[0:00] All right, my friends. Little bit of a
[0:01] different video today because it's just
[0:03] you, me, and this coconut banana matcha,
[0:06] which is extremely delicious, by the
[0:08] way.
[0:09] Now, before getting into the reason why
[0:11] I made this video, which is my biggest
[0:13] problem with being a YouTube chef, I
[0:15] first want to just explain my cooking
[0:17] history and how this all started. So, I
[0:19] grew up in Soma County, California. And
[0:21] when I was 15 years old, I had my first
[0:24] job in a restaurant, not as a cook, but
[0:26] as a dishwasher. I started in the dish
[0:28] pit. He was born from thy dish pit. By
[0:31] the way, a lot of these photos you're
[0:32] going to see, the quality is just
[0:33] atrocious. I mean, we're talking early
[0:35] 2000s here. We used potatoes to take
[0:37] pictures. Probably like literally a
[0:39] picture of like a developed picture from
[0:41] Wraid. And at this restaurant, my older
[0:43] brother Shawn was actually a cook. He's
[0:45] still a chef today. He works at a very
[0:47] high level. They're opening a restaurant
[0:49] right now in London where they're going
[0:50] for three stars actually. But
[0:52] essentially what happened after that is
[0:53] the restaurant changed ownership and
[0:55] then I moved into a Garm position,
[0:58] right? And I was 16 years old when I put
[1:00] out my first plate in kitchens. And I
[1:02] really remember during that time the
[1:03] feeling of making food and looking at it
[1:06] and thinking how beautiful it is and
[1:08] then seeing it go to the customer and
[1:10] seeing them eat it and enjoy it. This
[1:12] beautiful little circular loop that
[1:14] happens when you work in restaurants and
[1:16] it's an amazing feeling to just serve
[1:18] people and feed people and take pride in
[1:20] that. Shortly after that when I was 17,
[1:22] I got a job at what was the Sebastapable
[1:24] Brewing Company in Sebastapole,
[1:26] California. It is now Hot Monmunk
[1:28] Tavern. And that was a step up for me
[1:30] cuz it was a very big restaurant, right?
[1:32] They were serving, I don't know,
[1:33] probably 500 to a,000 people per day, as
[1:36] well as doing events in a huge event
[1:38] space. And so I worked there for a
[1:40] couple years. I learned a lot. I worked
[1:42] in tons of different stations, you know,
[1:44] the grill, the fry station, salads, the
[1:47] whole thing. And it's kind of insane
[1:48] that this happened at that age, but
[1:50] eventually like the head chef, he left.
[1:53] He was not great. And what happened is I
[1:57] got promoted to like the head of that
[1:59] kitchen in the daytime. So there was
[2:01] like a daytime kitchen manager and a
[2:03] nighttime kitchen manager. And I was the
[2:05] daytime kitchen manager. So I was just
[2:07] like I was ordering all the food. I was
[2:10] making menus. I was like people who were
[2:12] 40 to 50 years old were coming to me and
[2:14] asking for raises and it was like and I
[2:16] was nice too. So I was like, you know,
[2:18] all right, dude. Carlos, let me see what
[2:19] I can do. Let me talk to the owners. You
[2:21] know, I was like trying to uh I'm a
[2:23] people pleaser. So, that was a tough
[2:25] role for me to be in. Looking back, I
[2:27] don't know if I should have had that job
[2:28] because just to be 17 years old and have
[2:30] that kind of like pressure was just uh I
[2:33] mean, I think I did a good job. I
[2:35] remember being a complete nervous wreck
[2:37] during that time. But I held it
[2:38] together. You know, the restaurant was
[2:40] doing fine and uh it was an amazing
[2:42] experience, that's for sure. After a few
[2:44] years of working there, they sold the
[2:45] business to someone else. So, I took
[2:47] that as my time to leave and I went to
[2:49] work for a really amazing local chef
[2:51] called Mark Maliki. And I would say that
[2:53] was the job that really like got me so
[2:55] inspired about a higher level of food
[2:57] because he was just working with all the
[2:59] local farmers, all the local
[3:01] ingredients, all the seafood, you know,
[3:03] getting dairy and cheese from just small
[3:05] farms. And so the products that I got to
[3:07] work with at that job were absolutely
[3:09] incredible. And he was a very creative
[3:11] chef, not such a good businessman, but
[3:13] an incredible chef. And I still apply a
[3:16] lot of what I learned at that restaurant
[3:17] way back then today. Because the simple
[3:19] thing is if you want great food, truly
[3:22] great food, it's just great ingredients
[3:24] plus great technique. That's all it is.
