July 12, 2024 • 35 mins
In this episode, Chef Robbie shares the essence of his culinary journey, emphasizing the importance of simplicity, quality, and passion in cooking. From humble beginnings to mastering the art of cooking, Chef Robbie highlights the value of hands-on experience, teamwork, and consistency in the kitchen.
He discusses the often-overlooked challenges chefs face, from meeting high diner expectations to managing the complexities and costs of luxury dining. Despite these hurdles, Chef Robbie's unwavering passion for food drives him to innovate and adapt.
The episode delves into the critical lesson that true success in the culinary world comes not from seeking financial gain but from a genuine love for the craft. Chef Robbie's story is a testament to the dedication, creativity, and resilience required to thrive in this demanding industry.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, Nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hi, and welcome back toConfessions Beyond the Food.
My name is Nancy and I'm withW3 Sales Today we are talking to
Robbie.
(00:20):
Hi, Robbie.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi, how are you?
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We're so happy to have you.
Robbie is joining us fromHouston and he is a luxury chef
and he owns his own business, sohe's got lots of fun things to
talk to us about.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I do the beauty of being a chef and you know the
persona of famous chefs beingvery, very cool and
entrepreneurs being very, verycool.
So I kind of have it both waysbut kind of want to talk about
the reality of both and you knowthe benefits of it and also how
hard and the work that goesinto it as well.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So, before you became a chef, did you envision it
being like?
What did you envision versuswhat it actually is?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So I've been in a professional kitchen since I've
been 15.
And I've known kind of exactlywhat I wanted to do since I've
been 15, which is very unique inthat situation, and so I always
knew I wanted to be in the foodindustry.
But I come from a family ofentrepreneurs, so I like to set
(01:30):
my own destiny.
As far as you know, the harderyou work, you know the more
potential you have to, you know,make more money, have
flexibility and that type ofthing.
So I kind of geared my wholelife towards, you know, this
entrepreneurship journey in thefood industry.
I didn't know exactly what thatwas going to look like.
(01:51):
I've always been in fine dining, so that has kind of morphed
over over the years from whitetablecloth to something a little
bit more modern and semi casual, and I guess the journey has
just gone from there.
But it was.
I was really fortunate to havethat vision from the very start
so I could kind of form my lifeto where we are now.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So that's awesome.
It's so cool when you findsomething at such a young age
that you just I mean you love.
I mean, I loved waiting tables,I loved.
You know I loved it.
I didn't know what that, likeyou said, I didn't know it was
going to lead me to where I amtoday, but I just kind of
(02:35):
followed my passion.
So what was it about the foodindustry that you just loved?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I'm someone that has to like, understand
everything.
You know, like my favoritequestion is why, and you know
food's just something that cameto me and that really comes
natural.
So you know the science, theyou know ability to kind of mix
flavors and do understand youknow why food is cooked the way
(03:03):
it is, and you know even cooking.
Today, I always ask you knowwhy food is cooked the way it is
, and you know even cooking.
Today, I always ask you know,why are we doing this?
Is this something that is justfluff or is this actually
serving a purpose?
You know, in the dish, and thatcould be from garnish to
flavors, to technique, and so myfood is very kind of simple but
(03:24):
has multiple.
You know my dishes could have20, 25 different components to
them, but they're all cookedvery, you know, simply.
Some are just using salt andthen you know cook properly and
when you're using really niceingredients, that's really all
you need.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
That's awesome.
I'm looking forward to tastingyour food one day, Robbie.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yes, absolutely, we'll have to have you down for
a dinner.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah.
So I mean it's making me hungryright now just thinking about
it.
So if you haven't seen ChefRobbie's LinkedIn and social, I
mean he does some really, reallycool stuff.
So I guess when you started,you mentioned a second ago that
it is a hard journey to take.
(04:10):
It's not always the road that'sthe easy one, the easy way to
take.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So tell me a little bit about that.
Yeah, so the interesting thingabout being a chef is not
something you can learn in abook.
You really have to learn bydoing, by.
You know, working with otherchefs and having the experience.
And it's hard, it's, you know,10 hour days just move my way up
from there.
But you know, there's a lot ofthings that you can learn online
(04:48):
, virtually, get the virtualdegree, and that's not really
something you can do with.
You know, being a chef,especially in fine dining,
because you have to learn thetechniques, you have to learn
the timing.
You know, if you really thinkabout what it takes in you know,
a restaurant or a fine diningrestaurant, you've got to
replicate.
You know, sometimes hundreds ofplates of the same dish, in the
(05:12):
same way presentation wise, inthe same way flavor wise, and it
has to be absolutely 100%consistent and mirror the other
dishes.
Then you have to, you know, getit out to the table, you know.
So I mean, having that, whenyou really think about it
logistically, is a very, verydifficult, you know task, just
(05:35):
from that.
And then you got to do itwithin three hours, you know,
and that's one dish.
And then you got to replicate.
You know 10 to 15 dishes ormore, so you have to learn the
recipes in your head.
You have to know the techniquesyou got to replicate.
You know 10 to 15 dishes ormore, so you have to learn the
recipes in your head.
You have to know the techniques.
You have to.
You know also you're workingwith three or four different
people to build the same dish.
You know you might have thegrill guy, you know doing the
(05:56):
meat, and then the saute guy,you know doing the sides and you
know then you have theexecutive chef who's doing the
garnishes.
So you really have to work veryintensely with a team as well.
And I don't think diners reallyrealize what goes into making a
dish, especially a fine diningdish as well.
(06:17):
You know which can bechallenging as a chef because
their expectation versus theexecution that it takes to go
into it, I feel sometimes isskewed a little bit.
It's like, hey, if this isn'tperfect, it's going back, you
know, and so that's kind of thepersona which diners have.
(06:38):
The steak is a little bitovercooked or undercooked, it's
going back, and you know.
Then it goes back into thequeue and that messes up the
whole.
You know timing and that's awhole nother aspect of, you know
, being a chef too.
So you know it's verychallenging in a, in a
restaurant or private finedining, and you know that type
(07:01):
of thing which I don't thinkpeople fully realize what it
takes.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, until you have, you know, worked in a
restaurant and I think everybodyat some point in your life
should work at a restaurant.
You know, just to understand,because you know now everybody's
a critic, right, yeah, I meanthey're all critics and I mean
and and I guess, like as workingin a restaurant you have a lot
(07:30):
more grace, right For that andthe execution.
But you know, luxury is a wholenother level because I mean how
many, like on average, likewhat is like a cost, like the
cost to have, you know, perperson.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So, like what our dinners run and we do it in home
.
We do fine dining.
We're all inclusive, from, youknow, the wine to the staff.
You know we, we bringeverything, we bring all the
rentals, we have in-house platesand glasses, you know.
So we're not only cooking butwe're bringing all the equipment
setting it up.
