April 22, 2025 • 32 mins
Ever wondered what happens when passionate foodies decide the traditional dining model isn't working?
In this episode, Simon Zatyrka sits down with Petko Petkov, founder of Chefin, a global platform connecting private chefs with clients for in-home dining experiences. From impromptu dinner parties on Bondi Beach to coordinating chefs in multiple countries, Petko shares how a simple idea sparked by frustration—being stuck in the kitchen instead of enjoying guests—evolved into an international culinary matchmaking service.
You'll discover how this business model not only delights clients but offers chefs a creative outlet beyond their daily restaurant grind, sometimes even bringing burned-out culinary talent back to the industry they love. This conversation serves up practical insights about entrepreneurship, hospitality innovation, and the universal power of food to create meaningful human connections.
Connect with Petko
Website: https://chefin.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ppetko/
Connect with Simon
Email: simon@culinarymechanic.com
Book a Call: https://calendly.com/culinarymechanic/connect
Website: https://www.simonsez.me/
If you're interested in Starfish: https://www.usestarfish.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
From kitchen chaos to well-oiled machines.
Get ready for newfangledtechnology and old school Know-how
(00:21):
stories and a good bit of fun.
I'm Simon, and this iscalled Area Mechanic.
Petko (00:31):
I mean from, uh, like how we started Ching, like, um, it was around
2015 actually, and yeah, I had a, I.Funny enough, uh, I had a Italian friend
of mine that I met through a dinner.
So we met on a dinner, uh, Christmasdinner where we ate this, uh, funky, uh,
(00:51):
what is it called, like Portuguese dishducken or something where you have like a
stuffed pork sausages inside a chicken andthen a chicken stuffed into a duck and a
duck stuffed into a Turkey or something.
Uh, it was really funny andthere was like this little.
Portuguese girls stuffing uplike the chicken and all the
sausages and stuff inside.
It was quite an interesting experience.
(01:13):
Uh, so we met on this dinner like,I don't know, 2013 or something,
or 2012, and then we sort of metagain in 2015 and we were like.
Uh, wow.
Okay.
That's so interesting.
Meeting through dinners.
Let's host some dinners at home.
Uh, we had this amazing house,like, uh, three floors, amazing
house on Bondi Beach basically.
(01:33):
And we started inviting people and createdthis huge house parties we had like.
I don't know, like up to a hundredpeople coming in to eat like pasta
and like to eat like risottos.
And, uh, we did curries and like allsorts of different cuisines, right?
Barbecue, uh, Texas style,European style, uh, sort of
like, uh, Eastern European style.
(01:53):
Um, south European, like we did even sortof, um, metropolitan and a little bit of,
um, sort of like Sicilian stuff as well.
So it's really interesting.
But what we sort of realized afterdoing it for a couple of weeks is that
it takes so much effort and so muchtime to prepare and cook for everyone.
I. That you couldn't actually enjoy.
You couldn't spend time talkingwith people, entertaining, uh,
(02:17):
yourself and having a drink.
Like the only time you could really have adrink is when the party finishes after you
sort of finish cleaning up and then youcan sit down and have a beer or something.
Um, right, but with sort of.
Realized that we gotta, we gotta get,actually, we gotta change something.
Like, it's an amazing concept.
We really enjoy doing it.
We really enjoy hosting people, but atthe same time, we wanna entertain and we
(02:39):
wanna be part of the, the guests ratherthan just being stuck in the kitchen,
washing up dishes and preparing things.
Um, and then we had, um, afriend, another friend actually.
Flying into Hong Kong and experiencingtheir sort of like, um, private
chef service in Hong Kong, whichapparently has been around for
quite a while and it's very common.
(03:00):
Um.
And we were like, wow.
It just sort of lighted up alight bulb in our heads and we
were like, this is amazing idea.
Why don't we connect the people that wannacook for others and want to enjoy the act
of cooking with, uh, other people thatactually need someone to cook for them so
they can enjoy the act of entertaining.
Um, and the two things sortof came in together just.
(03:23):
You can call it coincidental, butI think it was like a very managed
coincidence where we tested a few things.
We actually tried it ourselves.
Um, and then we movedinto talking about it.
So we talked to a bunch ofpeople about the concept of
sending a chef to their home.
And then we got our firstcustomer by June, uh, sorry,
by sort of December in 2015.
(03:43):
Um, we had a friend of afriend that really loved the
concept and she booked us in.
Uh, on the, I think it wasthe 12th of December in 2015.
That was our first event.
And then on the next day shewas like, wow, this was amazing.
I really loved, um, I think it was, uh,chef Onie was like a French chef, um, that
came to, to her place and cooked for her.
(04:04):
I really love Chef Onie.
Oh, how can I pay you?
And we are like, Ooh.
Wait for a bet, we'll getyou, we'll get it organized.
So we then scrambled for our five days toactually register a business and open a
bank account and send her the bank accountso she can actually transfer the cash.
So that was like how wereally started in 2015.
And then we started actually oncewe had the business and once we had
(04:26):
the concept and we knew that peoplelove it, we started rolling up
more bookings in 2017 organically.
And at the same time we startedbuilding, uh, a bit of a tech piece,
like a little platform or a littledashboard where the chefs can put
their menus and then customers can,can actually have a look at what's on
offer, have a look at some pictures,and maybe do some bookings and stuff.
(04:47):
Um, and that's like, we spent around2016, probably the whole year.
Until, I think August, September,August doing that and sort of getting
comfortable with what we've hadand um, also organizing insurances,
working out the actual concept.
So we went through a few differentconcepts of trying to do like a peer
to peer, um, marketplace where sort ofnormal individuals cook for each other.
(05:11):
Uh, and then we sort of likereally pivoted and went into
the chef power marketplace.
'cause in the beginning, like when westarted thinking about it, we were like
wondering whether chefs are gonna haveenough time to do this and enough passion
to actually get out of the kitchenand be interested in cooking extra,
considering they already sometimes.
Uh, overworked, right?
(05:31):
Um, right.
But then when we spoke to a bunchof chefs, we actually worked
out that they love this concept.
They love the fact that theycan connect with customers.
They can actually cook in theirhomes, and they can create something
different from what they're forcedsometimes to cook on a daily basis.
I. It's not like a bacon andeggs thing for a breakfast chef.
Uh, and we had a lot of breakfastchefs in the beginning actually
(05:52):
signing up and Oh, how funny.
Yeah, because they'll just be doingbacon and eggs rolls like every day.
Right.
Uh, and then they want to dosomething else with their skills.
Something that can actuallyshowcase their passion.
Simon (06:05):
Yeah.
I mean, I. I know for myself, havingjust cooked forever or what seems
like forever, just the idea thatyou can get an opportunity on your
day off or whatever, to, to go dosomething completely different, you
know, a different menu, um, from whatyou're executing day in and day out.
It, it's, it's special.
(06:25):
It's fun.
I, I, I know that from personalexperience, but, um, so.
What has been like the big revelation,like as you, as you're meeting chefs
and, and kind of bringing them inas well as meeting, talking to the,
the guests and, and the clients.
Um, what have been like the bigrevelations of this whole thing?
Petko (06:50):
They've been a lot, really, uh, a lot.
Um, I think the, some of thethings that are really, really.
Impressive, I think, and sort ofeyeopening is how satisfied customers,
individual customers can be and howimportant for them, uh, these dinners can
(07:11):
be, and sometimes life changing as well.
Like we've had, uh, we had customers likemeet their life partners through a dinner.
