A life? A Career? I don’t know what to call it…
I grew up in the Restaurant and Hospitality Business,
Early Days
Arrived on the planet and lived all my youth in the beautiful resort town of Banff, Alberta, Canada. I was born to two top class professionals at one of the areas top hospitality institutions, The Banff Springs Hotel. Growing up in a postcard, with innate background and early childhood experiences, gave fertile ground for me to absorb hospitality as a whole.
Building foundational operational business knowledge began back in these days, as well as my understandings of the workforce inequity problem, and unhealthy lifestyle prevalent throughout the world’s restaurants and resorts.
Front and back of house interplay began here too…kitchen jobs were easier to get, but front of house made more money. So I’d go back and forth, and for the rest of my career I’d focus on not specializing between FOH and BOH. I’d unknowingly set out on a path to absorb advanced service proficiencies, bartending and the culinary arts—and combining those into a unique skillset.
The Meat.
Moving to America and diving into its Culinary Underbelly in the strong southern metroplex of Dallas-Fort Worth, is where my bones have been made. Many threads created my culinary worldview and built the next levels to my foundation.
During this time, I was voracious in working incredibly demanding workweeks. I immersed myself in intense study and practice during my apprenticeships, and beyond, into opening new concepts in the marketplace.
Many threads wove together to create the criteria for understanding the depths of cuisine and hospitality from a multi-faceted and rare perspective.
One thread involves fine dining. Serving and cooking for Presidents of the United States, celebrity athletes, and business elites. Seeing private insights into the veiled world where the clientele was composed of many of the top 1% financially.
Another thread has to do with the lifestyle that began to wear me down, as I burned through my early 20’s burning the candle at both ends in a whirlwind of industry induced stress, anxiety, and emotion. Something was not working for me…
The third thread is about the systems that feed and facilitate all of the above, the broader industries responsible for the diminishing humanity in hospitality, and the environmental and cultural impacts of waste, excess, and inefficiency.
Out of the Oven.
Bake all that together and see what you get.
That’s not including all the other interests I have been pursuing, learning, and doing…
Looking back, reflecting and connecting the dots, I realized I find myself in a remarkable position to help the entire industry. Combining my experiences and creating content around the issues, and solutions to what I have seen as a systemic need in hospitality and cuisine globally.
I still love hospitality. I still love to cook for friends and family, and part of me still gets a rush when I step on the line, do an event, or teach a cooking class. Part of me still misses the old teams and each cut and burn I earned in line cook life.
But now I’m focusing on the biggest horizons I can find to make an impact for as many people as I can .
Things can change. I can help that. That’s what I am compelled to do.