And our dinners, you know, run250 to you know, $500 in total.
(08:14):
But the amount of work thatgoes into it, you know it might
be two or three days to getready for you know the event
prior to even doing the event.
You know we customize menus tofood allergies.
You know we customize menus toexactly what the customer wants
seasonality, because you knowyou don't want to serve
(08:36):
strawberries in the winter, youknow.
So it's something where you dohave to change the menus all the
time, especially when you'redoing private fine dining, and I
think it's one of the onlyindustries.
I think that people say well,that's too expensive, lower your
price.
You know you don't go intoWalmart and say, hey, you know
(08:57):
what.
I think you know this lawnmoweris too expensive.
I think I should pay, you know,250 instead of 500.
Give me the, you know, give methe lawnmower for that, and they
go oh okay, you know that'swhat the really hard thing is,
especially from a businessstandpoint, because food and
cost has gone up, you know, 40to 60%, and everybody realizes
(09:19):
that when they go buy groceries.
But they want the price to bethe same and they want to set
and kind of dictate the price,which is really challenging to
try to make money as anentrepreneur, as a chef, because
everybody has their own idea ofyou know what that looks like.
So so it is extremelychallenging from that point of
(09:41):
view too, because I have a very,you know you only have so much
time so, and staff nowadays is ahuge cost.
I mean, sometimes my staff is,you know, just as much as my
food costs, or more.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, and I mean your staff and the people, like you
said, like you said, like you'rewell, you're relying on them to
replicate.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
you know your, your creations and and well, I guess,
like you have anybody right,you gotta have good staff, and
good staff cost money, money Iknow it's all gone up.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I mean I know, like with you know the, with you know
the, the food you know, changesevery.
I don't know if people know,but the cost of meat changes
every week.
And so I mean you can't justsay, oh, I'm going to, you know,
I'm going to buy this cut ofmeat at this price and it's
going to stay that way.
I can't, they don't, they can'tguarantee that price.
(10:41):
You know, jump up.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
So there's a lot of price at the same right and
figure out how to make you knowmoney somehow else or sell more
plates, because when your costis going up and your prices stay
the same, your margin goes downand your you know your
operating expenses don't go downfrom there.
So I mean how we've kind ofstructured our business is small
(11:07):
10 to, say, 30, 40 people inhome, on site, and it allows us
a little bit more margin andflexibility to offer a premium
experience, even if the you knowthe prices are fluctuating.
But even on that, you know,prime beef used to be $25, you
(11:28):
know a pound, now it's 40, youknow, and it's just absurd, uh,
and you just can't, you justit's hard to cut costs.
And then when you're in luxury,you know you can't serve a
select steak even though I meanselect steaks even $20 a pound,
and so it's definitely reallychallenging.
And then balancing that as anentrepreneur, you know it's
(11:53):
difficult right now but we'veexpanded into, you know, selling
product and working with newhomeowners.
To, you know, sell cookwarebecause you have to find other
forms of income.
To, you know, really survive.
And you know there's all thesestories of entrepreneurs just
making it rich and make millionsof dollars overnight and you
(12:15):
know, being a chef is soglamorous and you know that's
just, that's just really not thecase.
I wouldn't like, I wouldn'twant to really do anything else,
but it's definitely superchallenging every day.
It's not glamorous, you knowit's.
It's it's extremely difficult.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yes, I applaud and all the chefs out there, because
it is it's really hard.
It's hard work, it's a dailygrind and you know, it's kind of
like sales, I mean, like you'reonly as good as your last.
You know, for you, your lastmeal you served Right and so,
(12:54):
and then, yeah, it's, it'sreally really um, challenging.
And I always say to my friendmy friends are like, oh, I want
to get in this business.
I'm like, don't get in becauseyou'll get sucked in and they'll
never want to leave.
And it's not like for me it'snot about the money, you know.
I mean I mean, yes, I needmoney to survive and I am
(13:15):
motivated by you know that, butat the same time it's not like
super lucrative and so, but westay in it.
And you need to hug your chefyou know the chefs around and
give.
You know, give them a hugbecause they do it, because they
love it, and they do it becausethey're passionate and they're
really, really hard workers.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Like it's not for the , for the week really really
hard workers, like it's not forthe for the week, so and events
are very, you know, volatile too.
I mean right now we're.
You know it's slow because youknow the economy is is doing its
thing and you know there's someother factors.
So you know events really youknow, go on the back burner when
people are cutting expensesbecause usually they're for, you
(13:57):
know, celebrations and peopleare just, you know, cooking
themselves and you know so theseasonality which you know you
can compare year to year, butthat really has no bearing on
the next year.
So you're like where's all thepeople and the events?
And so it's very kind ofvolatile in that sense.
(14:19):
You know we've diversified.
You know which is.
You know we're very fortunateto do and we do engraving and
customization and you know newhome gifts and corporate gifts,
but you know even the corporateevents, you know they're cutting
back too.
So you know it's really anentrepreneur and a chef.
(14:39):
They're like expert problemsolvers, like I feel that's what
I do every day is try toproblem solve.
You know the next problem,which, fortunately, I'm pretty
good at, but it's definitelysomething you wake up to, a
different situation every day.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, and something that keeps you up at night.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, because, just like a restaurant, expenses
don't go down.
Usually they go up, and so whenyou're slow, it's there's only
so much that you can do.
You know, just like in sales,you know people, people aren't
buying, people aren't buying.
And that's why, as anentrepreneur, you really have to
, you know, you have to becreative.
(15:22):
And really it's like a networkthing too, because you know
there's lots of opportunity outthere and it might just take one
person to really catapult yourbusiness.
But you have to find thosepeople and it's just a game of
of networking really.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, the essence of selling is, you know, finding,
finding new opportunities.
Find, I mean, just like you do,you have to find new clients
and you know.
So how do you, how did you gofrom like, working, you know, in
, you know, you know in therestaurants and the fine dining,
to owning your own, but toswitching to a luxury chef?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, so kind of my story is I, you know, grew up in
five diamond resorts.
I went to the culinaryInstitute of America in New York
, got a four-year degree fromthere.
I then moved to Houston, workedat Sur La Table.
I was their resident chef andbuilt the program at the city
center when the city centerwasn't this monstrosity of a
(16:26):
Mecca hub.
And after that I really gotinto the appliance industry.
So I always knew I wanted tostart my own business and they
were doing cooking classes,demoing the appliances to use it
as a sales tool, and I said,hey, would you guys like to do
this in the showrooms?
And you know, so that's whenthe live displays of you know
showrooms really started to bepopular.
(16:47):
And then we started to do theevents actually in the appliance
showrooms and that's reallywhat started my business and
filtered out to, you know,private clients.
And you know where we're at now.
