Chef David Hill & Chef Jill Lane

Chef David Hill (00:05):

Okay. We're on episode four and I'm super excited for today, because we have a lady chef.

Chef Jill Lane (00:37):

My name is Jill Lane, Jill Forett Lane. And I've been in Fort Myers area since about '87. Quite a while. And I started with a catering business, very small, very off the books, off the records with my mother, about 25 years ago. So we did places like this. We did a lot of private catering, word of mouth, and it got pretty busy for a while to the point-

Chef David Hill (01:03):

Sure.

Chef Jill Lane (01:04):

... where I was like, "Okay, do I need to look into a storefront and everything that goes along with that? Or do I need to figure out what's next?"

Chef David Hill (01:12):

Now, what area was that?

Chef Jill Lane (01:14):

In this area, Fort Myers, Bonita.

Chef David Hill (01:15):

So always in this area?

Chef Jill Lane (01:16):

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Chef David Hill (01:17):

Okay. I didn't know if you're from out of town.

Chef Jill Lane (01:18):

No, I'm from Illinois originally, but we've been down here since '87. I haven't gone anywhere. So, stuck here, complacency.

Chef David Hill (01:26):

With your career, at what age did you realize you were going to be a chef or you wanted to be a chef?

Chef Jill Lane (01:33):

Oh, I think I'm still making that decision.

Chef David Hill (01:37):

Still not decided, okay.

Chef Jill Lane (01:38):

It just happened to me. I always enjoyed cooking, and here's what happened. When I was pregnant with my son, Zachary, and normal people nest and they clean. I cooked everything you could imagine. If you can think of it, I baked it, cooked it, all of that. And I ended up bringing it into Robb & Stucky, back when Robb & Stucky was actually Robb & Stucky.

To the people, and my mother worked there. So I would just bring them food all the time just to get it out of my kitchen, but I had to bake it. It was just there. I had to do it. And I ended up catering through them. I started doing their design events. I started doing their Christmas parties. People hired me personally. I started doing lunches for them and that's how-

Chef David Hill (02:20):

That's awesome.

Chef Jill Lane (02:21):

... it kicked off. It was like, then people started paying me to do this, that I love to do, so.

Chef David Hill (02:26):

Right. But am I hearing that you're self-taught, or did you actually go to culinary school?

Chef Jill Lane (02:31):

I did not go to culinary school. I am self-taught. My mother taught me everything I know. She's amazing, to this day still makes me look like the Muppet chef.

Chef David Hill (02:38):

Was she someone who went to any kind of culinary?

Chef Jill Lane (02:40):

No.

Chef David Hill (02:40):

So it's all just...

Chef Jill Lane (02:42):

I'm just a girl who likes to cook. I happen to do okay at it.

Chef David Hill (02:46):

All right. Did you ever have the thoughts that I wish I went to culinary school, or I wanted to go?

Chef Jill Lane (02:50):

Oh, yeah. All the time. I don't know that I ever will, but I mean, my education certainly could always advance. There's so much I don't know that I don't know.

Chef David Hill (02:59):

Yeah, there's no chef that knows everything. It's infinite. You could never know everything.

Chef Jill Lane (03:03):

And I don't know, I really don't come to this game with any ego. I just enjoy what I do.

Chef David Hill (03:09):

That's the best way.

Chef Jill Lane (03:11):

I think so. I mean, and you-

Chef David Hill (03:11):

You got to go into it-

Chef Jill Lane (03:12):

Everybody's worked with people who are just almost unbearable and whether it's a chef or a accountant or whatever you're doing, but there's always that aspect in any field, but I just always have enjoyed it and I love it. And it's just good therapy. If you see me baking bread, you know I've had a stressful week. So it's just...

Chef David Hill (03:32):

Now let me ask you this, with working with you, let's say I was an understudy of yours. Do you consider yourself a very strict, controlling chef? Or are you very easygoing? "Hey, if you burn everything, no big deal?" How would you say your style is?

Chef Jill Lane (03:49):

I go both ways. I think my reaction to certain situations like that depend on the reasons that somebody's burning my food. I don't always take it very well. But I'm also into training and I've made all those mistakes. So getting mad and yelling and screaming, I'm never, ever going to be a Gordon Ramsay person. But I do have expectations and standards and you-

Chef David Hill (04:12):

For sure.

Chef Jill Lane (04:13):

Follow my lead, this is how I plate, and then we'll move forward from there. I've had people burn my food and there's nothing you can do about it except for take credit for it.

Chef David Hill (04:23):

But one of the best things about what I do is I do it all myself.

Chef Jill Lane (04:28):

Right, right.