That they sit on.
Oh, wow.
Um, we had one, Kim I think was her name.
She met her husband now, uh,in 2 20, 20 23 over at dinner.
(07:32):
Basically like of 10 people on the tablewhere we had, uh, chef cooking for them.
Uh, Brazilian guy in Sydney actually.
Um, and then she sort of got in touchafter, so she can, they can celebrate
together their anniversary and.
And have a chef every year.
So it's been really cool.
Then we had, uh, another, anothercustomer, El Liza, she did her wedding
(07:55):
with a chef, uh, in a remote area.
Like she hired like a chateau, uh, inthe mountains, um, and did the wedding.
And then every year sincewe've done like anniversaries.
We've done her birthday and thenwe've done her child's birth.
So with like a sort of likea hundred day welcoming or
naming, uh, party for the kid.
(08:15):
And then we're doing her again thisyear, like next week basically.
So we sort of follow people through theirlife and it's, it's just really cool
to sort of see how their life developsand have a different chef in there.
Have different food, but they stillenjoy the act of entertaining and
they still enjoy the, the qualityof the food and having that cooked.
(08:38):
Um.
Professional chefs.
So that's been really cool.
Uh, I think I really enjoyedthis kind of stories.
And then on the other side, we'veseen, um, we've seen a lot of chefs
actually get back in the industry.
I think that's been a really importantreation revelation for me, is that
sometimes chefs can be burned out.
(08:59):
They can exit the industryfor whatever reason.
Like, yeah, I had a chef that.
Had a burning oil spill on hisleg and he's like, fuck this.
I'm not cooking in acommercial kitchen anymore.
Like, it's just that it's not worth it.
Um, I've had a friend chef withlike 40 years of experience that
went out and is managing a warehousefor the singer sewing machines.
(09:20):
You know, like some random stuff.
I have a few chefs that are.
Tradies.
Now they do construction, uh, carpenters,um, floorboards, like all sorts of window
cleaning, like all sorts of random stuff.
And then the, the thing that we offerto them is just the connection back to
the industry of doing something amazinglike once a month or once a week or
(09:44):
once every couple of months, whatever.
It's convenient for them.
They can just jump in and say,Hey, I'm gonna do a dinner.
And going to a dinner for two or do adinner for 10, whatever they're fancy.
Sometimes they'll bring theirpartner with them and just sort of
create a really nice experience.
Take some pictures, connectback to, to the craft, uh, hone
their skills, use their knives,
Simon (10:05):
basically.
Oh, man, I, I love it.
I, I mean, like I said, I, Ilove doing that kinda work and.
I completely understandwhat you're saying.
It's like there's a, there's, there is aconnection that is lost in the restaurant.
Unless you're in the, theright restaurant, you know?
Um, there's a concept thatis in southern California.
(10:29):
It's called Scratch, andit's a scratch kitchen.
And this guy has put it togetherand I think at one point he had
five or six of 'em, and I thinkhe's probably got two or three.
Um, but it is just chefs andit's maybe 20 seats total.
And the, the, the chefs serve everything.
Right.
So there Oh, nice.
Was nobody, yeah.
(10:50):
So they're cooking and maybethey're like rotating out.
Maybe you're taking this course oryou're taking this neck thing and it's
definitely not longer menus, it's moreof a, you know, uh, I would say it's
probably more of an a la carte service.
Um, yeah.
In general.
But, um.
You know, super small, super intimate.
They definitely, when it comesto cost of, of operation, they're
(11:11):
saving some money because you'd needthat many cooks or chefs anyway.
And maybe you just add one thatkind of acts as a pivot for you,
um, and they're able to serve.
So I think it's think connectionis pretty special, um, just in
general and, and maybe somethingthat's lost in a lot of restaurants.
So,
Petko (11:28):
yeah.
And also a bit of creativity and.
Sometimes doing challengingthings that are out of the box.
We had like, uh, we had an event in,um, uh, San Francisco for example.
It was for Australian community.
Uh, 'cause obviously westarted from Australia.
So we have this connection and we sortof try to serve Australian customers
like we do Australian wine tastings inAustralian food tastings in Hong Kong.
(11:51):
Um, we do also offer them across the US.
Um, we have a few partners thatimport Australian wines and we use
like Australian products as well.
And we had like a corporate eventfor, um, for a law firm actually
in San Francisco and they wanted todo a taste of Australia experience.
So, uh, we worked through, sort ofput together some really Australian
stuff, like have a bit of big fruitin the burger, in the sliders.
(12:15):
Uh, I have a few sort of like, uh, avosmash, uh, sandwiches, like FEA and
avocado on a sourdough toast, uh, anddo like an Eton mess with a dessert.
So it's just having that creativityand ability to learn something
new, even though you may be a superexperienced chef with like whatever
amounts of experience, right?
You always wanna learn something new.
I think every chef has thatpassion of learning something new.
(12:38):
And how can you dosomething that is different?
Uh, it could be.
Sort of as a base, like what I wastelling the, the chef was from Texas.
Josh, I was telling him is the Aussieburger is not that different to them.
Texas Burger, right?
You just want to have a bit of mayowith the barbecue sauce and you
wanna slap in a beetroot insideand you've got an Aussie burger.
It's the same thing, but you justgotta think a little bit differently.
(13:03):
I don't know about you, but I did notget into the restaurant business to spend
all my time in a cramp little office.
I love being in thekitchen, out on the floor.
And if you're nodding your head rightnow, I want to introduce you to an
amazing company called Starfish.
Look, I've gotten to know their CEOJordan recently and what they're
(13:23):
building really impresses me.
They're using AI to read your Pand L and they're going to email
you actionable insights every week.
So you can lower yourcosts and increase revenue.
Best part is you don't have tospend time digging through your
P and L's pouring over reportsin that cramped little office.
(13:43):
Starfish is going to do that foryou so you can get back to the
part of the business that you love.
If you're interested, go totheir website, use starfish.
com that's U S E starfish.
com and tell them Simon sent you.
Ah, that's
Simon (14:00):
cool.
I like it.
Yeah, it's, it's funny how, uh, themore I talk to people, um, as part of
this podcast, you know, I talked toa guy who was down in Fiji, um, and
he's, he's like the group chef, andhe run, he oversees three resorts.
Each one of 'em has three restaurants,all on that, that one little island.
(14:22):
And he's, he's like, this is great.
And he's an Australian as well.
And so, uh.
We were talking and I said, gosh, it'sjust stunning to me to realize that
you have the same issues when it comesto people and product and all that.
It's a world away, but it'sthe same thing, you know,
(14:43):
um, all the same issues, but.
What separates it is the sort ofthe, some of the combinations, right?
The, the food combinations andsometimes technique for sure, but just
definitely like how food is different,but the operations are the same.
And I think that's, that'salways real fun to think about.
Um, and I, yeah, get, I get intothese conversations and I'm like,
(15:06):
oh, so you struggle the same way.
I struggle.
Look at that.
Petko (15:11):
And like serving on an island, dude, it is very
challenging, like doing island work.
We did recently, uh, a big event on anisland here in the harbor and in Sydney,
and it was quite a challenge being ableto serve a thousand people every day.
You gotta really plan what ingredientsthe island set up, kitchen from
(15:32):
scratch, make sure you're stockedup and you don't run out of things.
And then if you run out.
You gotta take a, a boat like for a45 minutes trip to go and stock up
from the fish market or something.