[3:26] That's what all the best restaurants do.
[3:28] They have the most skilled chefs and
[3:29] they have the best products. Simple as
[3:31] that. Now, this next part is really
[3:32] interesting because basically everybody
[3:34] who watches my channel doesn't know
[3:35] this, but when I was 21 years old, I had
[3:38] this real urge to see the other side of
[3:40] cooking, which is the farming aspect.
[3:42] And so I went to an agriculture college
[3:45] in the UK where I studied organic and
[3:47] biodnamic agriculture. So I basically
[3:49] did six months of study which was just a
[3:52] variety of classes, you know, soil
[3:53] science, how to take care of animals,
[3:55] permaculture, just all kinds of stuff.
[3:58] Once that 6 months was finished, we all
[3:59] had to go do a placement on farms
[4:01] somewhere around the world. And I found
[4:03] a farm on a little island called Zalant
[4:06] that's in the very south end of Holland
[4:08] near the Belgian border. And I'll tell
[4:10] you what, that was an absolutely crazy
[4:12] experience. Here I am, 21 years old,
[4:14] taking a train to the south of Holland
[4:16] to this tiny little island to go work on
[4:18] a dairy farm. Um, it was co it was
[4:20] called Loindala. And essentially what
[4:22] they did there was make biodnamic
[4:24] cheese. So I was there getting up at
[4:26] 5:00 a.m., you know, milking about 150
[4:29] cows and then doing that again later in
[4:31] the day. And it was absolutely crushing.
[4:33] The farmer ended up being a monster. You
[4:36] know, I was promised like a very small
[4:38] amount of pay and it never got signed in
[4:40] writing, so he never paid me. And I
[4:41] really needed money at the time as well.
[4:43] And also, I was there with a couple of
[4:45] guys who didn't really like speaking
[4:47] English. They could, but like no one
[4:49] really wanted me there. And I'm just
[4:50] there on this little tiny island in the
[4:52] south of Holland just messing around
[4:54] with these cows. It was just it was
[4:56] totally insane. And actually what
[4:58] happened is they opened a restaurant
[4:59] there and the chef had a heart attack
[5:01] and the farmer knew that I was into food
[5:03] and I had restaurant experience. So I I
[5:06] go there to learn about farming and I
[5:07] end up taking over this restaurant and
[5:09] just running the restaurant of course,
[5:10] right? The kitchen's just like they just
[5:12] magnetized me in and then this farmer's
[5:14] still not paying me. So I think after
[5:16] like 3 or 4 months I just literally
[5:19] left. I also had a super bad back injury
[5:22] during that time and like it was just
[5:23] like an absolutely horrible time. But I
[5:25] got out of there and I went to Utre and
[5:27] I started working at a small market
[5:29] garden where they were growing lots of
[5:30] vegetables and that was really awesome
[5:32] also to get that experience because if I
[5:34] ever have a farm I want something like
[5:35] that just like a market garden. So after
[5:37] my time in Holland I returned to England
[5:39] I finished my other six months of study
[5:41] and get my certification as a biodnamic
[5:44] organic farmer even though like I've
[5:46] forgotten so much about that time. I was
[5:48] such a crazy uh 20-year-old that yeah I
[5:50] was more like into partying than
[5:52] studying the farming stuff but that's
[5:54] just how it was. I mean, I know some
[5:55] things, but like I can't call myself a
[5:57] farmer really, but it's something I'm
[5:59] interested in. And it was amazing to
[6:00] see, you know, just the other side of
[6:03] food service of cooking in restaurants
[6:05] is the farmers at this point. Then I
[6:08] actually moved back to Utre and I got a
[6:10] job at an incredible restaurant called
[6:12] Labou with the chef Adri Ping who became
[6:14] like a best friend to me. You know, the
[6:16] first time we had a meeting, we both
[6:18] agreed that Thomas Keller was the man.