Chef David Hill (04:29):

So there's nobody that's going to burn anything.

Chef Jill Lane (04:32):

Yeah, hopefully.

Chef David Hill (04:33):

Yeah, well, the thing is when I'm in these homes, I'm super locked in. You know what I mean? Every detail, I got to make sure I'm on top of it. I don't think about yesterday's party or the next day's. It's all about that moment and this time.

Chef Jill Lane (04:47):

Yeah, and that's not easy to do.

Chef David Hill (04:48):

I know. That is something you have to develop.

Chef Jill Lane (04:51):

I learned a long time ago when we were catering that you've got all these jobs just bouncing around, bubbling around in your head.

Chef David Hill (04:59):

Yeah. You've got to turn it off.

Chef Jill Lane (05:00):

You have to, you have to tunnel vision, and just see only today and then work on tomorrow, tomorrow. Otherwise my stress level just would go through the roof and you'd end up in a corner somewhere.

Chef David Hill (05:08):

Right, right. But with your working of what you're doing, tell me about your roles of you went from catering to where?

Chef Jill Lane (05:17):

To find my... Well-

Chef David Hill (05:19):

Go into that, your steps.

Chef Jill Lane (05:20):

When I left the catering business, we dissolved that and I ended up, it was more important to me at that point, my kids were very young. I've got two kids. They're about 18 months apart. They're grown now, but it was important to me at that point to know where I was going to be when I was going to be there, insurance, everything that goes along with the real job.

Chef David Hill (05:36):

You wanted something solid?

Chef Jill Lane (05:36):

Right. I ended up in the school system for a lot of years, a lot of years until about 2015, I finally left the school system, and I've always had one foot in the FineMark door, starting with one of the chefs who was working there. I worked with her at Robb & Stucky Culinary Center down in Bonita, when that was a really great patio culinary center, what a great concept they had.

Chef David Hill (06:00):

I can remember that, that they had food and-

Chef Jill Lane (06:03):

And now it's a garage for fabulous cars, for man cave or something. I don't know. But I ended up getting a job in the school system and knowing where I was going to be on weekends and holidays. And that's one of the downsides to being a private chef or a caterer. And then I have always kind of been in the door with FineMark, I was an on call, almost as a server, whenever they needed help, I'd go in there and do that and help in the kitchen. And I never really left that, even through the whole school system, and I just loved it. I would work until 6:00 at night and then go there and work it until 10:00 at night, and it was like a vacation. It was good. It was fun.

So gosh, after I left the school system in 2015, shortly after that, I started doing a lot more with FineMark. They were busier and able to accommodate more hours and it was what I loved to do. And it's been about four years, not quite four years that I've taken the executive chef position up at the Fort Myers office.

Chef David Hill (07:04):

Now, before you stepped into that, how many years prior to that did they always have chefs? Because it's rare to have a bank that has chefs.

Chef Jill Lane (07:11):

It is, well, it's been about 15 years now.

Chef David Hill (07:14):

They've always had chefs for quite a while then?

Chef Jill Lane (07:16):

Yes. So I think when Joe Catti opened up the first office, he brought a chef in with him. Maybe not immediately. I understand they were in a Blockbuster building for the first section of that, but boy, have they grown miles and miles and it's just an incredible concept for the clients.

Chef David Hill (07:33):

Well, I was going to say I heard about it because I cooked for someone who's a client. So what it was, it was someone that lived at Shadow Wood, so that Coconut location. So the story was I was doing a private event in the home and then he was like, "David, I got to take you one of these times to one of these lunches that we do at the Coconut. They roll out all this food and they treat us so well." And I'm like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. A bank has a chef or a bank does dinners and lunches?"

Chef Jill Lane (08:04):

Isn't that fun?

Chef David Hill (08:06):

I've never heard of such a thing. And they're like, "Yeah, yeah." And it's really good. So I was supposed to be a guest, but it never happened.

Chef Jill Lane (08:13):

Oh, well, definitely come and visit at least.

Chef David Hill (08:15):

I mean, it sounds very interesting that they would do that. I mean, I guess it's just a perk for people that have a high net worth and bring in big bucks.

Chef Jill Lane (08:25):

Three of the local FineMark banks have full-time in-house executive chefs, and sous chefs. I have a full-time sous chef. Our office does more lunches and more evening events than any of the others, so we stay really busy up there.

Chef David Hill (08:44):

So how many technically are you in control of as far as staff? How many members?

Chef Jill Lane (08:49):

Well, I have my sous chef, who's 40 hour, full-time plus. And then anybody after that, we hire staffing in. I don't have-

Chef David Hill (08:55):

So on-call staffing?

