Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food services but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Austin Yancey, founder and CEO of Elite Personal Chefs, Inc., located in Chicago, IL, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
As a business, we actually work for our Chefs and Hospitality Professionals, who support their customers, both retail and corporate, with an array of services. Elite Personal Chefs, Inc is a financial technology company building social security for the culinary industry. We are the first marketplace to be owned by its operators and use both a training facility and a technology platform to attract, train, retain, and invest in our operators.
Our professional operators service clients through various options, including catering, private in-home experiences, diet consultation, weekly meal prep, corporate tradeshows, and product demonstration, along with restaurant development and consultation for both the kitchen and front-of-house operations.
Professionals start out at our education and innovation center, where they can learn, train, and build their businesses free of charge. Once established as an individual company or brand, they join the portfolio and become an operating partner in the organization. This novel business model and technology platform was built to support the hardworking industry professionals who are underpaid, underappreciated, and have little to no equity in the company they work at and support on a daily basis. We are the future of how people work in the Hospitality Industry.
Tell us about yourself
After 20 years in the industry and having had the opportunity to work in Michelin 3-Star restaurants, private clubs, sports service, professional competition cooking, and culinary education, I spent several years "out on my own" as a Private and Corporate Chef for hire. This led me to realize that many individuals here in the U.S. and globally are doing the same exact thing and facing the same exact struggles.
I set out on a mission to solve their problems as I solved my own. How do I make more money, enjoy my quality of life, and still love what I do every day? The solution became simple, obvious, and seemingly perfect timing. Bring professionals together under one roof and then give them the organization. That simple idea is what motivates me and our team as we change the lives of our operating partners day in and day out.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
The biggest accomplishments of our company lie in its operators. Our chefs are making more money than they ever have, work fewer hours than ever before, have unlimited vacation, no managers, no HR, and no problems that the traditional industry provides. One of our chefs just purchased her first home, something she admittedly thought was impossible before joining EPC.
We have consistently doubled and even tripled our Chefs' salaries from their previous jobs, bringing a level of comfort that was seemingly unattainable before. We have recently realized a personal dream of mine by opening a no-tuition free culinary school that trains students for industry jobs and helps place them into industry positions while inspiring and helping them build professional companies of their own.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
One of the hardest things as a business owner is the constant forward motion into the unknown coupled with the certainty that most of your ideas will fail. We have created something new in an industry where creating something new is next to impossible. Everything has been done or tried before, with some successes but mostly failures. Our model and, ultimately, social experiment is helping to solve the collective problems of the entire industry for all parties. The silver lining is the fact that I learn and grow the most through failure. As hard as it is, we must continue to put one foot in front of the other and press on. Onwards and upwards!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Understand the problem you are trying to solve before spending time and money building something nobody wants to use or cares about. Customer discovery, current data, and a/b testing are all useful to help prove your "idea" and secure product-market fit. Put the time in to ensure you have a product that people want or need.
- Make sure your teammates are in alignment with the company's vision and are in the correct positions to perform at their best. Do not try to fit a square peg in a round hole. Spend the time to either find a round peg or build a square hole.
- Take all feedback with a grain of salt. Listen, take notes, remove emotion, ask questions, get clarity, record, and move on. Take the advice you want, and toss out what you don't. Everyone has opinions, ideas, and advice. It is not always what is best for your business, so do not feel obligated to always take it.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Do something that leaves the world in a better place than you found it. I challenge and encourage anyone who wants to start a business to create something that helps people in some capacity. Sure, the money is nice, and it certainly fixes problems, but ultimately, the investment in people and their success is the driving force here at EPC. We are striving to build something that we can leave to the world and, under proper stewardship, can help future generations enjoy successful, meaningful lives.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.elitepersonalchefs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elitepersonalchefs/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elitepersonalchefs/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElitePChefs
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elite-personal-chefs-llc/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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