So I've been in the applianceindustry for 13 years, as you
know, chef salesperson, andthat's kind of our little niche
(17:10):
is new homeowners, designers,builders, and then the new, you
know, home appliance industryand appliances.
So that's that's kind of how it, you know, went and you just
kind of go go from there.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
So that's fascinating , I mean.
I always find I mean that'ssomething cool about this
industry is you learn somethingnew every day.
Like I didn't realize therewere people out there like you,
robbie, to go into people'shomes and teach them how to use
the appliances, and I meanthat's, that's fascinating.
So what is like the craziestproject you've had to work on,
(17:47):
like in terms of maybe a food,or just like a house?
You I don't know what's thecraziest thing you've seen?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So really for us it's like the situational
environments that we work in.
So we could be, you know,working in an appliance showroom
and there might be an oven,that's live.
There might be a full kitchenthat's, you know, live.
And really there was onesituation where they're like, oh
yeah, everything's live.
You got to, you know, 48 inchrange, you got double ovens, you
(18:17):
got you know all this stuff.
And we showed up and there'sone oven live.
And we were cooking a fivecourse dinner and that was
extremely challenging and it wasfor like 16 people and so
really I had to take theingredients, change the whole
you know kind of concept menu onthe fly and you know, to really
accommodate, you know this oneoven, you know kind of concept
(18:37):
menu on the fly and you know, toreally accommodate, you know,
this one oven, you know, turn iton broiler 550.
So things would, you know, cookfaster and um.
So that was probably one of thecraziest.
And then it didn't have a sinkeither, it was a break room sink
that was all the way across theshowroom and so, yeah, that's
(19:00):
pretty crazy, that's prettychallenging.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That's really challenging, so I guess suffice
to say that you work well underpressure.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, you have to.
That's where the extremeproblem solving comes into play
is you have to be able to adaptto your environment very quickly
.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
What is the most elaborate dish entree that
you've created?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
or dessert, or so my salads actually are are pretty
elaborate.
I don't just do the you knowgreens with dressing and you
know a few vegetables.
A lot of my salads contain 20to 25 components in a salad.
So I always do some type ofcheese, I do a nut, I do usually
(19:52):
like a cooked vegetable, a rawvegetable or a pickle, greens, a
vinaigrette, and then you knowsome other different components
as well, and that's presented ina very kind of deconstructed
way, because I like people toreally kind of play with their
food and make it their own.
So, like my soups, it'll nothave cream and actual soup, I'll
(20:15):
actually whip cream, no sugar,nothing in it except whipped
cream.
I'll put it on the edge.
So if they want cream they canactually mix it in their soup
themselves.
So I kind of approach food inthat kind of fun, playful way.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
That's fun.
And that also I mean dictate.
You know, they can add a little, they can add a lot.
You know, I mean for me that'slike always like, oh my gosh, I
want to eat all the cream, but Idon't really need it.
So yeah, yeah.
But the salad 20,.
You said 25 ingredients.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, and some of them could just be a roasted
carrot with salt, but you knowit's a special type of carrot.
It's not like this B, you knowbig, huge honking horse carrot.
It could be a globe carrot,which are little mini, you know
kind of small, bouncy ball sizecarrots, where they look really
unique, they taste very sweet.
You don't have to peel them,you know.
(21:09):
So it could just be multipledifferent ingredients that are
high quality ingredients thatjust have salt and are cooked
very well.
So that's where that 25components come from, because a
lot of people overcomplicatefood.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So where do you get most of your food?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
So we do, you know, kind of smaller dinners.
So we shop at Central Marketfor, you know, the specialty
ingredients.
If we're doing, you know, alarge dinner, we you know Costco
actually has really greatcheese and meat and you know
kind of some of those rawingredients.
Heb, you know, also has greatmeat and fresh produce.
(21:53):
So sometimes we'll shop atthree or four stores just for
one dinner and, you know, reallytrying to source the right
product from the right, you know, source.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
That is awesome, I mean, and that also can present
problems too.
I mean, cause the consistencyof you know.
You know you might plan forthis, and then you have to
adjust because it may not be.
You know you might plan forthis and then you have to adjust
because it may not be.
Does that ever happen where itmay not be available?
(22:25):
Or I mean something happensbetween?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
idea to play like, yeah, it's, it's, it's difficult
because they might have it butthey might be out.
Uh, you know.
And then you're like, oh, so ifit's like a product like duck,
um, I try to pre-order it andmake sure it's reserved for me.
But once again, all this takesan extreme amount of time, you
know.
So it's like it's adouble-edged sword because you
(22:50):
want great product, you need toreserve it, and it's all the
planning that goes behind it too.
You know, procuring the food,loading the equipment, doing the
dinner, and then in a home youcan you can't show up eight
hours early to prep.
You know, when we do a fivecourse dinner, we show up two to
three hours early and we prepthe entire dinner from.
(23:12):
You know, start to finish inabout two to three hours,
because we're all cook on site.
We don't cook everything offsite.
And then you know, bring it tothe dinner because it just
doesn't offer the quality thatwe're looking for.
So you know it's also a lotmore work and pressure to do
that, but it's really what wefeel gives the best quality
(23:35):
product.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
That's amazing because I I don't know if you're
listening and you're not in thefood industry like fine dining
chefs.
You know they're usually orrestaurants don't open till like
five o'clock, you know they'renot lunch places, and so people
come and start prepping at like1030.
So that's amazing that you'reable to prep, cook, serve these
(24:00):
um I mean very complex um meals.
I think that's amazing I thinkit's very.
I've learned to cook veryquickly I bet, and you have to
have the right equipment too, sothat works really well and
you're kind of like moving thataround right or or you know you
you don't really, like you saidearlier, you don't really know.
(24:23):
I mean, do I really have accessto it or not, and will the oven
perform?
I mean, has that ever happenedwhere?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
We work mostly for higher end clients, so usually
their appliances suit you knowwhat we're needing.
We did have one event multipleyears ago where it was a galley
kitchen and it was an outdoorevent, but we didn't know that
the kitchen and the only pathwayfrom the house to the outdoor
(24:52):
was right through the galleykitchen.
So you know, we're trying tocook food, serve food and people
are constantly in the kitchen,so there's a very big lack of
space.
So that was probably one of themost challenging events that we
heard and it was just like 60to 70 people and had one little
five burner cooktop.
Refrigeration space is toughbecause a lot of people have
(25:14):
their fridges chocked full ofstuff, so we don't usually have
a lot of refrigeration spaceeither.
So that's why we really have tocustomize the menus too,
because we have to customize itto where we're cooking, whether
it's a showroom or a house or,you know, even a corporate break
room.
We do fine dining and you knowcorporate style break rooms and
(25:36):
might do a three, four coursedinner with no oven, no stove,
and we bring sous vide machinesand, you know, really kind of do
it in a innovative way where wedon't use major appliances.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Wow, yeah, I mean, I get it.
