Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Ivan Beacco, owner of Red Inside Culinary, located in New York City, NY, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Red inside is a cooking school that caters to everyone who is passionate about cooking and wants to expand their repertoire, as well as the already initiated to the culinary arts and may want to refine their techniques. We also focus on team building and corporate parties, offering classes and demos that fit their budget and expectation, from fully hands-on 4-course cooking to sipping and mingling while watching our chefs demonstrate the dish of the day.
Tell us about yourself
I was raised in the coastal northern Italian city of Trieste, a stone's throw of distance from Venice. I was exposed to a style of cooking that fused classic Italian fares with "Mittel European" traditions.
After four years of working in classic Italian restaurants and hotels in Italy, I decided to start exploring new venues and went on to work first in Vienna in a small restaurant close to the famous Naschmarkt market, where I started enjoying working with small local purveyors of fresh food, thereby supporting the micro economy, and being introduced to the organic cuisine at the same time. I will be faithful to this habit later on while working in New York City and getting the best ingredients from the local Green Market in Union Square.
On my culinary journey, I moved on to work in a small town near Bruxelles, where the French influence added up to my ever-growing passion for cosmopolitan cuisine. When I was 22 years old, my desire to expand my culinary horizons brought me to the mecca of the restaurant world: New York City, where I started working at the starter's station at Borgo Antico Restaurant, a Tuscan Emilian inspired restaurant near the vibrant Union Square.
In 2013 I started collaborating with Wellness in The School program and chef Bill Telepan to improve the food served in public schools and educate children and adults about their portable of a healthy diet. During that formative period, I learned how rewarding teaching might be, and the craving for spreading knowledge led me, in 2016, to found my own Culinary School company: Red Inside.
Since then, I have reinvented myself as a teacher, entrepreneur, and personal chef. Besides being a chef, I belong to the Taoist Tai Chi Society, American Mensa, am a Freemason, and a husband to my beautiful Argentinean wife and father of a 13 years old boy and a nine years old baby girl.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
In every class I teach, there is always a serendipitous ah'ah moment when our students learn the correct way to hold their knives or the most basic and classic rules of the kitchen, both in preparation and cooking, as well as about the food that they are using. When I change someone's perspective about how difficult cooking is, that is my reward, and the satisfaction about their newly acquired knowledge in their eyes is my satisfaction.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Starting your business from scratch and seeing it grow is a °fatherly° experience for me, and as the company becomes larger and we serve more clients, I must relinquish some of the duties and delegates tasks to other members of our crew, and it feels like a little bit like taking your kid to school for the first time, you know it's the natural thing and the way to grow, but you feel a little anxious about passing up your toque.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Don't let anybody tell you what can or cannot be done; you're the master of your domain.
- You are as good as your crew and as happy as well.
- Think outside the box; when there is no beaten path to follow, invent and make your own.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
We are living in incredible times; never before have there been so many opportunities to start your own business, there is a universe of tools out there for grab, but we need to step up when the occasion presents itself and take full advantage of our opportunities.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://redinsideculinary.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redinsideculinary/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redinsideculinary/
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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