So we ran out of seafood 'cause it wastoo popular on the second day and we
were like just rushing up on the, on theferry to go and pick up some seafood.
And we have the driver waiting on theother side and just throwing up the
(15:54):
boxes of the seafood on the ferry.
And then we are back.
Simon (15:58):
I mean, this guy was talking about, he's like, you gotta have, you
gotta have, you gotta have your plan,and then you gotta have your backup
plan, and then you gotta have theplan when the boat doesn't show up.
And I was like, wait, what?
And he, because you know,I, it's that whole thing.
I was like, here comesthe food in the truck.
(16:18):
Right?
It's always, they run, they run,you know, I live in a city, I live
in Seattle, where, you know, thetrucks are just running around.
I can like look out my doorand go, oh, there's the truck.
I see that truck every day, right.
From whatever distributor.
Um, but no, if you, your boatdoesn't, I was like, I don't
even know what to say to that.
He's like, well, you justgotta, you gotta know what.
You gotta know what else is out there.
(16:39):
You gotta know like who, who youcan send running, as you said, like
onto a boat or, you know, acrossto the, to the other resort that
might have something that you need.
These, it's, it really requires alot of, well, a lot of communication,
but also a lot of deep thinking aboutwhat's happening, you know, and,
and being able to, to coordinate.
(17:01):
But no, uh, definitely makes me.
Think about why I spent so manyyears just doing restaurant work.
You know, I've long saidthat like catering chefs are
just a, a different animal.
They're the same, butthey're different, right?
Like, I, I, someone said, I,I said to a catering chef last
year, I said, why do you cater?
She's like, every day is different.
(17:22):
Like, why do you do restaurants?
I'm like, every day's kind of thesame, and I know what to expect.
There's enough.
There's enough.
Screwy shit in the world, um, without,you know, like, oh, uh, actually we
went, we went and did a wedding togetherand turns out that the, the tent that
they put up by the tent company, theyput it up on a, on the side of a hill.
(17:46):
So, so here we are, like the,the, the big circus look intent.
For the, for all the tables andeverything, that was all level.
But we were up on the side of ahill, so you're plating and you're
saucing the, the, the beef, right?
And all of a sudden it'slike, oh, what do I do now?
Because it's just running.
It's like, oh, okay.
(18:08):
So we, you know, so we had to likeshift around and like last second,
like we were moving tables in themiddle of plating because it was just.
Killing us.
You know, it's like,oh, I don't know, man.
Like, I think my stress meter is too much.
I don't know.
It's definitely not level,kitchen level, kitchen.
That's the goal right there.
Level kitchen.
(18:29):
Um,
Petko (18:30):
course
Simon (18:32):
you, and it's something that you would never think of.
Wait, what do you mean?
You just, you just rolled thefryer into the, into the outdoor
kitchen and it's not level.
I'm like, oh, we're gonna spillsome, like we're gonna hurt
somebody if we're not careful here.
It was amazing.
Um, I so.
(18:54):
What's next with, with Chef?
I mean, do you, uh, are there, arethere new platforms, new ideas?
Are there, I mean,what's, what's happening?
Is it just build it tojust keep getting bigger
Petko (19:05):
or?
I think at the moment, the, the thingthat we've noticed is that we have a
lot of customers, like large corporatecustomers that want experiences across
the world, and there's no one else like.
There's literally no other brands you canthink of, or at least I can't think of
any other company that you can go in andsay, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a chef
(19:30):
in Hong Kong, or I'm gonna have a chefin New York or in Seattle, or I'm gonna
go to Paris and I'm gonna have a chef.
There's no other brand you can think of.
There's no other.
Company you can think of thatactually can enable you to do that.
We wanna be that player around the worldwhere you can have the same chef in
experience with Simon in Seattle, withJosh in Dallas, or with like, uh, Paul
(19:55):
in, uh, Brisbane and uh, Pierre in Paris.
So it is just going in these cities andbeing able to actually scale up in every
different location around the world.
In Brazil, we are inBrazil now in Sao Paulo.
And obviously Brazil is huge.
We wanna expand in other states,in other cities as well, right?
But we just really wanna build,um, the largest hospitality brand
(20:16):
around the world that is recognizedby consumers and by chefs for fine
dining and amazing food, right?
Uh, I mean, maybe the only thing you canthink of is the Michelin guide, right?
The Michelin guide is sortof present around the world.
Not in Australia though.
We don't have it down here, but Oh,
combo (20:32):
okay.
Okay.
Petko (20:33):
Um, but they don't really represent individual restaurants.
They don't really represent chefs.
They just talk about whichone is the best and where you
should go and give you a guide.
But we want to unite.
Like the best chefs around the worldand, and make them available for
booking so people can actually bookand experience this experience, uh, and
(20:53):
have it in their home, or have it ina venue, or have it in their office.
Uh, no matter where where theyare, they could be in, in Safi, in
Bulgaria, or in Paris, in France, orLondon, in the uk, uh, or in Mexico.
Anyway, basically.
That's
Simon (21:07):
sounds like so much fun.
Uh, I mean, I can just imagine ifyou've got the, if you've got the
corporate money to be able to book, booksomething in Hong Kong and, and then
have, have something else for your, sortof, your next meeting along the way.
Oh.
And in another city.
That's pretty stunning.
I, I mean, sounds, soundslike a good thing to me.
Petko (21:27):
Yeah, and you know, like we've noticed that um, there's a lot more
cultural interest in food and likecorporates and individuals as well, but in
particular in corporates around the world.
We've been doing like the mostpopular corporate event we've been
doing last year was Thanksgiving inAustralia, which is quite interesting.
But.
There's a lot of Americancompanies, right?
(21:48):
And there's a lot of Americans,a lot of American employees that
are moving outside of America.
So they want to celebrateThanksgiving and maybe they don't
have the chance of going back home.
Um, it's not that easy to take aholiday in November, to be honest.
Not, not in any othercountry except the us.
So if you're outside of the US,you've gotta work in November,
combo (22:06):
right?
Petko (22:06):
Uh, it's just a normal working schedule.
So being able to offer that to theemployees and to, uh, their teams.
It's an amazing experience where youcan have the Thanksgiving, Turkey,
you turn up to your office and you'vegot like a Thanksgiving Turkey.
We did like sweet potatoes withmarshmallows and all sorts of stuff.
You know, all all the good American
combo (22:25):
stuff.
Petko (22:26):
Yeah, like as non-Americans we can find quite funny, like
having sweet potatoes withmarshmallows is like, what the hell?
But like people love this andit's just cultural inclusivity and
sharing culture across the world.
And then we are doing the samestuff like for Chinese New Year.
Uh, we have a lot of like Chinese NewYear interest and bookings happening
across the US and also in Australia.
(22:47):
Um, and then others celebrating otherstuff like, um, Ramadan Ramadan's
been very popular this year in the USas well, so people are really caring
about this cultural, uh, culturalcelebrations and cultural connection
that they have to their home.
That's cool.
Simon (23:03):
I dig it.
Um, tell me what a win in your day is.
A win.
A win.
What is what, what isa win for Petco Peko,
Petko (23:15):
you know, it's, there's, it's very fucking challenging
running your own business, whichyou probably have realized, right?
That I think you, I, I saw your last emailwhere you were talking about you had to
learn all of these different tools andlearn how to grow newsletters and stuff.
Simon (23:30):
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Petko (23:32):
Yeah, it was the same for me, but I, I went even in on a couple of
more extremes, hopefully you don'thave to deal with it, but I had to
learn how to read legal contractsand how to represent myself in court.