My mind is like, wow, I thatthat's crazy.
So, um, I cannot remember.
I'm sorry, I'm a little stumpedright now, um, but so, um, what
is like?
(26:10):
How many events do you do aweek?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Um, so it just, it just depends.
It could be three back-to-backevents, which is a lot for us.
That's pretty exhaustingbecause of how elaborate our
events are.
Um, we could do you know one,we could do three, we could do
you know none.
A lot of times they seem tocome in chunks and so it just
(26:34):
really depends on seasonality,because we do corporate, we do
appliance, we do private, andthose also all have kind of
their own seasonality with them.
So we did try to diversify outof just the home private dining.
So we did have a little bitmore consistency of events.
Because we do Iron Chef teambuilders too for corporations.
(26:57):
So that's another one of theservices we offer.
So we do those really coolcompetitions which can be a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That's awesome.
I'm just my mind is like blownright now.
I'm just thinking of all thethings you have to do and it's
like kind of making me sweat.
Um, but yeah, it's crazy.
Um.
So, in terms of, like privatedining and, you know, chefs
coming to homes, like have youseen a spike, I mean in the last
(27:28):
like five or six years?
I mean, is this like?
Is this now like?
I mean, was it something thathas always been like you know,
like as strong, or do we do youthink it's like?
I guess, opportunities for forluxury dining and private chefs,
is that on the rise?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I guess that's my question.
You know, I don't really knowwhich is bad.
Because COVID really jacked upthe market because there was no
in-home events in COVID and sothat you know, even restaurants
and stuff, it's really made theindustry even harder than it is
already because there was thistwo, three year lull.
(28:12):
So a lot of chefs andrestaurants have had to
diversify out of just servingfood and now some of the
restaurants and that type ofthing is coming back.
But there's been also a lullagain because of, you know, the
economy or whatever is going on,um, and it's so much work to do
(28:34):
.
You know, the in-home events alot of, um, you know, chefs are
just doing catering where theycook it off site, they bring it
on site, they, you know, displayit, um, so we just kind of
really had to do what clientswant.
Luckily we work in the applianceindustry and we demo appliances
(28:55):
for new homeowners, so we'rereally offering, you know, value
above and beyond you know, justfeeding them, and so that's one
niche that we've gone into.
But, um, you know it, just it'sso up and down that I think
people, especially in Houston,they've gone to a lot of
restaurants so they're gearingmore towards in-home events so
(29:19):
they can kind of customize itand offer, you know, a different
, more customized experience,because some people are tired of
going to the steakhouses andeating the same thing.
So I think it is generally onthe rise.
But because in-home events arealso, you know, more expensive
than going out to a restaurant,there's also that perception of,
(29:41):
well, I can go to a restaurantfor this, but an in-home event
plus this, you know, and itsometimes doesn't jive in their
mind.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
But you get the experience of being at home and
I mean impressing your friends,right, like, yeah, that I always
look at.
I mean I'm a reality Bravo TVjunkie and so I mean I, I was
curious just because, likethey're always doing these
in-home private events and, um,it's super bougie and like I've
(30:15):
noticed on some of the trips notmany, but like on one girl's
trip, like we had somebody comein and you know cook a meal and
it was like the coolest thingever, I mean.
And so I don.
That's, I think, the only timeI've done that, but that was
really.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
We try to offer an experience too.
So, like we talk about eachdish that comes out and why it
pairs with the wine andsometimes we do you know chef's
table style, where they'resitting right in the kitchen and
we're, you know, cooking andplating, you know, right in
front of them, so we really tryto offer something a lot
different than just your average.
Hey, sit down at the table,serve your food, get your wine,
(30:51):
you know, be good to go.
We really try to offer thatelevated experience, which I
think that makes a bigdifference.
If you're doing an in-homeevent, you want it to be
different than eating in arestaurant.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, I mean, and creating that experience and a
different experience every time.
And I one more quick thing Iwas thinking about when you said
earlier the allergies.
I'm like I know for me, like Ihave to, sometimes we do like
lunch and learns, and peoplewill send us, like you know,
I'll say, oh, I'll bring in suchand such food, and then there's
(31:25):
like 20 different allergies andI'm like, oh my gosh, like it
was so stressful.
I'm like, and I feel bad fory'all that if you have allergies
, but it is a little stressful,I can't imagine for you and like
all the yeah, Well, it's alsoabout preferences too.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
So you can have, like , steak as a main course, like,
well, I don't eat steaks.
And then you got to sub.
You know a fish.
Or hey, you know I don't eatfish, so you got to sub for a
different protein.
Um, and then when you'reexecuting the dinner you have to
remember that one plate youhave to usually cook.
You know fish and steakcompletely different, so it's
(32:04):
like cooking a whole differentcourse, you know, just because
of a swap out or an allergy.
And then if it's an allergy, Iusually leave it completely off
the menu.
You know, so there's not even achance of cross-contamination,
especially in some seriousallergies like shellfish or
peanuts or you know somethinglike that.
And then you know it's allabout the planning.
(32:27):
So it takes me an hour or moreto write a menu for a five
course dinner to incorporate allthese different aspects.
But you know that's kind ofwhat you get for the price that
you pay.
But you know people kind oftake it as a oh well, this
should be how it is anyways.
You know, in certain, incertain ways, but it that's just
(32:50):
another aspect of kind of whatwe do in.
But it all takes time.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Awesome, that's, that's incredible.
I really appreciate you kind ofyou know, I really appreciate
you kind of you know, liftingthe curtain showing us kind of
what happens behind the scenesof these.
You know well, I mean, thatwhat you do is so fascinating
and so, but before we end, Ican't let you leave without your
(33:21):
confession.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Okay.
So people being like a finedining chef, they're like, oh,
you know what's your favoritefood and you know you must eat.
So well, and my, you know.
They talked to my wife causeshe works with me, and they're
like, oh, you must eat, you knowall this amazing food.
And uh, we don't, because whenyou get done with a fine dining
there there could be steak,leftover, lobster or whatever,
(33:46):
and you're just like, yeah, Idon't want to eat that.
So my favorite food is cinnamontoast crunch and no way.
Yeah, so I will eat if it's inthe house.
I can't even keep it in thehouse.
I will like eat a whole boxafter an event and it's.
It's terrible for you, butthat's, that's my favorite food
(34:07):
confession.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
so I love that, I love.
I mean, I love that.
I always love to hear whenchefs have their little guilty,
you know, like guilty pleasuresand food, and it's so, like you
said, it's so simple, it's not,you know, it's not cooked and
it's cold that?
Yes, that is.
You can have it with milk orwithout.
Like you know, I can constructit or not.
(34:31):
So, but thank you so much forjoining us today and you guys
need to go and check out ChefRobbie.