Chef Jill Lane (08:58):

Yeah. I have a bartender on my payroll that has always just been there and he comes when I need him, and he's exceptional.

Chef David Hill (09:04):

How often do you need these extra people?

Chef Jill Lane (09:07):

Once or twice a week. Depends on-

Chef David Hill (09:08):

So it's pretty steady. That's pretty good, because you can get in with somebody, meet somebody like them, and say, "Hey, I can give you these two days every week."

Chef Jill Lane (09:17):

Right. And everybody I work with on the on-call side, they have lives and jobs and other things going on. So this is just a perk, like what I did when I was growing into it.

Chef David Hill (09:27):

And how often are they dinners? Is it mostly just lunches?

Chef Jill Lane (09:30):

We did a dinner last night for eight. We did a dinner last week. I did a dinner for 91 people.

Chef David Hill (09:37):

But in a month? In a month, how many dinners?

Chef Jill Lane (09:39):

Not that often. Not that often. It's-

Chef David Hill (09:40):

Is it more during season or now that we're off season very low? Is it seasonal?

Chef Jill Lane (09:44):

Well, it depends on what it's for. Sometimes we do client dinners that it happens to be that's when they're available. We work with a lot of physicians, a lot of doctors and they can maybe not get there for lunch during the day. Sometimes we do breakfast with those guests or for whatever the reason, but whatever works for the client, we accommodate that. And sometimes, clients can meet at dinner. We just had our 15-year anniversary dinner, which was about 91 people.

Chef David Hill (10:07):

Nice, nice.

Chef Jill Lane (10:08):

So we cleared out the entire big lobby of the bank.

Chef David Hill (10:11):

Was that very stressful for you? Or did you feel-

Chef Jill Lane (10:13):

Oh, incredibly stressful. I don't do dinners for 90.

Chef David Hill (10:16):

That often? Right.

Chef Jill Lane (10:19):

No, today we had 17 and that was a big day. But it's consistent. We do stuff like there's times we do cocktail receptions for 50 to 125 people, depending on what it is.

Chef David Hill (10:31):

Wow. How does the process go as far as getting menus approved, or "Hey, this is what I'm going to serve?" Do they just trust you, or do things have to be approved IOIs and all these, you know what I mean? Like little details?

Chef Jill Lane (10:44):

The best part about my job is that I get to decide what we're going to serve for the most part. Every now and then, one of the bankers or somebody will go, "I'm really in the mood for this," or "I really don't want that." Joe Catti stays out of it. It's not a micromanage situation. There's trust. It's good. I always give him a couple of options. Dinner last night, we did hogfish and I did lasagna because I've been craving lasagna for about two weeks and I finally just had to do it.

Chef David Hill (11:12):

Okay. You got your fix.

Chef Jill Lane (11:14):

I did. And so did they. So it just depends on what we're in the mood for, what the market is accommodating, which is difficult these days and what I happen to have in the fridge, you want to be responsible with what you've already got, but...

Chef David Hill (11:28):

And does it work where if you have a guest that's coming that's a vegetarian, vegan, do you know that in advance? Or sometimes you get sprung like, "Oh, by the way, 10 minutes from now, you need a vegan dinner really quick. Let's go!"

Chef Jill Lane (11:39):

There have been times where we were picking menus up from the table and I've gotten, "Oh, I'm a celiac." I'm like, "Okay."

Chef David Hill (11:45):

Oh, so you... yeah.

Chef Jill Lane (11:46):

I can do almost anything provided I have a little notice.

Chef David Hill (11:49):

But you need to know details, yeah.

Chef Jill Lane (11:50):

And I think mostly, I don't think that's ever really intentional. I think it's mostly they don't want to be a bother and they don't want to be a burden and they don't want to be difficult, so they don't say anything, but it's always much easier if we're aware in advance, always. So I can do great things.

Chef David Hill (12:05):

And how did you deal with this whole COVID back in 2020? Were you ever shut down, laid off? Tell me about that a little bit.

Chef Jill Lane (12:13):

We were so fortunate. Our company didn't furlough anybody. They could have.

Chef David Hill (12:18):

Oh, that's amazing.

Chef Jill Lane (12:18):

I would've been the first one to go, the chefs-

Chef David Hill (12:20):

Yeah. I mean-

Chef Jill Lane (12:21):

There's no clients coming in the bank.

Chef David Hill (12:23):

Right, right.

Chef Jill Lane (12:23):

So cleverly, they decided that we would be serving the staff every day.

Chef David Hill (12:29):

Wow. That's really great.

