention that goes into the the food.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Amazing. I'm really inspired by this conversation. Thank you for
taking the time to have it with me. Is there
anything else you want to plug before we're all done here?
Any Where can people find you?
Speaker 6 (50:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (50:11):
Yeah, it can find me on Instagram, Adobe, but it's
a D O B three, so's Adobe with a three.
Speaker 1 (50:18):
Gotcha.
Speaker 7 (50:18):
You can also find me on TikTok Jeff Kai Jeff
Kayproductions dot com. It is also you find me is
I'm also a filmmaker process?
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Yeahs I have last Jeff, Jeff, enjoy your time in Chicago.
Maybe we can go get a pie together while we're here.
Speaker 3 (50:30):
Yeah, it sounds like it sounds like plans.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Let's enjoy the event, all right? Cool Jeers. What is
the biggest takeaway that you've gotten from the program so far?
Speaker 4 (50:40):
I think the biggest takeaway is that my family's bigger now,
you know.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
It's these relationships are.
Speaker 4 (50:46):
So much farther than a zoom meeting or even a
day in the kitchen together.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
It's that you know, they are like my nephews. They
are I'm invested.
Speaker 6 (50:55):
I'm in it.
Speaker 3 (50:56):
Let's like, yeah, let's do this and can keep succeeding.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
And I'm part of that beautiful community through the James
Beard Foundation, and I really believe in the programs and
am hopefully a living testament of the success when you
invest in people who you know. The Legacy Network was
formed because we do struggle as bipoc culinarians, not only
in the kitchen spaces, but also as supply chain individuals.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
So being able to say like we see you, you're valuable.
Speaker 4 (51:25):
Those are things that somethings are really difficult for us
to get in this industry. So having that support, having
that space, I mean, it was a wonderful catalyst for
long term relationships to develop. And I hope that if
anybody can see this is it working, This is the
program working. Like we're about to have this beautiful meetup
(51:45):
of people who cannot wait to share what has been
happening in their lives, and I honestly am so excited
to hear it. It's a great blessing to be able
to witness it all.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
How would one both apply to be in the Stars
program as a mentor and also as a trainee or
I'm sorry if I'm saying that.
Speaker 2 (52:05):
Yeah, an advisor, yes, or mentor I think is this
most commonly referred to.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
So, our JBF programs are all featured on our website
at Jamespear dot org. We heavily promote our Legacy Network
program on our website and all of our channels on
social media LinkedIn Facebook, and so participants can or potential
participants can apply through our website and those are going
(52:34):
to be going out soon for the next year, this
upcoming cycle for the program, and so that's where folks
can learn more about it. We also have an industry
intake Forum, so anyone who's interested in the Legacy Network.
But some of our other programs, we have another program.
Speaker 3 (52:51):
Called Chef boot Camp for advocacy.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
As well as women leadership programs. Those are some of
the other initiatives. They're all available on our west side
and we have a link to promote them with social media.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
This whole experience was just really inspiring for me, and
getting to talk to all the chefs and the mentees
and the mentors and the folks from James Beard and
craft tigns was just such an amazing experience. I took
a lot away from it, and it definitely has me
reevaluating a lot of the ways that I view mentorship
in my life. To catch up with any of the
(53:26):
amazing chefs that we interviewed, their links and acts will
be in the show notes, and please join us next
time on Restaurant Roundtable for more insights from the entire group.
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please like and subscribe. We've
got more awesome content coming your way. Also, please join
the Craft Times Away from Home newsletter. You can find
(53:49):
it in the show notes. See you next time on
the Restaurant Roundtable.
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