We'll have his informationabout this podcast, so check
that out, follow him and ifyou're in the Houston area, you
might want to get together somefriends and call them up and
(34:53):
experience this yumminess.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yes, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Thank you, inspiration.
Follow our social media atW3Sales.
Please like, comment andsubscribe.
You know all the things wewould love to connect with you.
Welcome to Confessions Beyond the Food.
I'm your host, Nancy Redland.
Let's dig in and get inspired.
Hi, and welcome back toConfessions Beyond the Food.
My name is Nancy and I'm withW3 Sales Today we are talking to
Robbie.
(00:20):
Hi, Robbie.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hi, how are you?
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We're so happy to have you.
Robbie is joining us fromHouston and he is a luxury chef
and he owns his own business, sohe's got lots of fun things to
talk to us about.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I do the beauty of being a chef and you know the
persona of famous chefs beingvery, very cool and
entrepreneurs being very, verycool.
So I kind of have it both waysbut kind of want to talk about
the reality of both and you knowthe benefits of it and also how
hard and the work that goesinto it as well.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
So, before you became a chef, did you envision it
being like?
What did you envision versuswhat it actually is?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So I've been in a professional kitchen since I've
been 15.
And I've known kind of exactlywhat I wanted to do since I've
been 15, which is very unique inthat situation, and so I always
knew I wanted to be in the foodindustry.
But I come from a family ofentrepreneurs, so I like to set
(01:30):
my own destiny.
As far as you know, the harderyou work, you know the more
potential you have to, you know,make more money, have
flexibility and that type ofthing.
So I kind of geared my wholelife towards, you know, this
entrepreneurship journey in thefood industry.
I didn't know exactly what thatwas going to look like.
(01:51):
I've always been in fine dining, so that has kind of morphed
over over the years from whitetablecloth to something a little
bit more modern and semi casual, and I guess the journey has
just gone from there.
But it was.
I was really fortunate to havethat vision from the very start
so I could kind of form my lifeto where we are now.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
So that's awesome.
It's so cool when you findsomething at such a young age
that you just I mean you love.
I mean, I loved waiting tables,I loved.
You know I loved it.
I didn't know what that, likeyou said, I didn't know it was
going to lead me to where I amtoday, but I just kind of
(02:35):
followed my passion.
So what was it about the foodindustry that you just loved?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I'm someone that has to like, understand
everything.
You know, like my favoritequestion is why, and you know
food's just something that cameto me and that really comes
natural.
So you know the science, theyou know ability to kind of mix
flavors and do understand youknow why food is cooked the way
(03:03):
it is, and you know even cooking.
Today, I always ask you knowwhy food is cooked the way it is
, and you know even cooking.
Today, I always ask you know,why are we doing this?
Is this something that is justfluff or is this actually
serving a purpose?
You know, in the dish, and thatcould be from garnish to
flavors, to technique, and so myfood is very kind of simple but
(03:24):
has multiple.
You know my dishes could have20, 25 different components to
them, but they're all cookedvery, you know, simply.
Some are just using salt andthen you know cook properly and
when you're using really niceingredients, that's really all
you need.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
That's awesome.
I'm looking forward to tastingyour food one day, Robbie.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yes, absolutely, we'll have to have you down for
a dinner.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah.
So I mean it's making me hungryright now just thinking about
it.
So if you haven't seen ChefRobbie's LinkedIn and social, I
mean he does some really, reallycool stuff.
So I guess when you started,you mentioned a second ago that
it is a hard journey to take.
(04:10):
It's not always the road that'sthe easy one, the easy way to
take.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So tell me a little bit about that.
Yeah, so the interesting thingabout being a chef is not
something you can learn in abook.
You really have to learn bydoing, by.
You know, working with otherchefs and having the experience.
And it's hard, it's, you know,10 hour days just move my way up
from there.
But you know, there's a lot ofthings that you can learn online
(04:48):
, virtually, get the virtualdegree, and that's not really
something you can do with.
You know, being a chef,especially in fine dining,
because you have to learn thetechniques, you have to learn
the timing.
You know, if you really thinkabout what it takes in you know,
a restaurant or a fine diningrestaurant, you've got to
replicate.
You know, sometimes hundreds ofplates of the same dish, in the
(05:12):
same way presentation wise, inthe same way flavor wise, and it
has to be absolutely 100%consistent and mirror the other
dishes.
Then you have to, you know, getit out to the table, you know.
So I mean, having that, whenyou really think about it
logistically, is a very, verydifficult, you know task, just
(05:35):
from that.
And then you got to do itwithin three hours, you know,
and that's one dish.
And then you got to replicate.
You know 10 to 15 dishes ormore, so you have to learn the
recipes in your head.
You have to know the techniquesyou got to replicate.
You know 10 to 15 dishes ormore, so you have to learn the
recipes in your head.
You have to know the techniques.
You have to.
You know also you're workingwith three or four different
people to build the same dish.
You know you might have thegrill guy, you know doing the
(05:56):
meat, and then the saute guy,you know doing the sides and you
know then you have theexecutive chef who's doing the
garnishes.
So you really have to work veryintensely with a team as well.
And I don't think diners reallyrealize what goes into making a
dish, especially a fine diningdish as well.
(06:17):
You know which can bechallenging as a chef because
their expectation versus theexecution that it takes to go
into it, I feel sometimes isskewed a little bit.
It's like, hey, if this isn'tperfect, it's going back, you
know, and so that's kind of thepersona which diners have.
(06:38):
The steak is a little bitovercooked or undercooked, it's
going back, and you know.
Then it goes back into thequeue and that messes up the
whole.
You know timing and that's awhole nother aspect of, you know
, being a chef too.
So you know it's verychallenging in a, in a
restaurant or private finedining, and you know that type
(07:01):
of thing which I don't thinkpeople fully realize what it
takes.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, until you have, you know, worked in a
restaurant and I think everybodyat some point in your life
should work at a restaurant.
You know, just to understand,because you know now everybody's
a critic, right, yeah, I meanthey're all critics and I mean
and and I guess, like as workingin a restaurant you have a lot
(07:30):
more grace, right For that andthe execution.
But you know, luxury is a wholenother level because I mean how
many, like on average, likewhat is like a cost, like the
cost to have, you know, perperson.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So, like what our dinners run and we do it in home
.
We do fine dining.
We're all inclusive, from, youknow, the wine to the staff.
You know we, we bringeverything, we bring all the
rentals, we have in-house platesand glasses, you know.
So we're not only cooking butwe're bringing all the equipment
setting it up.
And our dinners, you know, run250 to you know, $500 in total.
(08:14):
But the amount of work thatgoes into it, you know it might
be two or three days to getready for you know the event
prior to even doing the event.
You know we customize menus tofood allergies.