Um, so I've done like a bunch of cases.
Like I've had to even deal withthe, with the tax office here.
We had a case with a tax office.
(23:52):
Um, I had to turn up to court.
Um, I had to deal with.
Two cases with the tax office actually.
Um, and we've had to, I had to, um.
What else?
Like learn my accountingso I can clear up my books.
Like I, I, I was let down byaccountants on reporting tax, sales tax.
(24:13):
'cause in particular, um, inAustralia sales tax for, or we call
it GST, goods and service tax, uh,for food is really complicated.
Like we have, I don't know whyand whether you have a similar
system, but we have this system inAustralia where if you buy a bread.
It doesn't, doesn't attract sales tax.
It's, it's been created like, I dunno,hundreds of years ago to promote food,
(24:35):
food, business and production of food.
Um, if you slice two, if you slicebread, it doesn't attract sales tax.
But if you put a slice of cheesebetween two slices of bread, you
gotta put sales tax on it becausenow it's a product, it's a sandwich.
It's not anymore two slices ofbread with a slice of cheese.
It's ridiculous.
Simon (24:58):
Oh, you just made something hurt right up here.
Um, I don't think I've everthought about it like that.
Um, but I definitelyunderstand what you're saying.
Right.
I think that's pretty cool.
Um, 'cause there is a difference.
Hey, we got a visitor.
Yeah.
I'm got a little visitor
Petko (25:15):
here.
Hey babe.
How are you doing?
She's giving her breakfast.
Awesome.
Um, so that was like this realization thatI gotta learn all of these skills and be
able to actually deal with, um, taxation.
Being able to deal with contractsand being able to do all of
these things was like really,um, really interesting for me.
(25:40):
Basically, I think I had tolearn a lot of different things.
Um,
Simon (25:44):
yeah, I mean, to, to go back to what you said, what, what
you're describing is my very firstofficial email newsletter and I
decided to put a quick little blurbin there, um, that I will, I will.
Pretty much, there'll always be somethingabout building my business because I
(26:04):
think it's really important to, forpeople to understand, like there's
some really like crazy interestingshit to be, to go through, you know?
Yeah.
But like, I'm a chef.
I perfected, well, not perfected.
I'm, I really honed my craft for30 plus years, you know, and all
the things, whether it's the knivesor even the spreadsheets and, and
(26:26):
understanding the numbers and.
The truly the craft oflike leading people.
Um, and so that's great.
And then you say, oh, I'm gonnago off and do something else.
And it's like, okay, I can, I cannow be a consultant or an advisor
and I can help you in the restaurant.
That shit's easy.
But wait, getting clients, making,making it clear of what I do for people.
(26:50):
And, and so the, the marketingand the branding and you
know, oh, you need a logo.
Oh, you need this.
Oh, you gotta register that.
You know, so for me, Idecided that I would create.
One little piece of that newsletterthat my goal is about 75 to a hundred
words of just something that says, thisis, this is the fucking thing, man.
(27:14):
You know?
And this is what it is.
'cause I think it's important, you know,um, yeah, I talk to a lot of chefs and
so I, uh, thankfully there's a, a numberof chefs on that, on that email list.
Um, and I want, I want some of theyounger folks and even some of the
older folks to be able to look and go.
There's more out there, right there.
You can leave the re, you canleave the restaurant business
(27:35):
and you can do other things.
And so I wanna, I dunno if I'mlooking to inspire as much as I am.
Just sharing my journey, you know,but it's, it's, uh, it's pretty
fascinating to be a small, smallrestaurant owner and it is challenging
or small, small business owners already.
Um, it is
Petko (27:52):
challenging.
So I, I think for me, like really thethings that I still consider is wins every
day is when I receive, when we receivea, a positive feedback from a customer.
And when I can see a nice story, whenI see, when we see a story where.
They say, Hey, this wasthe best meal that we had.
Um, this was like the bestsausage, or this was the best
steak, or this was the best dish.
It was the best experience.
(28:13):
We just enjoyed everythingfrom start to end.
Um, like I really enjoyed that win.
For me, that's, that's a big win for us.
Like it's a big win for the community.
It's a big win for the chef and it's abig win for us as a business to actually
win another ambassador, another personthat would go and refer us and talk
to their friends about the experience.
And the other thing that I really enjoy.
It's also on sort of the beginning ofthe experience is when we see another
(28:38):
booking from a random person that I'venever heard of or I've never spoken with.
It's just like a random person,random individual would go on the
website and purchase a bookingand I just book and pay and we are
gonna be like, wow, this is so cool.
It's just every time you seethis, no matter how deep you are
in your business and how much.
(28:58):
Shit you've dealt with and howmany things you gotta sort of
do in order to get to here.
Like when you see this, Ithink it's really rewarding.
It's just a, a testament of thequality of the product we've delivered.
It's a testament of what we built andit's testament of the connection and the
importance of food for people, basically.
So I've always reallyenjoyed these things.
They're little sort of dings, right?
(29:20):
Little ding, ding, ding.
Huge in there.
You can see in your inbox.
And, uh, I, I, I still get notifications.
I've set myself up to see every singlenotification when we get new bookings.
And it's just, it gives you thatadrenaline and dopp in basically
to, uh, to know you build somethinggood and you, you should, should
keep pushing no matter how.
Yeah.
Tough it can be and how muchshit you need to learn around new
(29:44):
thingss and um, deal with accountingand all sorts of other stuff.
At least you're actually creating andmaking a difference for someone basically.
Simon (29:52):
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Well, Petco, thank you somuch for joining me today.
I, I just, I love to hear aboutdifferent experiences, people around
the world doing great things in, infood and beverage and hospitality.
Um, I mean, obviously being ableto bring chefs into people's
homes is something special, right?
Um, and I think as a, as a chef myself.
(30:15):
Being able to, to, to see that like theexperiences that those chefs can have.
Um, and connecting isdefinitely, um, pretty valuable
and just genuinely special.
So, um, tell us how we find you.
Like what, where, where are we gonna goso that we can, we can experience this.
Petko (30:37):
I think, uh, I mean the simplest way is obviously on, uh, the website.
We have, uh, chef in.com,uh, like the chef in.com.
Okay.
So it's a pretty simplewebsite and a brand.
Um, and you can findinformation there about, uh.
What you can do as a chef and howyou can enjoy yourself by cooking
for individuals in their homes.
(30:57):
And also the, the actual individuals canfind information about romantic dinners
and dining experiences, blind forwarddinners and different culinary adventures
that, uh, they can book online blind.
It's a, yeah, it's a pretty,pretty cool and simple spot.
If you really wanna connect withme, the best place is LinkedIn.
I am on LinkedIn all the time.
(31:19):
Uh, I tend to spend at least half an hourevery day on LinkedIn connecting with
people and sort of responding to messagesand messaging other people as well,
keeping conversations and keeping in touchwith friends around the world as well.
I think that's the beauty ofsocial media, that it enables us
to actually connect and sort of.
Talk to people that are acrossthe world, like tens of thousands
(31:40):
of kilometers away from us.
Um, and also you can see a lot of contentand a lot of information about what we do.
And I tend to, uh, sort of build inpublic and post a lot of information as
well around the business and what we'vedone and what we've succeeded with.
And sometimes what we failed on.
Simon (31:57):
Awesome.
So I'll make sure all that stuff is in theshow notes so that people can find you.