[6:19] We both had all of his books and Adri
[6:21] had just finished several years working
[6:23] at a Michelin star restaurant and we did
[6:25] a really high level of cooking there.
[6:27] Everything was just very precise, very
[6:29] meticulous. The Dutch are definitely
[6:31] known for that. And that was my first
[6:32] sue chef position at that restaurant and
[6:34] I just learned so so much. And even
[6:37] working like 65, 70 hours a week at that
[6:39] restaurant. On our day off, Adri and I
[6:41] like we'd go mushroom hunting. We'd go
[6:43] to the market and look for weird seafood
[6:45] to cook. Like we were always doing
[6:46] something with food. And you know,
[6:47] looking back at that time, it was really
[6:49] some of the most fun I've ever had in a
[6:51] kitchen. Even though I was working
[6:53] insane hours, I was making no money. I
[6:56] was making like €4 an hour because I was
[6:58] a salaried sue chef, right? And so I was
[7:00] going way over my hours, but like yeah,
[7:02] I I was making nothing. So when Booth
[7:04] closed, I worked at another restaurant
[7:06] briefly there in Utre before moving back
[7:08] to the UK. And upon arrival, I had
[7:10] already worked out a job, which was a
[7:12] full-time position at my local
[7:14] restaurant called Taffles. And that was
[7:16] quite the hilarious experience. You had
[7:18] this eccentric owner. He looked like a
[7:20] mad scientist with the white wispy hair.
[7:23] Uh Warren Warren was his name. And he
[7:25] was just absolutely hilarious. But what
[7:27] was so beautiful about that restaurant
[7:29] was the products I got to work with.
[7:31] They were incredible. The owner was so
[7:33] passionate about smoked salmon. He would
[7:35] literally drive up to like East London
[7:37] like few times a month just to pick up
[7:39] smoked salmon. And it was amazing smoked
[7:41] salmon. Right next door to the
[7:43] restaurant, we had an award-winning fish
[7:44] monger where they would go every day out
[7:46] on their boat and bring back fresh fish
[7:48] that we would buy and work with. Our
[7:50] eggs came from an egg guy. We had one
[7:52] guy who just brought pork. We had one
[7:54] guy who just brought vegetables, another
[7:55] guy who just brought cheese. And so it
[7:57] was an incredible place to work with
[8:00] ingredients. All in all, Taffles was a
[8:02] great experience doing breakfast, lunch,
[8:04] and dinner and just working with all
[8:06] those incredible products. I had an
[8:07] amazing time there and I will always
[8:09] have fond memories of it. In 2014, I had
[8:12] just had enough of the gray, gloomy
[8:15] English weather. I love England. I love
[8:17] it as a country, you know? I'll always
[8:19] have my roots there. I was born there.
[8:20] But something about just like waking up
[8:22] and walking to work when it's dark and
[8:25] it's like gloomy and rainy and then you
[8:27] go and work in a kitchen. Taffles had no
[8:29] windows. It was like one of those
[8:30] underground kitchens where you set up
[8:32] the food with a rope lift, which was
[8:35] incredibly dangerous. And then there's
[8:36] no natural light. And then you leave and
[8:38] it's dark and it's gloomy. like that
[8:40] goes on for months. Like it really it
[8:42] does get to you after a while for sure.
[8:43] So upon my arrival back in America, I
[8:45] actually had a hard time finding a job
[8:47] for a while. I think it took me about
[8:49] like 5 months, but then I got a job at
[8:51] the Viceroy Hotel in Snow Mass, Colorado
[8:54] at a restaurant called AK working for a
[8:57] chef from New Orleans called Will Nolan.
[8:59] And let me tell you something, this was
[9:00] the just final hurrah of my cooking
[9:04] career. And by far the most brutal
[9:08] cooking job I have ever had in my life.