You know we customize menus toexactly what the customer wants
seasonality, because you knowyou don't want to serve
(08:36):
strawberries in the winter, youknow.
So it's something where you dohave to change the menus all the
time, especially when you'redoing private fine dining, and I
think it's one of the onlyindustries.
I think that people say well,that's too expensive, lower your
price.
You know you don't go intoWalmart and say, hey, you know
(08:57):
what.
I think you know this lawnmoweris too expensive.
I think I should pay, you know,250 instead of 500.
Give me the, you know, give methe lawnmower for that, and they
go oh okay, you know that'swhat the really hard thing is,
especially from a businessstandpoint, because food and
cost has gone up, you know, 40to 60%, and everybody realizes
(09:19):
that when they go buy groceries.
But they want the price to bethe same and they want to set
and kind of dictate the price,which is really challenging to
try to make money as anentrepreneur, as a chef, because
everybody has their own idea ofyou know what that looks like.
So so it is extremelychallenging from that point of
(09:41):
view too, because I have a very,you know you only have so much
time so, and staff nowadays is ahuge cost.
I mean, sometimes my staff is,you know, just as much as my
food costs, or more.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Yeah, and I mean your staff and the people, like you
said, like you said, like you'rewell, you're relying on them to
replicate.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
you know your, your creations and and well, I guess,
like you have anybody right,you gotta have good staff, and
good staff cost money, money Iknow it's all gone up.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I mean I know, like with you know the, with you know
the, the food you know, changesevery.
I don't know if people know,but the cost of meat changes
every week.
And so I mean you can't justsay, oh, I'm going to, you know,
I'm going to buy this cut ofmeat at this price and it's
going to stay that way.
I can't, they don't, they can'tguarantee that price.
(10:41):
You know, jump up.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
So there's a lot of price at the same right and
figure out how to make you knowmoney somehow else or sell more
plates, because when your costis going up and your prices stay
the same, your margin goes downand your you know your
operating expenses don't go downfrom there.
So I mean how we've kind ofstructured our business is small
(11:07):
10 to, say, 30, 40 people inhome, on site, and it allows us
a little bit more margin andflexibility to offer a premium
experience, even if the you knowthe prices are fluctuating.
But even on that, you know,prime beef used to be $25, you
(11:28):
know a pound, now it's 40, youknow, and it's just absurd, uh,
and you just can't, you justit's hard to cut costs.
And then when you're in luxury,you know you can't serve a
select steak even though I meanselect steaks even $20 a pound,
and so it's definitely reallychallenging.
And then balancing that as anentrepreneur, you know it's
(11:53):
difficult right now but we'veexpanded into, you know, selling
product and working with newhomeowners.
To, you know, sell cookwarebecause you have to find other
forms of income.
To, you know, really survive.
And you know there's all thesestories of entrepreneurs just
making it rich and make millionsof dollars overnight and you
(12:15):
know, being a chef is soglamorous and you know that's
just, that's just really not thecase.
I wouldn't like, I wouldn'twant to really do anything else,
but it's definitely superchallenging every day.
It's not glamorous, you knowit's.
It's it's extremely difficult.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yes, I applaud and all the chefs out there, because
it is it's really hard.
It's hard work, it's a dailygrind and you know, it's kind of
like sales, I mean, like you'reonly as good as your last.
You know, for you, your lastmeal you served Right and so,
(12:54):
and then, yeah, it's, it'sreally really um, challenging.
And I always say to my friendmy friends are like, oh, I want
to get in this business.
I'm like, don't get in becauseyou'll get sucked in and they'll
never want to leave.
And it's not like for me it'snot about the money, you know.
I mean I mean, yes, I needmoney to survive and I am
(13:15):
motivated by you know that, butat the same time it's not like
super lucrative and so, but westay in it.
And you need to hug your chefyou know the chefs around and
give.
You know, give them a hugbecause they do it, because they
love it, and they do it becausethey're passionate and they're
really, really hard workers.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Like it's not for the , for the week really really
hard workers, like it's not forthe for the week, so and events
are very, you know, volatile too.
I mean right now we're.
You know it's slow because youknow the economy is is doing its
thing and you know there's someother factors.
So you know events really youknow, go on the back burner when
people are cutting expensesbecause usually they're for, you
(13:57):
know, celebrations and peopleare just, you know, cooking
themselves and you know so theseasonality which you know you
can compare year to year, butthat really has no bearing on
the next year.
So you're like where's all thepeople and the events?
And so it's very kind ofvolatile in that sense.
(14:19):
You know we've diversified.
You know which is.
You know we're very fortunateto do and we do engraving and
customization and you know newhome gifts and corporate gifts,
but you know even the corporateevents, you know they're cutting
back too.
So you know it's really anentrepreneur and a chef.
(14:39):
They're like expert problemsolvers, like I feel that's what
I do every day is try toproblem solve.
You know the next problem,which, fortunately, I'm pretty
good at, but it's definitelysomething you wake up to, a
different situation every day.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, and something that keeps you up at night.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, because, just like a restaurant, expenses
don't go down.
Usually they go up, and so whenyou're slow, it's there's only
so much that you can do.
You know, just like in sales,you know people, people aren't
buying, people aren't buying.
And that's why, as anentrepreneur, you really have to
, you know, you have to becreative.
(15:22):
And really it's like a networkthing too, because you know
there's lots of opportunity outthere and it might just take one
person to really catapult yourbusiness.
But you have to find thosepeople and it's just a game of
of networking really.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, the essence of selling is, you know, finding,
finding new opportunities.
Find, I mean, just like you do,you have to find new clients
and you know.
So how do you, how did you gofrom like, working, you know, in
, you know, you know in therestaurants and the fine dining,
to owning your own, but toswitching to a luxury chef?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, so kind of my story is I, you know, grew up in
five diamond resorts.
I went to the culinaryInstitute of America in New York
, got a four-year degree fromthere.
I then moved to Houston, workedat Sur La Table.
I was their resident chef andbuilt the program at the city
center when the city centerwasn't this monstrosity of a
(16:26):
Mecca hub.
And after that I really gotinto the appliance industry.
So I always knew I wanted tostart my own business and they
were doing cooking classes,demoing the appliances to use it
as a sales tool, and I said,hey, would you guys like to do
this in the showrooms?
And you know, so that's whenthe live displays of you know
showrooms really started to bepopular.
(16:47):
And then we started to do theevents actually in the appliance
showrooms and that's reallywhat started my business and
filtered out to, you know,private clients.
And you know where we're at now.
So I've been in the applianceindustry for 13 years, as you
know, chef salesperson, andthat's kind of our little niche
(17:10):
is new homeowners, designers,builders, and then the new, you
know, home appliance industryand appliances.
So that's that's kind of how it, you know, went and you just
kind of go go from there.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
So that's fascinating , I mean.