Chef Jill Lane (12:30):

So all of our banks served the staff and then it became... We were serving anywhere between 50 and 80 people at any given time. And that's-

Chef David Hill (12:39):

Whoa, that's such a nice thing.

Chef Jill Lane (12:40):

Little lower when we were over at the original bank. Now we've got that great big bank there on College Parkway, which houses well over 100 employees. We were busy. It was fun until it wasn't. It was-

Chef David Hill (12:55):

What was that time period though, that went from, "Hey, we're just doing the employees," to back to business, where we're doing the actual-

Chef Jill Lane (13:02):

Gosh, it doesn't feel like it was that long ago, back to business. It really-

Chef David Hill (13:05):

So it was pretty... just recent then?

Chef Jill Lane (13:07):

Maybe within the year. I mean, when everything opened up, and clients would trickle in and then we would go maybe three times a week feeding the staff and then we would accommodate client lunches and still try to feed people. And there were times where the staff went without, because we had client lunches and we're like, "Okay, you're on the back burner today." But for the most part, it was a win-win. We got to work full-time. Nobody skipped a beat, and the staff got... They got pretty lucky. They were fed like kings and queens for-

Chef David Hill (13:42):

Like most businesses, I mean, for me, it's just right when it started, I think it was like right around March 2020, all of the sudden, people just started calling or canceling. Because with my business, what they'll do is call months in advance, put a deposit down on a particular date. So I already know like, "Hey, on this date, I'm going to be with this guy. This is where they're at."

And then just all of a sudden, I started getting flooded with calls. "We're not traveling, so sorry. We have to cancel." And of course they get their money back. I mean, nobody knew how to handle this thing, but some of the people were like, "Listen, we come every year, keep the deposit, we'll reschedule." So then what happened is I went through like maybe two, three weeks where it was quiet. And then everybody who knew me locally, where I cooked every once in a while, they'd be like, "Hey, if you're not sick, no fever, you could still smell and taste, why don't you come cook for us?" So I got business regulars, where I was just like-

Chef Jill Lane (14:44):

Right, and I remember your post when that was happening.

Chef David Hill (14:46):

Yeah, because my thing was I never wanted to be that chef when I know a lot of chefs did this, "Hey, I'll do to-go stuff. I'll give you..." And that just for me, that just doesn't work out, reheated food. I just never want to be that guy. If you want me to be in your house and do it right, I could do that for you. But I never put out these posts like, "To-go only, let's do to-go." I was blessed enough where I got a good amount of regulars that called on a regular basis.

Chef Jill Lane (15:14):

Who trusted you.

Chef David Hill (15:14):

That we still had little events. They weren't really big because we didn't know about having big groups. We just had maybe six people, maybe eight people. And it was back to business and then eventually, the rentals got back, because at a little while there, there was like, "We're not promoting travel." So there was no rentals open. They weren't allowing that. But then right when they did, I got a really weird thing where people from Orlando came down, there was people from Miami coming down because their beaches were shut down.

Chef Jill Lane (15:47):

Oh, yeah.

Chef David Hill (15:48):

Bonita Beach was open.

Chef Jill Lane (15:49):

Oh, especially in Miami, we got flooded, over near Sanibel.

Chef David Hill (15:52):

So Bonita Beach was open. So I was getting all kinds of locals that were renting those big houses on the water and I was jamming, so the pandemic actually doubled my business.

Chef Jill Lane (16:04):

That's fantastic.

Chef David Hill (16:05):

Yeah. I mean, I did whatever we had to do. We'd wear the masks. Some of the people traveled with physician assistants that would test us before we walked into the house.

Chef Jill Lane (16:17):

Oh, that's nice. As long as they're comfortable.

Chef David Hill (16:17):

The swab, the swab test, I did a bunch of those. Wear the mask and we got through it. So, I mean, with your thing, it sounded like you got to work regular, no shut down, which is really a blessing.

Chef Jill Lane (16:30):

Yeah. Oh, so much. It could've gone terribly wrong for me.

Chef David Hill (16:34):

Right. What would you do? You have a family to feed, you got all your bills and stuff and it doesn't stop.

Chef Jill Lane (16:40):

And for that, we're just incredibly grateful.

Chef David Hill (16:42):

Yeah. Our governor, I mean, he was great to all of us-

Chef Jill Lane (16:45):

I love our governor.

Chef David Hill (16:46):

... not shutting us down. Because I mean, I always felt bad. I had people from Philadelphia, New York, Boston, they'd be like, "Chef, you have no idea what's going on. You're so blessed to be able to function," because where they're from, to-go only or maybe you could eat outside. And as you know, I don't really think you could pay your bills and keep your rent going. They were saying a lot of places were forced to close.