[9:11] Like oh my god you guys. I lost I think
[9:14] it was like 45 lbs in a matter of about
[9:16] 2 and 1/2 months just from working. So
[9:19] the Viceroy Hotel is like a ski in ski
[9:21] out resort on Snow Mass Mountain. And
[9:24] basically in that restaurant we had the
[9:26] longest bar in Colorado. We had a lounge
[9:29] area. We had a dining room that sat like
[9:31] I don't know 100 plus people. Then we
[9:34] had about two or three private dining
[9:36] rooms. And then here's the kicker, guys.
[9:38] Here's the kicker. Massive hotel. It's
[9:41] like eightstory hotel. Every single room
[9:44] service order came out of our kitchen as
[9:46] well. Usually in big hotels, they have a
[9:48] whole separate kitchen for room service.
[9:50] No, not for us, man. Oh god. So during
[9:53] that time, I ran the meat station. And
[9:55] let me tell you something, you're
[9:56] surrounded by uh a French top piece of
[9:59] metal this thick with just a raging fire
[10:02] underneath. It emanates so much heat.
[10:04] I've got a grill right next to it. I've
[10:06] got a salamander right here. I've got
[10:08] two ovens right here. Just the ambient
[10:10] temperature in that place could just
[10:13] like literally like dehydrate food. I
[10:15] mean, it was unbelievable. And so during
[10:17] the busy ski season, fully booked every
[10:19] night. Every night. Fully booked. Fully
[10:21] booked. Fully booked for months on end.
[10:23] Just fully booked. And that meat station
[10:25] was so insane because like I had lamb
[10:27] racks, I had elk, I had bunch of
[10:30] different steaks, small ones, tomahawk
[10:32] steaks, I had duck breast, I had
[10:34] chicken, and I had to cook all of these
[10:36] meats to temperature. So like I I can
[10:39] remember a few specific times, you know,
[10:41] when you hear the printer, a chef hear
[10:43] the printer in our head, the sound of
[10:44] the ticket printer, and you're cooking
[10:45] and you're cooking and you hear the
[10:46] printer just going, going, going, you're
[10:48] like, man, that printer's been like
[10:49] firing off for a long time. And I look
[10:51] over at the printer and it's not just
[10:52] like gone down to the floor. And by the
[10:54] way, the printer starts like up here on
[10:56] me. So, it's printed tickets. It's all
[10:58] the way down to the floor and then it's
[11:00] folding them like this. I see them just
[11:02] folding on the floor like just stacking
[11:04] up. And you're like, And by the way, I I
[11:06] got to pick all those up, get all my
[11:08] Sharpies, figure out what everything is,
[11:10] what the temperatures they want. I mean,
[11:12] it was like, oh my god. I remember
[11:14] showing up to work and just feeling like
[11:16] I couldn't breathe. I'd be like
[11:17] literally just like like having like
[11:20] panic attacks every day in there because
[11:21] it was just so it was so incredibly
[11:23] brutal and we really should have had
[11:25] like we had four cooks on the line. We
[11:27] really should have had like six or even
[11:28] eight. My god. And so I'm doing all the
[11:31] meat. I am also doing all the sauces and
[11:33] I'm also doing all the sides and I'm
[11:35] plating everything too. I'm not just
[11:37] cooking the meat. Um, but that job I
[11:39] will say, you know, as tough as it was,
[11:41] it really just hardened me uh as a chef
[11:45] cuz when you deal with that kind of
[11:46] pressure and the chef was also like not
[11:48] nice, like if food's not coming out fast
[11:50] and on time, even though I have an
[11:52] absolutely impossible job, like he just
[11:54] comes over, he just slams his hand like
[11:56] on the pass, get your together, you
[11:58] know, like so much so that people would
[12:00] complain. Guests would complain because
[12:01] they're like, why you why you treating
[12:03] your staff like that? He came from like
[12:05] the best kitchen in New Orleans and like
[12:06] the chef he worked for was like probably
[12:09] way more abusive than he was. Right.