I always find I mean that'ssomething cool about this
industry is you learn somethingnew every day.
Like I didn't realize therewere people out there like you,
robbie, to go into people'shomes and teach them how to use
the appliances, and I meanthat's, that's fascinating.
So what is like the craziestproject you've had to work on,
(17:47):
like in terms of maybe a food,or just like a house?
You I don't know what's thecraziest thing you've seen?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So really for us it's like the situational
environments that we work in.
So we could be, you know,working in an appliance showroom
and there might be an oven,that's live.
There might be a full kitchenthat's, you know, live.
And really there was onesituation where they're like, oh
yeah, everything's live.
You got to, you know, 48 inchrange, you got double ovens, you
(18:17):
got you know all this stuff.
And we showed up and there'sone oven live.
And we were cooking a fivecourse dinner and that was
extremely challenging and it wasfor like 16 people and so
really I had to take theingredients, change the whole
you know kind of concept menu onthe fly and you know, to really
accommodate, you know this oneoven, you know kind of concept
(18:37):
menu on the fly and you know, toreally accommodate, you know,
this one oven, you know, turn iton broiler 550.
So things would, you know, cookfaster and um.
So that was probably one of thecraziest.
And then it didn't have a sinkeither, it was a break room sink
that was all the way across theshowroom and so, yeah, that's
(19:00):
pretty crazy, that's prettychallenging.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That's really challenging, so I guess suffice
to say that you work well underpressure.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Yeah, you have to.
That's where the extremeproblem solving comes into play
is you have to be able to adaptto your environment very quickly
.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
What is the most elaborate dish entree that
you've created?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
or dessert, or so my salads actually are are pretty
elaborate.
I don't just do the you knowgreens with dressing and you
know a few vegetables.
A lot of my salads contain 20to 25 components in a salad.
So I always do some type ofcheese, I do a nut, I do usually
(19:52):
like a cooked vegetable, a rawvegetable or a pickle, greens, a
vinaigrette, and then you knowsome other different components
as well, and that's presented ina very kind of deconstructed
way, because I like people toreally kind of play with their
food and make it their own.
So, like my soups, it'll nothave cream and actual soup, I'll
(20:15):
actually whip cream, no sugar,nothing in it except whipped
cream.
I'll put it on the edge.
So if they want cream they canactually mix it in their soup
themselves.
So I kind of approach food inthat kind of fun, playful way.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
That's fun.
And that also I mean dictate.
You know, they can add a little, they can add a lot.
You know, I mean for me that'slike always like, oh my gosh, I
want to eat all the cream, but Idon't really need it.
So yeah, yeah.
But the salad 20,.
You said 25 ingredients.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, and some of them could just be a roasted
carrot with salt, but you knowit's a special type of carrot.
It's not like this B, you knowbig, huge honking horse carrot.
It could be a globe carrot,which are little mini, you know
kind of small, bouncy ball sizecarrots, where they look really
unique, they taste very sweet.
You don't have to peel them,you know.
(21:09):
So it could just be multipledifferent ingredients that are
high quality ingredients thatjust have salt and are cooked
very well.
So that's where that 25components come from, because a
lot of people overcomplicatefood.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
So where do you get most of your food?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
So we do, you know, kind of smaller dinners.
So we shop at Central Marketfor, you know, the specialty
ingredients.
If we're doing, you know, alarge dinner, we you know Costco
actually has really greatcheese and meat and you know
kind of some of those rawingredients.
Heb, you know, also has greatmeat and fresh produce.
(21:53):
So sometimes we'll shop atthree or four stores just for
one dinner and, you know, reallytrying to source the right
product from the right, you know, source.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
That is awesome, I mean, and that also can present
problems too.
I mean, cause the consistencyof you know.
You know you might plan forthis, and then you have to
adjust because it may not be.
You know you might plan forthis and then you have to adjust
because it may not be.
Does that ever happen where itmay not be available?
(22:25):
Or I mean something happensbetween?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
idea to play like, yeah, it's, it's, it's difficult
because they might have it butthey might be out.
Uh, you know.
And then you're like, oh, so ifit's like a product like duck,
um, I try to pre-order it andmake sure it's reserved for me.
But once again, all this takesan extreme amount of time, you
know.
So it's like it's adouble-edged sword because you
(22:50):
want great product, you need toreserve it, and it's all the
planning that goes behind it too.
You know, procuring the food,loading the equipment, doing the
dinner, and then in a home youcan you can't show up eight
hours early to prep.
You know, when we do a fivecourse dinner, we show up two to
three hours early and we prepthe entire dinner from.
(23:12):
You know, start to finish inabout two to three hours,
because we're all cook on site.
We don't cook everything offsite.
And then you know, bring it tothe dinner because it just
doesn't offer the quality thatwe're looking for.
So you know it's also a lotmore work and pressure to do
that, but it's really what wefeel gives the best quality
(23:35):
product.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
That's amazing because I I don't know if you're
listening and you're not in thefood industry like fine dining
chefs.
You know they're usually orrestaurants don't open till like
five o'clock, you know they'renot lunch places, and so people
come and start prepping at like1030.
So that's amazing that you'reable to prep, cook, serve these
(24:00):
um I mean very complex um meals.
I think that's amazing I thinkit's very.
I've learned to cook veryquickly I bet, and you have to
have the right equipment too, sothat works really well and
you're kind of like moving thataround right or or you know you
you don't really, like you saidearlier, you don't really know.
(24:23):
I mean, do I really have accessto it or not, and will the oven
perform?
I mean, has that ever happenedwhere?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
We work mostly for higher end clients, so usually
their appliances suit you knowwhat we're needing.
We did have one event multipleyears ago where it was a galley
kitchen and it was an outdoorevent, but we didn't know that
the kitchen and the only pathwayfrom the house to the outdoor
(24:52):
was right through the galleykitchen.
So you know, we're trying tocook food, serve food and people
are constantly in the kitchen,so there's a very big lack of
space.
So that was probably one of themost challenging events that we
heard and it was just like 60to 70 people and had one little
five burner cooktop.
Refrigeration space is toughbecause a lot of people have
(25:14):
their fridges chocked full ofstuff, so we don't usually have
a lot of refrigeration spaceeither.
So that's why we really have tocustomize the menus too,
because we have to customize itto where we're cooking, whether
it's a showroom or a house or,you know, even a corporate break
room.
We do fine dining and you knowcorporate style break rooms and
(25:36):
might do a three, four coursedinner with no oven, no stove,
and we bring sous vide machinesand, you know, really kind of do
it in a innovative way where wedon't use major appliances.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Wow, yeah, I mean, I get it.
My mind is like, wow, I thatthat's crazy.
So, um, I cannot remember.
I'm sorry, I'm a little stumpedright now, um, but so, um, what
is like?