I had people from California that would visit and they're like, LA, Beverly Hills, I know that area. And they're like, "You wouldn't even recognize it. Everything's shut down."

Chef Jill Lane (17:23):

Well, David, last October we went to Rhode Island, Providence. So my daughter went to culinary school in Providence, and I fell in love. Turns out I'm a total New England girl. Who knew? Gosh.

Chef David Hill (17:34):

It's beautiful. I've been there.

Chef Jill Lane (17:36):

Well, not just that, but the foodie situation up there is just incredible. And there's so many chef-owned restaurants and that's what I think I love best about it. We don't get a lot of that down here. There's some, and they're exceptional.

Chef David Hill (17:50):

A lot of chains.

Chef Jill Lane (17:51):

A lot of chains. I was so disappointed with Coconut Point. What an opportunity to really do the right thing and I don't go there to eat, that's all.

Chef David Hill (18:00):

I think what it is is the rents are too high.

Chef Jill Lane (18:04):

Yeah, oh, there you go.

Chef David Hill (18:04):

I think you really got to be bringing them in to survive.

Chef Jill Lane (18:07):

What a disservice that they've done to themselves, because...

Chef David Hill (18:10):

Yeah.

Chef Jill Lane (18:11):

But up there, when we went back last October, it was really sad because so many of those great places were no longer. They just couldn't survive it. And that's Rhode Island, which is really, really-

Chef David Hill (18:22):

Seasonal too.

Chef Jill Lane (18:23):

... shut down too.

Chef David Hill (18:24):

Yeah. It could be seasonal there too.

Chef Jill Lane (18:25):

They clamped down tight. Right.

Chef David Hill (18:28):

But with the whole pandemic, I think it made all the chefs change, maybe their operations, and I know a lot of people did this thing where you could order online, have delivery service. But like I said, I felt blessed with my thing. It never really stopped. I just had a small little period, maybe two, three weeks where it got quiet, but then it avalanched.

Chef Jill Lane (18:56):

Boy, and when it opened up, you just went bananas.

Chef David Hill (18:59):

Right, people were shocked when I said-

Chef Jill Lane (19:00):

They couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

Chef David Hill (19:02):

I was telling some of my clients, "You need to realize, I only has two, maybe three days off a month. Every single day, a different house." Or I also have those clients where I might do seven days in a row. Their whole vacation, they just want a chef coming in every day.

Chef Jill Lane (19:18):

Yeah. Right.

Chef David Hill (19:19):

But I mean, it was really weird what happened. I mean, some states just got the raw end of the deal and I feel sorry for the chefs that had to go through that.

Chef Jill Lane (19:28):

Right. I know. And we were very blessed.

Chef David Hill (19:32):

Yeah. I was going to ask you with your career, did you ever have these goals or ideas about opening a restaurant? Did you ever have that in your head? Because my ideas changed a lot.

Chef Jill Lane (19:44):

Yeah. You know what? I'm sure I did at some point, or at least some kind of a cafe, but man, that's hard work. That's your own money. That's the hard part. I feel like the position I'm in now is just a fabulous position when you've done it all.

Chef David Hill (20:02):

It's very unique. Very.

Chef Jill Lane (20:03):

You've been everywhere. You've cooked for people. You've worked the weekends, you've worked the nights, you've been in the industry for decades. And this is a sweet spot for a chef who's already been through all that. And I feel very, very blessed that I'm able to go into FineMark and be appreciated for what I have, what I can bring to the table and just love what I do, and-

Chef David Hill (20:26):

That's awesome.

Chef Jill Lane (20:27):

... there's not a lot of stress. Well, that's not true. There's a lot of stress.

Chef David Hill (20:30):

Well, some, when you get the big ones.

Chef Jill Lane (20:31):

But for the most part, I'm by myself in the kitchen, I turn on the music. I do what I do, and do what I can, when I can. Because tomorrow is going to be crazy busy, so you got to get it done now. You do what you do, when you can. I don't think I ever really had big aspirations. Once I decided to drop that whole catering gig that we had, I was very happy just to settle into it.

Chef David Hill (20:58):

What kind of hours would you say you're working these days, or was it different for season to now? What are the hours roughly?

Chef Jill Lane (21:08):

We're slowing down a little bit now, but I think the Fort Myers office more than any other is not quite as seasonal as the Coconut office or the Naples area where people really go up north after Easter. We have maybe a younger clientele who are here more year round or more consistently. So we maintain what we do. And I still have events coming up and throughout the summer, our marketing department, we'll still book events with the people that we can, culinary classes, things like that. I do work evenings and I do work the 15-hour days. And-

Chef David Hill (21:42):

So it's all over the place. You don't have a standard.