[12:10] It's just like that cycle of abuse that
[12:12] I think is kind of fading out uh within
[12:14] the cooking world. I really hope it is
[12:16] because it's it's just nasty and it's
[12:17] not fun and all you can do is just say
[12:19] yes chef. Sorry chef. Yes, chef. That's
[12:21] the best way. If you ever are watching
[12:23] this and you want to get a job in a
[12:24] kitchen, the chef's coming at you. Yes,
[12:27] chef. Sorry, chef. That's all you That's
[12:28] all you do. if you try to argue or like
[12:31] be like, well, you know, you say
[12:33] something, they're just going to it's
[12:34] just it never works. You just try to
[12:35] defuse the situation as quickly as you
[12:38] can. So, basically, I'm working this
[12:39] insane job. It's so hard and I'm making
[12:42] $15 an hour, right? And I'm like barely
[12:44] making ends meet. Eventually, I got a
[12:46] raise to like I think it was like$,750
[12:48] or maybe $18 an hour. And then I'm still
[12:51] like I I have one of the most important
[12:52] positions in this kitchen and I'm trying
[12:54] to get 20 bucks an hour, guys. That's
[12:56] all I want, the bare minimum to survive
[12:58] in the Aspen Valley, which is an
[13:00] expensive place. And they just never
[13:02] gave it to me, you know? I don't know
[13:03] why, but they never gave me that raise.
[13:04] And he was promising it to me for months
[13:06] and months and months. And I just said,
[13:07] "Fuck this." And so I just like, I'm not
[13:10] coming in cuz you didn't follow through
[13:11] on what you said you were going to do.
[13:13] So I was out after about a year and a
[13:15] half of doing that. But I will always be
[13:17] grateful for that job because that's
[13:18] where I met my wife, Tatiana, in the in
[13:21] room dining department. She would
[13:22] deliver the food to the rooms. So, I got
[13:24] to thank the Viceroy for that because
[13:26] here we are 10 years later, still
[13:27] happily married.
[13:30] Okay. But around that time, I was
[13:32] leaving the Viceroy Hotel. Like, I was
[13:34] in my late 20s and I'm thinking to
[13:36] myself, my god, I got to find a way to
[13:38] still do what I love but make more money
[13:41] because like it's just really tough when
[13:43] you're a line cook. And the way I did
[13:45] that was my brother introduced me to
[13:47] someone who was doing private cooking in
[13:49] Aspen. And if you don't know about
[13:50] Aspen, it is just full of billionaires.
[13:52] It is one of the best places you can
[13:54] probably do private cooking in the
[13:55] world. He introduced me to this guy
[13:57] Bobby Plet who's an incredibly talented
[13:59] chef and just a very organized like he
[14:01] was just so good at organizing parties
[14:03] and food for these massive events. But I
[14:05] started working for Bobby and I became
[14:07] one of his main guys to go around and do
[14:09] all these events and I worked with him
[14:11] for probably like 6 months. Around that
[14:13] same time I also started working with
[14:15] another chef who was doing private
[14:16] dinners in Aspen called Marco Porcettu.
[14:18] And to this day he is probably the
[14:20] highest level chef I ever worked with.
[14:22] He was from Sardinia. He had a very
[14:24] famous restaurant in Las Vegas for a
[14:26] long time. He was cooking at the highest
[14:28] level. Incredibly talented guy and I was
[14:31] really proud that he accepted me into
[14:32] his circle of people who helped him. I
[14:34] was like his number two because I saw
[14:36] other chefs work for him and they would
[14:38] make it like a day or a few hours and he
[14:40] would just if he thinks you can't cook,
[14:43] he he he just he's like you're gone, you
[14:45] know? And so I saw him burn through so
[14:47] many chefs. But he really liked me and
[14:49] he saw he saw talent in me and so he
[14:51] kind of took me under his wing and we
[14:52] did all these insane parties together at
[14:55] just the most crazy like houses you you
[14:58] could imagine. And he was definitely
[14:59] another really tough chef to work for
[15:01] because if you make a mistake he's just
[15:02] like why you why you do it? Yeah, but
[15:05] why you cut the fish like you don't know
[15:06] how to cut fish? What? He was tough man.
