A Day in the Life of a Chef Who Wants Out of Restaurants
Presented by WeldWerks Brewing Co.
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By Allen Plemmons
In February of 2020, I took a job as a head chef in a smaller town in Missouri. All of my events were cancelled for the year as I watched my personal chef dreams crumble into nothing. We opened our doors through one of the toughest times in our industry's history. We hired our staff, paid our staff well, and made sure to take care of them. We really wanted to be the change the industry needed in hopes of starting a chain of events through our small town, then Missouri, then the United States. That didn’t happen. In fact, we tried our best to keep everyone and to be something that no one else was at that time. At 29 years old, I was a chef, business owner, and an avid promoter of mental health.
Now I am in Kansas City, Missouri. I’m working at getting my personal chef business running full time again. The struggle of starting over once more and the process that comes with it.
Moving to Kansas City wasn’t always the end goal after riding the pandemic out in a small town. There are hundreds of different cities a young chef can go to. Yachting was another option, but I love the personal chef game, it's wild, rewarding, and the money is amazing. I think everyone has a dream of being able to do what they love, while traveling, and getting paid for it; right? It’s all glam and glory as far as the eye can see, but that’s only a small percentage of what goes on. I am a head chef at a very busy catering company while trying to get my personal chef business going. I put in roughly 75- 80 hours a week right now because we are short staffed like everyone else. So, when I am done with my work I go home, fix dinner for my wife and I. Once we sit down to eat, the only thing I am thinking about is getting a picture of the food for content. Catering doesn’t offer a lot of opportunities for nice plate pictures. So, I will stay up for another 3 hours creating content, replying to messages, responding to potential clients, and ultimately running the business through social media.
Starting out in the city, my day starts at 4am, I check emails, and then drive 40 minutes to work. From there, I work until 7 or 8 at night. I get home, make dinner, post content, and book clients. There is zero time for anything else while getting up and running. There is so much to do every day, then add personal life, social life, alone time, laundry, bills, etc. By the time I get done working for the day, it's almost time to start working again.
The moral of this story; never stop believing in yourself. Never stop striving for what you want to do. The struggle and the grind of accomplishing something you are destined to do is so much more important than accomplishing. Fast forward to now, I am choosing which events I want to work, I make enough money to be comfortable, and I am working for myself. Covid ruined a lot of things, but when you start looking at covid as a wake-up call instead of a death sentence; you win.
Established in 2015, WeldWerks Brewing Co. is an award-winning craft brewery located in Greeley, Colorado recognized for brewing an array of beer styles including Juicy Bits, one of the most highly regarded IPAs in the country. WeldWerks has garnered numerous medals and acclaim on the way, including being named the best new brewery in the country by USA Today in 2016 and multiple medals at both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. The brewery’s charitable arm, the WeldWerks Community Foundation, is a 501c3 nonprofit that supports local nonprofits through events like The WeldWerks Invitational.
Personal Chef , writer, business owner , and promoter of good mental health, twenty nine years old , Missouri native.
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