(26:10):
How many events do you do aweek?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Um, so it just, it just depends.
It could be three back-to-backevents, which is a lot for us.
That's pretty exhaustingbecause of how elaborate our
events are.
Um, we could do you know one,we could do three, we could do
you know none.
A lot of times they seem tocome in chunks and so it just
(26:34):
really depends on seasonality,because we do corporate, we do
appliance, we do private, andthose also all have kind of
their own seasonality with them.
So we did try to diversify outof just the home private dining.
So we did have a little bitmore consistency of events.
Because we do Iron Chef teambuilders too for corporations.
(26:57):
So that's another one of theservices we offer.
So we do those really coolcompetitions which can be a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That's awesome.
I'm just my mind is like blownright now.
I'm just thinking of all thethings you have to do and it's
like kind of making me sweat.
Um, but yeah, it's crazy.
Um.
So, in terms of, like privatedining and, you know, chefs
coming to homes, like have youseen a spike, I mean in the last
(27:28):
like five or six years?
I mean, is this like?
Is this now like?
I mean, was it something thathas always been like you know,
like as strong, or do we do youthink it's like?
I guess, opportunities for forluxury dining and private chefs,
is that on the rise?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I guess that's my question.
You know, I don't really knowwhich is bad.
Because COVID really jacked upthe market because there was no
in-home events in COVID and sothat you know, even restaurants
and stuff, it's really made theindustry even harder than it is
already because there was thistwo, three year lull.
(28:12):
So a lot of chefs andrestaurants have had to
diversify out of just servingfood and now some of the
restaurants and that type ofthing is coming back.
But there's been also a lullagain because of, you know, the
economy or whatever is going on,um, and it's so much work to do
(28:34):
.
You know, the in-home events alot of, um, you know, chefs are
just doing catering where theycook it off site, they bring it
on site, they, you know, displayit, um, so we just kind of
really had to do what clientswant.
Luckily we work in the applianceindustry and we demo appliances
(28:55):
for new homeowners, so we'rereally offering, you know, value
above and beyond you know, justfeeding them, and so that's one
niche that we've gone into.
But, um, you know it, just it'sso up and down that I think
people, especially in Houston,they've gone to a lot of
restaurants so they're gearingmore towards in-home events so
(29:19):
they can kind of customize itand offer, you know, a different
, more customized experience,because some people are tired of
going to the steakhouses andeating the same thing.
So I think it is generally onthe rise.
But because in-home events arealso, you know, more expensive
than going out to a restaurant,there's also that perception of,
(29:41):
well, I can go to a restaurantfor this, but an in-home event
plus this, you know, and itsometimes doesn't jive in their
mind.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
But you get the experience of being at home and
I mean impressing your friends,right, like, yeah, that I always
look at.
I mean I'm a reality Bravo TVjunkie and so I mean I, I was
curious just because, likethey're always doing these
in-home private events and, um,it's super bougie and like I've
(30:15):
noticed on some of the trips notmany, but like on one girl's
trip, like we had somebody comein and you know cook a meal and
it was like the coolest thingever, I mean.
And so I don.
That's, I think, the only timeI've done that, but that was
really.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
We try to offer an experience too.
So, like we talk about eachdish that comes out and why it
pairs with the wine andsometimes we do you know chef's
table style, where they'resitting right in the kitchen and
we're, you know, cooking andplating, you know, right in
front of them, so we really tryto offer something a lot
different than just your average.
Hey, sit down at the table,serve your food, get your wine,
(30:51):
you know, be good to go.
We really try to offer thatelevated experience, which I
think that makes a bigdifference.
If you're doing an in-homeevent, you want it to be
different than eating in arestaurant.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, I mean, and creating that experience and a
different experience every time.
And I one more quick thing Iwas thinking about when you said
earlier the allergies.
I'm like I know for me, like Ihave to, sometimes we do like
lunch and learns, and peoplewill send us, like you know,
I'll say, oh, I'll bring in suchand such food, and then there's
(31:25):
like 20 different allergies andI'm like, oh my gosh, like it
was so stressful.
I'm like, and I feel bad fory'all that if you have allergies
, but it is a little stressful,I can't imagine for you and like
all the yeah, Well, it's alsoabout preferences too.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
So you can have, like , steak as a main course, like,
well, I don't eat steaks.
And then you got to sub.
You know a fish.
Or hey, you know I don't eatfish, so you got to sub for a
different protein.
Um, and then when you'reexecuting the dinner you have to
remember that one plate youhave to usually cook.
You know fish and steakcompletely different, so it's
(32:04):
like cooking a whole differentcourse, you know, just because
of a swap out or an allergy.
And then if it's an allergy, Iusually leave it completely off
the menu.
You know, so there's not even achance of cross-contamination,
especially in some seriousallergies like shellfish or
peanuts or you know somethinglike that.
And then you know it's allabout the planning.
(32:27):
So it takes me an hour or moreto write a menu for a five
course dinner to incorporate allthese different aspects.
But you know that's kind ofwhat you get for the price that
you pay.
But you know people kind oftake it as a oh well, this
should be how it is anyways.
You know, in certain, incertain ways, but it that's just
(32:50):
another aspect of kind of whatwe do in.
But it all takes time.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Awesome, that's, that's incredible.
I really appreciate you kind ofyou know, I really appreciate
you kind of you know, liftingthe curtain showing us kind of
what happens behind the scenesof these.
You know well, I mean, thatwhat you do is so fascinating
and so, but before we end, Ican't let you leave without your
(33:21):
confession.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Okay.
So people being like a finedining chef, they're like, oh,
you know what's your favoritefood and you know you must eat.
So well, and my, you know.
They talked to my wife causeshe works with me, and they're
like, oh, you must eat, you knowall this amazing food.
And uh, we don't, because whenyou get done with a fine dining
there there could be steak,leftover, lobster or whatever,
(33:46):
and you're just like, yeah, Idon't want to eat that.
So my favorite food is cinnamontoast crunch and no way.
Yeah, so I will eat if it's inthe house.
I can't even keep it in thehouse.
I will like eat a whole boxafter an event and it's.
It's terrible for you, butthat's, that's my favorite food
(34:07):
confession.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
so I love that, I love.
I mean, I love that.
I always love to hear whenchefs have their little guilty,
you know, like guilty pleasuresand food, and it's so, like you
said, it's so simple, it's not,you know, it's not cooked and
it's cold that?
Yes, that is.
You can have it with milk orwithout.
Like you know, I can constructit or not.
(34:31):
So, but thank you so much forjoining us today and you guys
need to go and check out ChefRobbie.
We'll have his informationabout this podcast, so check
that out, follow him and ifyou're in the Houston area, you
might want to get together somefriends and call them up and
(34:53):
experience this yumminess.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yes, thank you for having me.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Thank you, inspiration.
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