[15:09] He was tough, but I learned so much
[15:10] working for him. And especially that
[15:12] just like Italian style, like cooking
[15:14] everything fresh in the moment, which
[15:16] made it a nightmare cuz we did very
[15:18] little prep. Like we just show up with
[15:20] the ingredients and just start cooking
[15:21] at people's houses. And uh it was wild,
[15:23] but it was a fun time. And so after
[15:25] working for Bobby and Marco, I decided
[15:26] to launch my own catering company,
[15:28] Finesse Catering, where I did my own
[15:30] private dinners around the Aspen area,
[15:32] as well as this food drop off business I
[15:34] had going. And what I would do is just
[15:36] make a menu at the end of every single
[15:37] week and send it off to all my clients.
[15:40] And then I would basically cook
[15:41] everything and just drop it off. It was
[15:42] all food that was designed to just be
[15:44] warmed up in the oven or it was like
[15:46] different components of a salad and a
[15:47] dressing that they just toss it together
[15:49] like a really, really, really good
[15:51] HelloFresh. Let's imagine it like that.
[15:52] But everything was just like nice and
[15:54] fresh and always cooked that day. Let me
[15:56] tell you something. That was an
[15:57] incredibly stressful time in my life
[15:58] because I don't think I was charging
[16:00] enough money. And this service was so
[16:02] popular and they started if you get in
[16:04] with one family in Aspen, they just tell
[16:07] all their friends and all of a sudden
[16:09] you're just like overwhelmed with
[16:11] business. I think I had like I don't
[16:12] know man 15 20 families maybe even more
[16:16] like 20 25 families on my list of drop
[16:19] offs and like it got to a point where I
[16:21] was just so stressed and I and I really
[16:23] wasn't making enough money and so I had
[16:25] to shut it down. But I just continued on
[16:27] doing the private dinners which I could
[16:29] charge more money for. So, I would just
[16:31] do those as often as I could and that
[16:32] was my main squeeze. And then my
[16:35] friends, CO happened. Then CO happened.
[16:37] And I can specifically remember when CO
[16:39] was announced and the whole world shut
[16:42] down. I thought to myself, "Wow, for
[16:45] once in my life, I've just had a crazy
[16:47] life, right? There's so much more to
[16:48] tell about my life, but like once for
[16:51] once in my life, I'm finally going to
[16:53] have some time just off of like any kind
[16:56] of work where I can just kind of like
[16:58] focus on my health and like rest and
[17:00] relax
[17:04] and then I started posting on Tik Tok.
[17:06] And I mean, look, I'm I'm grateful for
[17:08] what happened. It was just funny that
[17:10] that was my way of thinking. And then
[17:12] what happened was crazy because in 2020
[17:14] when I really started taking Tik Tok
[17:16] seriously, dude, I I don't think there
[17:17] was any real like chefs on there who was
[17:19] doing that. And so there was very little
[17:21] competition and my videos were just
[17:23] exploding. My first ever super viral
[17:25] video was the rosemary salt and the
[17:27] steak that I cooked. And so in that
[17:29] first year, you know, I had millions of
[17:31] followers on TikTok. It was it was
[17:33] absolutely insane. I had one video that
[17:35] did like, I don't know, 50 million
[17:37] views. I remember cooking this fillet or
[17:41] this video that went so viral and I uh I
[17:43] overcooked the out of it the first
[17:45] time and I was like, "Yeah, damn it. I
[17:47] guess I'm going to try one more time and
[17:49] I and I was like, all right, I'll do it
[17:51] again." I almost gave up and I did it
[17:52] and that video just absolutely went
[17:55] nuts. I mean, I got like a few million
[17:57] followers in a matter of days. I mean,
[17:59] it was absolutely berserk insane, right?
[18:02] And so 2020 for me was absolutely crazy.
[18:05] Like, I wasn't ready for all that
[18:07] attention. just came out of nowhere and
[18:09] I'm like I'm having Skype meetings with
[18:12] the Food Network and um I'm in like Teen
[18:16] Vogue and I'm talking the Washington
[18:19] Post and um I was also talking the
[18:22] Netflix like it was just like too much.
[18:24] I don't think I was quite ready for all
[18:26] of that. Um it was just so explosive.