Um, once again, thank you somuch to all you out there.
Uh, please go find where you find your,where you consume podcasts, whether
that be Spotify or Apple Podcasts,or Amazon or just about anywhere.
Um.
Also doing, doing this on YouTube.
(32:18):
Would love a review.
Would love, gotta be five star though.
Come on.
Help me out.
Um, and a like a follow, a subscribe.
All those are super appreciated.
And uh, just keep listening 'causewe're, we keep having fun every week.
So thank you very much andcatch you on the flip side.
You're listening toHeritage Radio Network.
I.
From kitchen chaos to well-oiled machines.
Get ready for newfangledtechnology and old school Know-how
(00:21):
stories and a good bit of fun.
I'm Simon, and this iscalled Area Mechanic.
Petko (00:31):
I mean from, uh, like how we started Ching, like, um, it was around
2015 actually, and yeah, I had a, I.Funny enough, uh, I had a Italian friend
of mine that I met through a dinner.
So we met on a dinner, uh, Christmasdinner where we ate this, uh, funky, uh,
(00:51):
what is it called, like Portuguese dishducken or something where you have like a
stuffed pork sausages inside a chicken andthen a chicken stuffed into a duck and a
duck stuffed into a Turkey or something.
Uh, it was really funny andthere was like this little.
Portuguese girls stuffing uplike the chicken and all the
sausages and stuff inside.
It was quite an interesting experience.
(01:13):
Uh, so we met on this dinner like,I don't know, 2013 or something,
or 2012, and then we sort of metagain in 2015 and we were like.
Uh, wow.
Okay.
That's so interesting.
Meeting through dinners.
Let's host some dinners at home.
Uh, we had this amazing house,like, uh, three floors, amazing
house on Bondi Beach basically.
(01:33):
And we started inviting people and createdthis huge house parties we had like.
I don't know, like up to a hundredpeople coming in to eat like pasta
and like to eat like risottos.
And, uh, we did curries and like allsorts of different cuisines, right?
Barbecue, uh, Texas style,European style, uh, sort of
like, uh, Eastern European style.
(01:53):
Um, south European, like we did even sortof, um, metropolitan and a little bit of,
um, sort of like Sicilian stuff as well.
So it's really interesting.
But what we sort of realized afterdoing it for a couple of weeks is that
it takes so much effort and so muchtime to prepare and cook for everyone.
I. That you couldn't actually enjoy.
You couldn't spend time talkingwith people, entertaining, uh,
(02:17):
yourself and having a drink.
Like the only time you could really have adrink is when the party finishes after you
sort of finish cleaning up and then youcan sit down and have a beer or something.
Um, right, but with sort of.
Realized that we gotta, we gotta get,actually, we gotta change something.
Like, it's an amazing concept.
We really enjoy doing it.
We really enjoy hosting people, but atthe same time, we wanna entertain and we
(02:39):
wanna be part of the, the guests ratherthan just being stuck in the kitchen,
washing up dishes and preparing things.
Um, and then we had, um, afriend, another friend actually.
Flying into Hong Kong and experiencingtheir sort of like, um, private
chef service in Hong Kong, whichapparently has been around for
quite a while and it's very common.
(03:00):
Um.
And we were like, wow.
It just sort of lighted up alight bulb in our heads and we
were like, this is amazing idea.
Why don't we connect the people that wannacook for others and want to enjoy the act
of cooking with, uh, other people thatactually need someone to cook for them so
they can enjoy the act of entertaining.
Um, and the two things sortof came in together just.
(03:23):
You can call it coincidental, butI think it was like a very managed
coincidence where we tested a few things.
We actually tried it ourselves.
Um, and then we movedinto talking about it.
So we talked to a bunch ofpeople about the concept of
sending a chef to their home.
And then we got our firstcustomer by June, uh, sorry,
by sort of December in 2015.
(03:43):
Um, we had a friend of afriend that really loved the
concept and she booked us in.
Uh, on the, I think it wasthe 12th of December in 2015.
That was our first event.
And then on the next day shewas like, wow, this was amazing.
I really loved, um, I think it was, uh,chef Onie was like a French chef, um, that
came to, to her place and cooked for her.
(04:04):
I really love Chef Onie.
Oh, how can I pay you?
And we are like, Ooh.
Wait for a bet, we'll getyou, we'll get it organized.
So we then scrambled for our five days toactually register a business and open a
bank account and send her the bank accountso she can actually transfer the cash.
So that was like how wereally started in 2015.
And then we started actually oncewe had the business and once we had
(04:26):
the concept and we knew that peoplelove it, we started rolling up
more bookings in 2017 organically.
And at the same time we startedbuilding, uh, a bit of a tech piece,
like a little platform or a littledashboard where the chefs can put
their menus and then customers can,can actually have a look at what's on
offer, have a look at some pictures,and maybe do some bookings and stuff.
(04:47):
Um, and that's like, we spent around2016, probably the whole year.
Until, I think August, September,August doing that and sort of getting
comfortable with what we've hadand um, also organizing insurances,
working out the actual concept.
So we went through a few differentconcepts of trying to do like a peer
to peer, um, marketplace where sort ofnormal individuals cook for each other.
(05:11):
Uh, and then we sort of likereally pivoted and went into
the chef power marketplace.
'cause in the beginning, like when westarted thinking about it, we were like
wondering whether chefs are gonna haveenough time to do this and enough passion
to actually get out of the kitchenand be interested in cooking extra,
considering they already sometimes.
Uh, overworked, right?
(05:31):
Um, right.
But then when we spoke to a bunchof chefs, we actually worked
out that they love this concept.
They love the fact that theycan connect with customers.
They can actually cook in theirhomes, and they can create something
different from what they're forcedsometimes to cook on a daily basis.
I. It's not like a bacon andeggs thing for a breakfast chef.
Uh, and we had a lot of breakfastchefs in the beginning actually
(05:52):
signing up and Oh, how funny.
Yeah, because they'll just be doingbacon and eggs rolls like every day.
Right.
Uh, and then they want to dosomething else with their skills.
Something that can actuallyshowcase their passion.
Simon (06:05):
Yeah.
I mean, I. I know for myself, havingjust cooked forever or what seems
like forever, just the idea thatyou can get an opportunity on your
day off or whatever, to, to go dosomething completely different, you
know, a different menu, um, from whatyou're executing day in and day out.
It, it's, it's special.
(06:25):
It's fun.
I, I, I know that from personalexperience, but, um, so.
What has been like the big revelation,like as you, as you're meeting chefs
and, and kind of bringing them inas well as meeting, talking to the,
the guests and, and the clients.
Um, what have been like the bigrevelations of this whole thing?
Petko (06:50):
They've been a lot, really, uh, a lot.
Um, I think the, some of thethings that are really, really.
Impressive, I think, and sort ofeyeopening is how satisfied customers,
individual customers can be and howimportant for them, uh, these dinners can
(07:11):
be, and sometimes life changing as well.
Like we've had, uh, we had customers likemeet their life partners through a dinner.
That they sit on.
Oh, wow.
Um, we had one, Kim I think was her name.
She met her husband now, uh,in 2 20, 20 23 over at dinner.
(07:32):
Basically like of 10 people on the tablewhere we had, uh, chef cooking for them.
Uh, Brazilian guy in Sydney actually.
Um, and then she sort of got in touchafter, so she can, they can celebrate
together their anniversary and.
And have a chef every year.
So it's been really cool.