Chef Jill Lane (21:44):

Occasional weekends.

Chef David Hill (21:44):

In and out.

Chef Jill Lane (21:47):

Right. If it needs to be done, we get it done. And if that means that I'm there until 9:00 last night doing dinner for eight after starting the day with a breakfast, for instance, it is what it is. It's the job.

Chef David Hill (22:00):

And if you don't mind me asking though, but are you a salaried employee or are you hourly?

Chef Jill Lane (22:03):

I am a salaried employee.

Chef David Hill (22:06):

Do you ever feel like it's a bad deal doing a salary, because-

Chef Jill Lane (22:09):

I don't.

Chef David Hill (22:09):

It works out.

Chef Jill Lane (22:10):

I think for some people it could be a bad deal under certain situations. I don't really feel like I'm being worked too hard or taken advantage of. There are days that I'll take a little comp time, and just go, "Okay, I'm leaving early today," or I'm going to take this Friday off and just go exhale somewhere. But no, I don't think it's a bad deal for me. I can see how it could be, and how it has been.

Chef David Hill (22:33):

I was going to say, country clubs. That's-

Chef Jill Lane (22:35):

Wouldn't do that.

Chef David Hill (22:35):

See, when I first got here, I was a country club chef. But when I started, I was sous chef, then I got executive chef. And then I just figured out, it's too many hours.

Chef Jill Lane (22:46):

Yes.

Chef David Hill (22:47):

It's every single holiday, you're going to even work double the hours on a holiday. And I just felt like there was too many politics.

Chef Jill Lane (22:56):

Right, yeah.

Chef David Hill (22:57):

I just got away from it.

Chef Jill Lane (22:58):

And that corporate environment, it's-

Chef David Hill (23:00):

Corporate. Everything's-

Chef Jill Lane (23:02):

You can't make everybody happy. I think a country club would be maybe the most difficult area to work. I really do.

Chef David Hill (23:06):

Yeah. But like you, though-

Chef Jill Lane (23:08):

A lot to answer to.

Chef David Hill (23:09):

... we thought alike where I was thinking the reason I did that was moving here and not knowing anybody. I did it for the steady paycheck and then also benefits because as you know, being a restaurant chef, you just will not find benefits. I'm not going to say it's impossible, but maybe you can find it. But it's rare, because being private with what I do, obviously I pay my own benefits. But that's important. The older you get, you want those health benefits.

Chef Jill Lane (23:38):

Well, exactly. Especially when you have young kids and you do.

Chef David Hill (23:41):

Right, right.

Chef Jill Lane (23:42):

I mean, yeah, absolutely. That factors into everything, which is why I left the whole catering industry to begin with, because that was critical.

Chef David Hill (23:53):

Do you have a good story for me with catering where you felt like you were melting, that there's no way you're going to get this job done, like you're in the weeds kind of story?

Chef Jill Lane (24:03):

There was one day.

Chef David Hill (24:04):

Let's hear it.

Chef Jill Lane (24:06):

There was one day and this is probably the worst sinking moment I think I've ever had. And it was totally my fault and it was redeemable, so it's a good story in the end, but we were doing a board of directors meeting down at a place.

Chef David Hill (24:25):

Okay, how many guests?

Chef Jill Lane (24:25):

Probably about 10 or 12.

Chef David Hill (24:25):

Oh, so not that big.

Chef Jill Lane (24:26):

Not a huge one. But I decided that day I was going to do Chilean sea bass. And of course there's no real kitchen, so I'm doing what I can bringing it in hot, and working out on their loading deck.

Chef David Hill (24:43):

Oh, so there's factors.

Chef Jill Lane (24:45):

Oh, there's always factors.

Chef David Hill (24:46):

There's a lot of factors.

Chef Jill Lane (24:47):

Nothing's really that easy. But this was in a business and I turned around with my tray of Chilean sea bass, which at the time was I think $27 a pound, and swung it around and about six of them slid off, hit that loading dock floor, and all over the place.

Chef David Hill (25:08):

Oh, no! I've never had anything like that, where I just lost my product.

Chef Jill Lane (25:08):

I was like, "I'm going to change my name and move out of state now. It was nice knowing everybody. Good luck to you. McDonald's is right down the road."

Chef David Hill (25:14):

Oh my God.

Chef Jill Lane (25:14):

It was terrible. It was awful. And not only that, but it's just my favorite fish and it was heartbreaking to see.

Chef David Hill (25:22):

So tell me what you did, let's hear it.