[18:28] But that was my co time. So I was just
[18:30] like back then I was just making videos
[18:32] every single day cuz I was mainly
[18:34] focused on Tik Tok where I was getting
[18:35] the attention. And then eventually I
[18:37] started funneling uh my audience over to
[18:39] YouTube because I really wanted to do
[18:41] the longer videos, right? And I think
[18:42] that was some point in 2020, maybe mid
[18:44] to late 2020 when my YouTube videos
[18:46] started taking off. And you know, here
[18:48] we are, man. It's uh 2026 and I'm and
[18:51] I'm still at it. You know, I first
[18:53] started posting in 2019 like little
[18:55] things I think on YouTube as well as Tik
[18:58] Tok. So really, I've been going for like
[18:59] almost 7 years now doing the whole
[19:01] social media thing. And all of this
[19:03] leads me to my main point of the video,
[19:06] my biggest problem with being a YouTube
[19:08] chef. So, when I first started posting
[19:10] food content on YouTube, it was just
[19:12] really easy to make whatever I wanted.
[19:14] Before employees, before sponsors on
[19:17] every video, before all the moving parts
[19:19] that come with running a business, it
[19:21] was just so easy to follow your
[19:22] curiosity as a chef. There just wasn't
[19:24] this constant thought in the back of my
[19:27] mind asking, "Is this video going to
[19:28] appeal to millions of people? Is the
[19:30] algorithm going to like it? Is it going
[19:32] to cast a wide enough net? It was just
[19:35] so much more simple back then. But the
[19:37] thing is, as time goes on and that
[19:39] business side of content creation
[19:41] becomes much more important, you start
[19:43] questioning these ideas where you would
[19:45] have just cooked it before. You start
[19:46] asking yourself, is it going to get
[19:48] enough views? Are the sponsors going to
[19:49] like it? Are people going to be able to
[19:51] find the ingredients? Is it easy enough
[19:53] for people to make? Are people even
[19:54] going to care about this idea? And
[19:56] before you know it, you start building
[19:58] this box around the creative fire that
[20:00] made you fall in love with cooking in
[20:02] the first place. And not because you
[20:04] stopped loving it, not because you
[20:05] stopped being a chef, but you're now
[20:07] running a business and people depend on
[20:09] you. I mean, I can't tell you how many
[20:11] times I was having a meeting here with
[20:13] my team where we just sort of brainstorm
[20:15] ideas and there are so many cool things
[20:17] I want to cook and I float it out there
[20:19] and then we just all agree like, "Yeah,
[20:21] this probably isn't going to get views
[20:23] so we can't do it." And honestly, you
[20:24] know, as a chef, that kind of sucks. And
[20:26] as someone who spent my entire life in
[20:29] kitchens, like I love just deep diving,
[20:32] going down a rabbit hole, some
[20:34] fascinating technique, some cool
[20:36] ingredient, something that just sparks
[20:37] up my curiosity, my childlike curiosity.
[20:40] And so to constantly secondguess your
[20:42] instincts when you have some idea you're
[20:44] truly passionate about and then the
[20:46] first thought you have is like, is it
[20:48] going to get enough views? That will
[20:49] slowly chip away at that cheffy part of
[20:52] you. It just will. And that's the part
[20:53] that wants to experiment, that wants to
[20:55] obsess over the details, that wants to
[20:58] go down some cheffy rabbit hole because
[21:00] it's just fascinating to me. And before
[21:02] long, you realize you've spent years
[21:03] trying to make the best videos possible
[21:06] while quietly neglecting that part of
[21:08] you that just wants to be a curious and
[21:10] excited chef. And so, I've realized my
[21:12] biggest problem with being a YouTube
[21:14] chef isn't YouTube. I actually love
[21:16] YouTube. It's the king. The real problem
[21:18] is I never really had a place where I
[21:20] could share the side of cooking that
[21:22] made me fall in love with this
[21:23] profession in the first place. And
[21:25] that's the side that doesn't mind
[21:27] spending two days to make demigloss. The
[21:29] side that doesn't mind obsessing over
[21:31] some crazy technique that most people
[21:33] will never do. The side that wants to
[21:35] disappear down some cheffy rabbit hole
[21:37] that most people will simply never
[21:39] follow me into. That is until now. God,
[21:43] I feel good about this. I got chills,
[21:45] man. I got goosebumps right now because
[21:47] I've always dreamed of having a
[21:48] passionate cooking community where
[21:50] people go above and beyond what your
[21:52] average home cook would want to do. But
[21:54] before announcing this, I just want to
[21:56] make one thing extremely clear that
[21:58] nothing is changing on this channel.