Then we had, uh, another, anothercustomer, El Liza, she did her wedding
(07:55):
with a chef, uh, in a remote area.
Like she hired like a chateau, uh, inthe mountains, um, and did the wedding.
And then every year sincewe've done like anniversaries.
We've done her birthday and thenwe've done her child's birth.
So with like a sort of likea hundred day welcoming or
naming, uh, party for the kid.
(08:15):
And then we're doing her again thisyear, like next week basically.
So we sort of follow people through theirlife and it's, it's just really cool
to sort of see how their life developsand have a different chef in there.
Have different food, but they stillenjoy the act of entertaining and
they still enjoy the, the qualityof the food and having that cooked.
(08:38):
Um.
Professional chefs.
So that's been really cool.
Uh, I think I really enjoyedthis kind of stories.
And then on the other side, we'veseen, um, we've seen a lot of chefs
actually get back in the industry.
I think that's been a really importantreation revelation for me, is that
sometimes chefs can be burned out.
(08:59):
They can exit the industryfor whatever reason.
Like, yeah, I had a chef that.
Had a burning oil spill on hisleg and he's like, fuck this.
I'm not cooking in acommercial kitchen anymore.
Like, it's just that it's not worth it.
Um, I've had a friend chef withlike 40 years of experience that
went out and is managing a warehousefor the singer sewing machines.
(09:20):
You know, like some random stuff.
I have a few chefs that are.
Tradies.
Now they do construction, uh, carpenters,um, floorboards, like all sorts of window
cleaning, like all sorts of random stuff.
And then the, the thing that we offerto them is just the connection back to
the industry of doing something amazinglike once a month or once a week or
(09:44):
once every couple of months, whatever.
It's convenient for them.
They can just jump in and say,Hey, I'm gonna do a dinner.
And going to a dinner for two or do adinner for 10, whatever they're fancy.
Sometimes they'll bring theirpartner with them and just sort of
create a really nice experience.
Take some pictures, connectback to, to the craft, uh, hone
their skills, use their knives,
Simon (10:05):
basically.
Oh, man, I, I love it.
I, I mean, like I said, I, Ilove doing that kinda work and.
I completely understandwhat you're saying.
It's like there's a, there's, there is aconnection that is lost in the restaurant.
Unless you're in the, theright restaurant, you know?
Um, there's a concept thatis in southern California.
(10:29):
It's called Scratch, andit's a scratch kitchen.
And this guy has put it togetherand I think at one point he had
five or six of 'em, and I thinkhe's probably got two or three.
Um, but it is just chefs andit's maybe 20 seats total.
And the, the, the chefs serve everything.
Right.
So there Oh, nice.
Was nobody, yeah.
(10:50):
So they're cooking and maybethey're like rotating out.
Maybe you're taking this course oryou're taking this neck thing and it's
definitely not longer menus, it's moreof a, you know, uh, I would say it's
probably more of an a la carte service.
Um, yeah.
In general.
But, um.
You know, super small, super intimate.
They definitely, when it comesto cost of, of operation, they're
(11:11):
saving some money because you'd needthat many cooks or chefs anyway.
And maybe you just add one thatkind of acts as a pivot for you,
um, and they're able to serve.
So I think it's think connectionis pretty special, um, just in
general and, and maybe somethingthat's lost in a lot of restaurants.
So,
Petko (11:28):
yeah.
And also a bit of creativity and.
Sometimes doing challengingthings that are out of the box.
We had like, uh, we had an event in,um, uh, San Francisco for example.
It was for Australian community.
Uh, 'cause obviously westarted from Australia.
So we have this connection and we sortof try to serve Australian customers
like we do Australian wine tastings inAustralian food tastings in Hong Kong.
(11:51):
Um, we do also offer them across the US.
Um, we have a few partners thatimport Australian wines and we use
like Australian products as well.
And we had like a corporate eventfor, um, for a law firm actually
in San Francisco and they wanted todo a taste of Australia experience.
So, uh, we worked through, sort ofput together some really Australian
stuff, like have a bit of big fruitin the burger, in the sliders.
(12:15):
Uh, I have a few sort of like, uh, avosmash, uh, sandwiches, like FEA and
avocado on a sourdough toast, uh, anddo like an Eton mess with a dessert.
So it's just having that creativityand ability to learn something
new, even though you may be a superexperienced chef with like whatever
amounts of experience, right?
You always wanna learn something new.
I think every chef has thatpassion of learning something new.
(12:38):
And how can you dosomething that is different?
Uh, it could be.
Sort of as a base, like what I wastelling the, the chef was from Texas.
Josh, I was telling him is the Aussieburger is not that different to them.
Texas Burger, right?
You just want to have a bit of mayowith the barbecue sauce and you
wanna slap in a beetroot insideand you've got an Aussie burger.
It's the same thing, but you justgotta think a little bit differently.
(13:03):
I don't know about you, but I did notget into the restaurant business to spend
all my time in a cramp little office.
I love being in thekitchen, out on the floor.
And if you're nodding your head rightnow, I want to introduce you to an
amazing company called Starfish.
Look, I've gotten to know their CEOJordan recently and what they're
(13:23):
building really impresses me.
They're using AI to read your Pand L and they're going to email
you actionable insights every week.
So you can lower yourcosts and increase revenue.
Best part is you don't have tospend time digging through your
P and L's pouring over reportsin that cramped little office.
(13:43):
Starfish is going to do that foryou so you can get back to the
part of the business that you love.
If you're interested, go totheir website, use starfish.
com that's U S E starfish.
com and tell them Simon sent you.
Ah, that's
Simon (14:00):
cool.
I like it.
Yeah, it's, it's funny how, uh, themore I talk to people, um, as part of
this podcast, you know, I talked toa guy who was down in Fiji, um, and
he's, he's like the group chef, andhe run, he oversees three resorts.
Each one of 'em has three restaurants,all on that, that one little island.
(14:22):
And he's, he's like, this is great.
And he's an Australian as well.
And so, uh.
We were talking and I said, gosh, it'sjust stunning to me to realize that
you have the same issues when it comesto people and product and all that.
It's a world away, but it'sthe same thing, you know,
(14:43):
um, all the same issues, but.
What separates it is the sort ofthe, some of the combinations, right?
The, the food combinations andsometimes technique for sure, but just
definitely like how food is different,but the operations are the same.
And I think that's, that'salways real fun to think about.
Um, and I, yeah, get, I get intothese conversations and I'm like,
(15:06):
oh, so you struggle the same way.
I struggle.
Look at that.
Petko (15:11):
And like serving on an island, dude, it is very
challenging, like doing island work.
We did recently, uh, a big event on anisland here in the harbor and in Sydney,
and it was quite a challenge being ableto serve a thousand people every day.
You gotta really plan what ingredientsthe island set up, kitchen from
(15:32):
scratch, make sure you're stockedup and you don't run out of things.
And then if you run out.
You gotta take a, a boat like for a45 minutes trip to go and stock up
from the fish market or something.
So we ran out of seafood 'cause it wastoo popular on the second day and we
were like just rushing up on the, on theferry to go and pick up some seafood.
And we have the driver waiting on theother side and just throwing up the
(15:54):
boxes of the seafood on the ferry.
And then we are back.
Simon (15:58):
I mean, this guy was talking about, he's like, you gotta have, you
gotta have, you gotta have your plan,and then you gotta have your backup
plan, and then you gotta have theplan when the boat doesn't show up.
And I was like, wait, what?
And he, because you know,I, it's that whole thing.