Chef Jill Lane (25:22):

Well, that was one of the few times that I ordered a lot of Chilean sea bass. So I would have some for my family at home, we would cook that over the weekend. I called my husband who happened to be home. I'm like, "Pop that in the oven for 10 minutes and get it up here. I'm going to stall them."

Chef David Hill (25:36):

Whoa!

Chef Jill Lane (25:36):

And it worked out okay.

Chef David Hill (25:37):

You got lucky!

Chef Jill Lane (25:38):

But to this day, the gentleman who was there watched me do it. I still think he thinks I fed everybody floor bass. So, oh. And I didn't, I promise, that went away. I would've eaten it off the floor, make no mistake. But it was, I-

Chef David Hill (25:55):

Well, you might think I'm crazy but when I go into the parties, it's the exact amount. It's pretty much the exact-

Chef Jill Lane (26:01):

And that's a risky little game.

Chef David Hill (26:03):

Just because I've done it so many times. I have a lot of confidence.

Chef Jill Lane (26:06):

And if you don't have to rely on anybody else to-

Chef David Hill (26:08):

Everything will be fine. Exactly. I don't have to rely on anybody else. Nobody's going to mess up.

Chef Jill Lane (26:11):

That's the factor.

Chef David Hill (26:12):

So when I'm in these houses, I try to be super careful. You can't overcook the steak, you only got one shot at it.

Chef Jill Lane (26:19):

Right.

Chef David Hill (26:19):

But like I said, I mean, I've done it for 10 years with the house thing, that I feel pretty solid. You know what I mean?

Chef Jill Lane (26:25):

Right, I totally get that.

Chef David Hill (26:27):

But I'm saying, some people are like, "You're crazy. Always bring extra," but in your case, God, thank God you had back-up.

Chef Jill Lane (26:34):

And I didn't live that far away, so Brian was like, "All right, I'll be right there, you ding-a-ling."

Chef David Hill (26:38):

Wow.

Chef Jill Lane (26:39):

It was fine. But that was probably my biggest sinking moment where I was just like, "Oh, man."

Chef David Hill (26:45):

Geez.

Chef Jill Lane (26:47):

"I don't know what I'm going to do." And then I was like, "Wait a minute."

Chef David Hill (26:48):

But what about with what you're doing right now? If you know you got 12 people, is it always 12? Or you always have extra right now? With how you do these events.

Chef Jill Lane (26:55):

Oh, no, I can pretty much bank on having a couple extras. I always make sure.

Chef David Hill (26:59):

Like three, three portions maybe?

Chef Jill Lane (27:01):

Even like last night, our dinner was supposed to be seven, and shortly before it was, "Oops, it's eight."

Chef David Hill (27:11):

Oh, so you're always... okay.

Chef Jill Lane (27:11):

And I was prepared for it, because that's how we roll. And being right there.

Chef David Hill (27:11):

See, for me, there's no surprises. Do you know what I mean? Like, going into it, "Oh, by the way, there's another guest," that never, ever happens.

Chef Jill Lane (27:19):

Okay, well...

Chef David Hill (27:19):

What'll happen is they have time to get me in the morning. They're like, "Hey, text me in the morning. Call me. I need to know before I get there." Everybody seems to know that. So I've never really had a big-time curve ball like that.

Chef Jill Lane (27:33):

See, and I'm lucky enough that if that is an issue, we've got our walk-in right there, I've got my big... I've got everything I need, so.

Chef David Hill (27:40):

I miss those walk-ins.

Chef Jill Lane (27:42):

Oh, I love my kitchen.

Chef David Hill (27:42):

You know what? I've been in two private homes that they had walk-ins.

Chef Jill Lane (27:47):

Oh, nice.

Chef David Hill (27:47):

I mean, keep in mind, I'm talking about houses that are roughly 40 million. But I'm saying it's very rare to walk into a home that you walk into a walk-in, and we got milk over that corner, we got beers way up there.

Chef Jill Lane (28:00):

Because it's tens of thousands of dollars.

Chef David Hill (28:02):

It's amazing.

Chef Jill Lane (28:03):

And if I were to win the lottery and have my home, I would definitely have a walk in because man, the quality of the food it keeps is miles better.

Chef David Hill (28:08):

I know. Oh my God, yeah.

Chef Jill Lane (28:08):

Yeah, I love it.

Chef David Hill (28:12):

I was going to ask, if you weren't doing this bank job, what would be your second choice? If you weren't where you're at now, where would you like to be, or?

Chef Jill Lane (28:21):

In the food industry, or just in general?

Chef David Hill (28:22):

Yeah, being a chef. Yeah.