[22:00] That dude can cook Cook is going to be
[22:02] what it always has been. Nothing is
[22:04] changing. Not a thing. I'll continue
[22:06] making the recipes that have been the
[22:07] beating heart of this channel, which is
[22:10] just really delicious food and recipes
[22:11] that I am always going to be proud of
[22:13] that aren't too overly complicated,
[22:15] aren't outrageously expensive, and can
[22:17] just fit into a busy life schedule. But
[22:20] without further ado, today I am
[22:21] officially announcing the launch of my
[22:23] cooking community, the Sue Chefs.
[22:25] >> Sue Chefs. Sue Chefs. Sue Chefs who
[22:28] maybe that can be maybe that could be
[22:30] something. I don't know. The Sue Chefs
[22:31] will be a members community here on
[22:33] YouTube where passionate home cooks can
[22:35] really take a deep dive with me on that
[22:37] whole professional side of cooking that
[22:39] I love. And we'll explore incredible
[22:41] recipes techniques philosophies
[22:44] cheffy rabbit holes that are really just
[22:46] hard to find here on YouTube or really
[22:47] anywhere on the internet for that
[22:49] matter. And I'll tell you what, guys,
[22:50] when I thought about launching this
[22:52] community, like I I literally get full
[22:53] body chills because it just feels so
[22:55] right to me and it's something I've
[22:57] wanted to do for so long. Just knowing
[22:58] that I finally will have a place where I
[23:00] can unleash the beast and take the
[23:02] limiter off my chef engine is an
[23:04] incredibly refreshing feeling. We'll be
[23:07] doing multiple extra videos every single
[23:09] month. The ones that I was too afraid to
[23:11] post on YouTube will end up in the Sue
[23:13] chefs. And as soon as enough people are
[23:15] inside, we're also going to be doing
[23:16] live cookalongs so I can literally guide
[23:18] you through the cheffy processes. I'll
[23:20] also be giving away a lot of my favorite
[23:22] kitchen tools and knives to members
[23:24] every single month. And I've even built
[23:26] a Sue Chef's Discord server that will
[23:28] act as our home base. Inside, you'll be
[23:30] able to ask me whatever cooking
[23:32] questions you want. We'll also share
[23:33] photos of what we're cooking on that
[23:35] day, as well as sharing our wins and
[23:37] laughing at some of our losses. And if
[23:39] you need to blow off some steam, I had
[23:41] to create a channel in there called the
[23:43] walk-in, where you can just go inside of
[23:45] there and just freak out about whatever
[23:46] you want. It's beautiful. If you end up
[23:48] becoming a sous chef, just make sure you
[23:50] go over to the community tab on YouTube
[23:52] and click that Discord link and get
[23:54] inside there as soon as possible. That
[23:56] is our home base. In terms of the cost,
[23:58] I've made it as affordable as possible.
[24:00] I didn't want anyone to feel left out.
[24:02] It's cheaper than a cup of coffee. There
[24:04] is a higher support tier, but both offer
[24:06] access to the exact same community and
[24:08] content. It's simply there for those who
[24:10] have the means and want to offer a
[24:11] little extra support. And so, to finish
[24:13] this off, let me be very clear. The Sue
[24:15] Chefs isn't replacing anything. It's
[24:17] simply creating a home for the side of
[24:19] cooking that I've personally been
[24:21] missing for all these years. And if that
[24:23] sounds like your kind of thing, I would
[24:25] absolutely love to have you join us.
[24:27] I'll see you in the sue chefs. Until
[24:29] next time, you know I love you when I'm
[24:31] out.