I was like, here comesthe food in the truck.
(16:18):
Right?
It's always, they run, they run,you know, I live in a city, I live
in Seattle, where, you know, thetrucks are just running around.
I can like look out my doorand go, oh, there's the truck.
I see that truck every day, right.
From whatever distributor.
Um, but no, if you, your boatdoesn't, I was like, I don't
even know what to say to that.
He's like, well, you justgotta, you gotta know what.
You gotta know what else is out there.
(16:39):
You gotta know like who, who youcan send running, as you said, like
onto a boat or, you know, acrossto the, to the other resort that
might have something that you need.
These, it's, it really requires alot of, well, a lot of communication,
but also a lot of deep thinking aboutwhat's happening, you know, and,
and being able to, to coordinate.
(17:01):
But no, uh, definitely makes me.
Think about why I spent so manyyears just doing restaurant work.
You know, I've long saidthat like catering chefs are
just a, a different animal.
They're the same, butthey're different, right?
Like, I, I, someone said, I,I said to a catering chef last
year, I said, why do you cater?
She's like, every day is different.
(17:22):
Like, why do you do restaurants?
I'm like, every day's kind of thesame, and I know what to expect.
There's enough.
There's enough.
Screwy shit in the world, um, without,you know, like, oh, uh, actually we
went, we went and did a wedding togetherand turns out that the, the tent that
they put up by the tent company, theyput it up on a, on the side of a hill.
(17:46):
So, so here we are, like the,the, the big circus look intent.
For the, for all the tables andeverything, that was all level.
But we were up on the side of ahill, so you're plating and you're
saucing the, the, the beef, right?
And all of a sudden it'slike, oh, what do I do now?
Because it's just running.
It's like, oh, okay.
(18:08):
So we, you know, so we had to likeshift around and like last second,
like we were moving tables in themiddle of plating because it was just.
Killing us.
You know, it's like,oh, I don't know, man.
Like, I think my stress meter is too much.
I don't know.
It's definitely not level,kitchen level, kitchen.
That's the goal right there.
Level kitchen.
(18:29):
Um,
Petko (18:30):
course
Simon (18:32):
you, and it's something that you would never think of.
Wait, what do you mean?
You just, you just rolled thefryer into the, into the outdoor
kitchen and it's not level.
I'm like, oh, we're gonna spillsome, like we're gonna hurt
somebody if we're not careful here.
It was amazing.
Um, I so.
(18:54):
What's next with, with Chef?
I mean, do you, uh, are there, arethere new platforms, new ideas?
Are there, I mean,what's, what's happening?
Is it just build it tojust keep getting bigger
Petko (19:05):
or?
I think at the moment, the, the thingthat we've noticed is that we have a
lot of customers, like large corporatecustomers that want experiences across
the world, and there's no one else like.
There's literally no other brands you canthink of, or at least I can't think of
any other company that you can go in andsay, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a chef
(19:30):
in Hong Kong, or I'm gonna have a chefin New York or in Seattle, or I'm gonna
go to Paris and I'm gonna have a chef.
There's no other brand you can think of.
There's no other.
Company you can think of thatactually can enable you to do that.
We wanna be that player around the worldwhere you can have the same chef in
experience with Simon in Seattle, withJosh in Dallas, or with like, uh, Paul
(19:55):
in, uh, Brisbane and uh, Pierre in Paris.
So it is just going in these cities andbeing able to actually scale up in every
different location around the world.
In Brazil, we are inBrazil now in Sao Paulo.
And obviously Brazil is huge.
We wanna expand in other states,in other cities as well, right?
But we just really wanna build,um, the largest hospitality brand
(20:16):
around the world that is recognizedby consumers and by chefs for fine
dining and amazing food, right?
Uh, I mean, maybe the only thing you canthink of is the Michelin guide, right?
The Michelin guide is sortof present around the world.
Not in Australia though.
We don't have it down here, but Oh,
combo (20:32):
okay.
Okay.
Petko (20:33):
Um, but they don't really represent individual restaurants.
They don't really represent chefs.
They just talk about whichone is the best and where you
should go and give you a guide.
But we want to unite.
Like the best chefs around the worldand, and make them available for
booking so people can actually bookand experience this experience, uh, and
(20:53):
have it in their home, or have it ina venue, or have it in their office.
Uh, no matter where where theyare, they could be in, in Safi, in
Bulgaria, or in Paris, in France, orLondon, in the uk, uh, or in Mexico.
Anyway, basically.
That's
Simon (21:07):
sounds like so much fun.
Uh, I mean, I can just imagine ifyou've got the, if you've got the
corporate money to be able to book, booksomething in Hong Kong and, and then
have, have something else for your, sortof, your next meeting along the way.
Oh.
And in another city.
That's pretty stunning.
I, I mean, sounds, soundslike a good thing to me.
Petko (21:27):
Yeah, and you know, like we've noticed that um, there's a lot more
cultural interest in food and likecorporates and individuals as well, but in
particular in corporates around the world.
We've been doing like the mostpopular corporate event we've been
doing last year was Thanksgiving inAustralia, which is quite interesting.
But.
There's a lot of Americancompanies, right?
(21:48):
And there's a lot of Americans,a lot of American employees that
are moving outside of America.
So they want to celebrateThanksgiving and maybe they don't
have the chance of going back home.
Um, it's not that easy to take aholiday in November, to be honest.
Not, not in any othercountry except the us.
So if you're outside of the US,you've gotta work in November,
combo (22:06):
right?
Petko (22:06):
Uh, it's just a normal working schedule.
So being able to offer that to theemployees and to, uh, their teams.
It's an amazing experience where youcan have the Thanksgiving, Turkey,
you turn up to your office and you'vegot like a Thanksgiving Turkey.
We did like sweet potatoes withmarshmallows and all sorts of stuff.
You know, all all the good American
combo (22:25):
stuff.
Petko (22:26):
Yeah, like as non-Americans we can find quite funny, like
having sweet potatoes withmarshmallows is like, what the hell?
But like people love this andit's just cultural inclusivity and
sharing culture across the world.
And then we are doing the samestuff like for Chinese New Year.
Uh, we have a lot of like Chinese NewYear interest and bookings happening
across the US and also in Australia.
(22:47):
Um, and then others celebrating otherstuff like, um, Ramadan Ramadan's
been very popular this year in the USas well, so people are really caring
about this cultural, uh, culturalcelebrations and cultural connection
that they have to their home.
That's cool.
Simon (23:03):
I dig it.
Um, tell me what a win in your day is.
A win.
A win.
What is what, what isa win for Petco Peko,
Petko (23:15):
you know, it's, there's, it's very fucking challenging
running your own business, whichyou probably have realized, right?
That I think you, I, I saw your last emailwhere you were talking about you had to
learn all of these different tools andlearn how to grow newsletters and stuff.
Simon (23:30):
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Petko (23:32):
Yeah, it was the same for me, but I, I went even in on a couple of
more extremes, hopefully you don'thave to deal with it, but I had to
learn how to read legal contractsand how to represent myself in court.
Um, so I've done like a bunch of cases.
Like I've had to even deal withthe, with the tax office here.
We had a case with a tax office.
(23:52):
Um, I had to turn up to court.
Um, I had to deal with.
Two cases with the tax office actually.
Um, and we've had to, I had to, um.
What else?
Like learn my accountingso I can clear up my books.
Like I, I, I was let down byaccountants on reporting tax, sales tax.