Chef Jill Lane (28:25):

Gosh, I don't know. And you'll probably find out later, I would pay Harold money to let me just stand in a corner of his kitchen and watch them work, because I love what he does. I love what he does. And-

Chef David Hill (28:39):

He's great. I mean, he's an OG. He's been doing it a long time.

Chef Jill Lane (28:39):

I'd be begging him for a job. Like, "Please, you don't even have to pay me. I work for wine. Just teach me a few things and let me hang out." I could watch that kind of stuff for days.

Chef David Hill (28:51):

Yeah. He's very talented, for sure.

Chef Jill Lane (28:53):

Oh, and we've got great talent in this area. We really do.

Chef David Hill (28:57):

Absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of great chefs and we're going to have many features, and I hope we can get you back for next time. We're going to have another session. We'll do season two.

Chef Jill Lane (29:07):

I love it. This is fun.

Chef David Hill (29:09):

But I appreciate you coming on. I was just going to ask if you want to plug anything or maybe you have a website where people could see your stuff.

Chef Jill Lane (29:17):

I really don't. FineMark Bank does have a website and there is a Chef's Corner in there where they've got all the recipes and they feature our recipes quite often between the three chefs, and that's from-

Chef David Hill (29:31):

So they get to learn about your cooking there?

Chef Jill Lane (29:33):

And there's a whole... yeah.

Chef David Hill (29:34):

Okay. Cool.

Chef Jill Lane (29:34):

Cool stuff. We do a lot of culinary classes, which is really fun because we get to pull other people in, and when I do that, I really like to plug and promote our local smaller businesses, like our farmers. Or our mushroom farmers. We just did a class with Stropharia Mushroom Farm. Jarrell and his brother down in Naples, and man, knocked my socks off. I didn't even have to do anything except for put the food down, and he was just in his element. He's good at what he does.

And he is just a wealth of knowledge on the benefits of mushrooms, and it was one of my favorite things to do. So-

Chef David Hill (30:11):

That's awesome.

Chef Jill Lane (30:12):

... stuff like that. I think sourcing where we get our stuff and that's-

Chef David Hill (30:16):

That's important. Sure, sure.

Chef Jill Lane (30:17):

That's half the battle. And that's really important, and helping smaller businesses and being able to connect our clients with these smaller businesses. Smaller wine shops, Quality Cheese with Carolyn Hostetler who I just adore.

Chef David Hill (30:30):

Cool.

Chef Jill Lane (30:30):

So many things like that.

Chef David Hill (30:32):

That's awesome.

Chef Jill Lane (30:32):

It's probably my favorite thing about what we do is sourcing and getting to know these great, great people who are doing it for all the right reasons.

Chef David Hill (30:39):

Sure. Well, I look forward to watching more of your career. I mean, we met on Facebook, I'm watching your events and-

Chef Jill Lane (30:46):

I feel like I know you.

Chef David Hill (30:47):

... you're taking photos. Yeah. I mean, I like your work and what you do. It looks awesome.

Chef Jill Lane (30:52):

I have people who literally make fun of me, really. You look at it-

Chef David Hill (30:55):

There's no time for the perfect lighting.

Chef Jill Lane (30:56):

It's for my mom. It's for my mom.

Chef David Hill (30:57):

Yeah, screw that.

Chef Jill Lane (30:58):

She can see what I did today. And I love that. We talk about it, so.

Chef David Hill (31:02):

Well, I have a little gift for you.

Chef Jill Lane (31:04):

I love a gift.

Chef David Hill (31:05):

So you can wear this when you're cleaning house or cutting the grass or whatever, but that's our little podcast shirt.

Chef Jill Lane (31:12):

Chefs & Lambos.

Chef David Hill (31:12):

If you want, you could hold that up for the camera there. You could show everybody.

Chef Jill Lane (31:16):

I happen to look great in red, by the way.

Chef David Hill (31:17):

Isn't that cool?

Chef Jill Lane (31:17):

I love it!

Chef David Hill (31:19):

Well, thanks for coming on.

Chef Jill Lane (31:20):

That's so cool.

Chef David Hill (31:21):

I appreciate you, and I look forward to seeing more of your stuff.

Chef Jill Lane (31:25):

I love what you're doing here, David. It was a pleasure to meet you officially.

Chef David Hill (31:27):

I mean, look, I'm just trying to help all the chefs out. I'm going to see more chefs and I hope we keep going.

Chef Jill Lane (31:32):

That's great. Thank you.

Chef David Hill (31:35):

All right, you have a great day.

Chef Jill Lane (31:35):

Thank you so much.

Chef David Hill (31:35):

Awesome.