What is a Chef with Matt Collins of Chef Collins Events

Welcome to the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. I'm your host Chris spear. On the show. I have conversations with culinary entrepreneurs and people in the food and beverage industry who took a different route. Their caterers, research chefs, personal chefs cookbook authors, food truckers, farmers, cottage bakers, and all sorts of culinary renegades. I myself fall into the personal chef category as I started my own personal chef business perfect little bites 11 years ago. And while I started working in kitchens in the early 90s, I've literally never worked in a restaurant. This week, I'm back with another one of our what it means to be a chef many episodes. Today I've Chef Matt Collins, you might have heard my episode with him a year and a half ago or so. Talking about his personal chef business chef Collins events. Matt has the distinction of being the most downloaded podcast episode. I don't really know why. No, I'm just kidding. You know, Matt and I actually talked a lot about tactical ways to build and grow personal chef business. And I think it's a really great listen if you want to get into this aspect of food service. So all joking aside, Matt was a great guest the first time and I really wanted to talk to him about what he thinks it means to be a chef. Having a personal chef business, I knew he wasn't gonna say that a chef only works in restaurants. But I wanted for him to kind of spell it out for us. So I hope you enjoy listening to this mini episode. I hope you are enjoying the mini episodes as a whole. And please let us know what you think. If you enjoy them, or if you hate them, drop me a line at chefs without restaurants@gmail.com or hit me up via DM on Instagram at Chefs Without Restaurants. And now enjoy the show. Hey, Matt, how's it going? Welcome back to the show. Good to have you on.

Great, Chris. Thanks for having me.

So you are the most downloaded episode of this podcast. What do you think about that is that, you know, besides my original trailer episode, you're the most listened to episode.

I mean, obviously, the opportunity was fantastic you having me on and I'm glad people enjoyed the episode. And you know, the community built is fantastic. And being able to have share experiences and getting feedback. And as the whole point, you know what you're doing. So I was happy to be a part of that.

And, you know, I've been, I guess I'm in season three now. And I don't know why I started doing this. But it was just really important for me to ask people what they think a chef is, you know, I think so much because the whole community is made up of people who are chefs not working in restaurants. And you know, we kind of tie the title chef to someone who works in a restaurant. So that's why I'm kind of going back and getting some of my favorite past guests on here to talk about this in a little concise episode. So you've had a little prep time, this isn't a surprise. So what does it mean to be a chef?

Well, I think it's great that you do this, because pretty much it's not a yes or no question. It's not what's your favorite food? You know, what's your favorite cookbook? It's literally like a it's very divisive, because it's everyone's gonna kind of have a different answer. But it's pretty funny about you know, how people become a chef in a restaurant is you hear all these people on your show talk about how they kind of got thrown into a management situation. So there's no like streamline training. So how I was trained, and what I think makes me chef might be totally different than what someone else think that they hit those same qualifications. You know, when you're looking at the true definition, it's kind of, you know, obviously, last week, you guys were talking about the textbook definition, you know, I mean, but at the end of the day, it's more or less like, yeah, you could be a professional athlete, but you could also be the place kicker holder on a football league or you can be like, like, you know, a superstar in whatever league you are. You mean like Krishna, like Ronaldo playing soccer. And so it's like, yeah, they're both professional athletes, but there's like, like tears and sub subcategories, like in that group. And I mean, that's not to talk down to anybody. You know, part of being a chef, I think is wanting to learn wanting to improve and wanting to explore the vast depths of cuisine, any chance you get, and also refining classics and being having those basic technical skills at the same time.

So, do you think you have to work in a restaurant be a chef. I mean, I, I know this is kind of like, you know, I have an idea what your answer would be.

I know, I feel like my answers gonna be very unpopular. I think by all means, if you've studied and you feel that you are, because you're the leader of your own domain, you know, I mean, the brigade system came up that triangle. If you're at the top of the pyramid, then you know, whether you're developing recipes or doing in home dinners, as long as you're the one making the decisions, then yeah, sure. You're the chef, if you're the cooking at your own house at dinner for for the family. Sure. You're the chef of the kitchen, you're the top of the hierarchy. I mean, granted, that goes back to the sports analogy, if you're just cooking at home for the wife and kids, and, you know, maybe that's like beer league ice hockey, it's not the NHL or the Olympics, but hey, you know, you're still the master of that domain. You know, I think that's kind of important. Because that goes back to what we were saying before about different opinions where it's like, if you are a chef at a restaurant, well, what's the restaurant? That's, that's also important, you know, are you truly pushing a certain narrative of the food and the cuisine and the style that you want? Did you inherit a restaurant and you're just doing someone else's recipes, like a corporate dining situation? You know, and then are you someone who really doesn't want to say cook a cheeseburger, but the owners are making you and 50% of your sales are just burgers, kind of like a bar type setting. And it's not maybe not the food you either want to cook. So that's kind of the loaded issue of where the cut offs are of chefs, where, personally, I think, if you hit like, the mindset in your head, like, I feel very comfortable. When someone says, Hey, make this dish, I can make it and you feel like a chef, then in my book, how your chef, if you feel it, if it comes from inside, you know, I mean?

I think the first time I had kind of been frustrated with the way someone else positioned it was when I joined the personal chefs Association, and they kind of told everyone in that course, like, just go buy yourself, chef coat and wear it through the grocery store. And when someone asked what you do tell them I'm a chef. And that's how you get business. And I was kind of like, What the fuck, like, I went to culinary school for four years and spent a bazillion dollars and you're just telling like Betty Sue that all she has to do is put on a chef coat, and bam, she's a chef. And I had to come to terms with the fact that like, it doesn't affect me, like, maybe I don't agree with that. But also like that woman can call herself whatever she wants, and it literally has zero bearing on my life and my business. Oh, this

is so funny. There's like kind of like some gatekeeping on it. You know, people want to get in the club, and they don't want to let anybody else in. When that's like kind of really not the point. That brings up another question too. That is a constant debate of you mentioned culinary school. I don't think going to culinary school, like helps you or makes you a chef when you graduate. They kind of tried to sell you that at CIA when you're done. Oh, you graduated your chef now? I think it's like a good foundational block. Kind of like maybe doing your homework before starting a new job knowing the menu knowing the recipes. But outside of that doesn't mean you're you know mean? Like you've didn't jump over anything. Well,

thanks so much for jumping on here. I just wanted to do a quick one with you. I'm sure we could expand on this a lot. Maybe we'll get you back on for another full hour or two. I think our last one was at some point and kind of like talk about how things have changed and see how things are going. We'll do Where are they now? Follow up with Matt. Thanks. Alright, man. Thanks for coming on. As everyone knows, this has been the Chefs Without Restaurants podcast. Go out there. Tell everyone all about it. Go to chefs without restaurants.org To find our Facebook group, mailing list and Chef database. The community's free to join. You'll get gig opportunities, advice on building and growing your business and you'll never miss an episode of our podcast. Have a great week.