(24:13):
'cause in particular, um, inAustralia sales tax for, or we call
it GST, goods and service tax, uh,for food is really complicated.
Like we have, I don't know whyand whether you have a similar
system, but we have this system inAustralia where if you buy a bread.
It doesn't, doesn't attract sales tax.
It's, it's been created like, I dunno,hundreds of years ago to promote food,
(24:35):
food, business and production of food.
Um, if you slice two, if you slicebread, it doesn't attract sales tax.
But if you put a slice of cheesebetween two slices of bread, you
gotta put sales tax on it becausenow it's a product, it's a sandwich.
It's not anymore two slices ofbread with a slice of cheese.
It's ridiculous.
Simon (24:58):
Oh, you just made something hurt right up here.
Um, I don't think I've everthought about it like that.
Um, but I definitelyunderstand what you're saying.
Right.
I think that's pretty cool.
Um, 'cause there is a difference.
Hey, we got a visitor.
Yeah.
I'm got a little visitor
Petko (25:15):
here.
Hey babe.
How are you doing?
She's giving her breakfast.
Awesome.
Um, so that was like this realization thatI gotta learn all of these skills and be
able to actually deal with, um, taxation.
Being able to deal with contractsand being able to do all of
these things was like really,um, really interesting for me.
(25:40):
Basically, I think I had tolearn a lot of different things.
Um,
Simon (25:44):
yeah, I mean, to, to go back to what you said, what, what
you're describing is my very firstofficial email newsletter and I
decided to put a quick little blurbin there, um, that I will, I will.
Pretty much, there'll always be somethingabout building my business because I
(26:04):
think it's really important to, forpeople to understand, like there's
some really like crazy interestingshit to be, to go through, you know?
Yeah.
But like, I'm a chef.
I perfected, well, not perfected.
I'm, I really honed my craft for30 plus years, you know, and all
the things, whether it's the knivesor even the spreadsheets and, and
(26:26):
understanding the numbers and.
The truly the craft oflike leading people.
Um, and so that's great.
And then you say, oh, I'm gonnago off and do something else.
And it's like, okay, I can, I cannow be a consultant or an advisor
and I can help you in the restaurant.
That shit's easy.
But wait, getting clients, making,making it clear of what I do for people.
(26:50):
And, and so the, the marketingand the branding and you
know, oh, you need a logo.
Oh, you need this.
Oh, you gotta register that.
You know, so for me, Idecided that I would create.
One little piece of that newsletterthat my goal is about 75 to a hundred
words of just something that says, thisis, this is the fucking thing, man.
(27:14):
You know?
And this is what it is.
'cause I think it's important, you know,um, yeah, I talk to a lot of chefs and
so I, uh, thankfully there's a, a numberof chefs on that, on that email list.
Um, and I want, I want some of theyounger folks and even some of the
older folks to be able to look and go.
There's more out there, right there.
You can leave the re, you canleave the restaurant business
(27:35):
and you can do other things.
And so I wanna, I dunno if I'mlooking to inspire as much as I am.
Just sharing my journey, you know,but it's, it's, uh, it's pretty
fascinating to be a small, smallrestaurant owner and it is challenging
or small, small business owners already.
Um, it is
Petko (27:52):
challenging.
So I, I think for me, like really thethings that I still consider is wins every
day is when I receive, when we receivea, a positive feedback from a customer.
And when I can see a nice story, whenI see, when we see a story where.
They say, Hey, this wasthe best meal that we had.
Um, this was like the bestsausage, or this was the best
steak, or this was the best dish.
It was the best experience.
(28:13):
We just enjoyed everythingfrom start to end.
Um, like I really enjoyed that win.
For me, that's, that's a big win for us.
Like it's a big win for the community.
It's a big win for the chef and it's abig win for us as a business to actually
win another ambassador, another personthat would go and refer us and talk
to their friends about the experience.
And the other thing that I really enjoy.
It's also on sort of the beginning ofthe experience is when we see another
(28:38):
booking from a random person that I'venever heard of or I've never spoken with.
It's just like a random person,random individual would go on the
website and purchase a bookingand I just book and pay and we are
gonna be like, wow, this is so cool.
It's just every time you seethis, no matter how deep you are
in your business and how much.
(28:58):
Shit you've dealt with and howmany things you gotta sort of
do in order to get to here.
Like when you see this, Ithink it's really rewarding.
It's just a, a testament of thequality of the product we've delivered.
It's a testament of what we built andit's testament of the connection and the
importance of food for people, basically.
So I've always reallyenjoyed these things.
They're little sort of dings, right?
(29:20):
Little ding, ding, ding.
Huge in there.
You can see in your inbox.
And, uh, I, I, I still get notifications.
I've set myself up to see every singlenotification when we get new bookings.
And it's just, it gives you thatadrenaline and dopp in basically
to, uh, to know you build somethinggood and you, you should, should
keep pushing no matter how.
Yeah.
Tough it can be and how muchshit you need to learn around new
(29:44):
thingss and um, deal with accountingand all sorts of other stuff.
At least you're actually creating andmaking a difference for someone basically.
Simon (29:52):
Yeah.
That's amazing.
Well, Petco, thank you somuch for joining me today.
I, I just, I love to hear aboutdifferent experiences, people around
the world doing great things in, infood and beverage and hospitality.
Um, I mean, obviously being ableto bring chefs into people's
homes is something special, right?
Um, and I think as a, as a chef myself.
(30:15):
Being able to, to, to see that like theexperiences that those chefs can have.
Um, and connecting isdefinitely, um, pretty valuable
and just genuinely special.
So, um, tell us how we find you.
Like what, where, where are we gonna goso that we can, we can experience this.
Petko (30:37):
I think, uh, I mean the simplest way is obviously on, uh, the website.
We have, uh, chef in.com,uh, like the chef in.com.
Okay.
So it's a pretty simplewebsite and a brand.
Um, and you can findinformation there about, uh.
What you can do as a chef and howyou can enjoy yourself by cooking
for individuals in their homes.
(30:57):
And also the, the actual individuals canfind information about romantic dinners
and dining experiences, blind forwarddinners and different culinary adventures
that, uh, they can book online blind.
It's a, yeah, it's a pretty,pretty cool and simple spot.
If you really wanna connect withme, the best place is LinkedIn.
I am on LinkedIn all the time.
(31:19):
Uh, I tend to spend at least half an hourevery day on LinkedIn connecting with
people and sort of responding to messagesand messaging other people as well,
keeping conversations and keeping in touchwith friends around the world as well.
I think that's the beauty ofsocial media, that it enables us
to actually connect and sort of.
Talk to people that are acrossthe world, like tens of thousands
(31:40):
of kilometers away from us.
Um, and also you can see a lot of contentand a lot of information about what we do.
And I tend to, uh, sort of build inpublic and post a lot of information as
well around the business and what we'vedone and what we've succeeded with.
And sometimes what we failed on.
Simon (31:57):
Awesome.
So I'll make sure all that stuff is in theshow notes so that people can find you.
Um, once again, thank you somuch to all you out there.
Uh, please go find where you find your,where you consume podcasts, whether
that be Spotify or Apple Podcasts,or Amazon or just about anywhere.
Um.
Also doing, doing this on YouTube.
(32:18):
Would love a review.
Would love, gotta be five star though.
Come on.
Help me out.
Um, and a like a follow, a subscribe.
All those are super appreciated.
And uh, just keep listening 'causewe're, we keep having fun every week.
So thank you very much andcatch you on the flip side.
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