Chef David Hill & Chef Chris Berube

Chef David Hill (00:28):

Okay, welcome to episode eight of Chefs and Lambos by Chef David Hill. Again, another day on Bonita Beach, and this is quite a venue. I got to say, it's a pretty nice spot. And today we have a guest that's more of a restaurant guy, and I'm going to let him introduce himself.

Chef Chris Berube (00:49):

Hey guys, I'm Chef Chris Berube. Born local in Naples, Florida, grew up around this area, and as you can see, it's absolutely gorgeous. I mean, I was just talking to him. I don't know if I could trade it.

Chef David Hill (01:03):

Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (01:04):

I would love to trade it for the small-town living, but where else can you get this in your backyard? I mean, it was definitely fortunate growing up in a-

Chef David Hill (01:13):

And I want to say you're the first guy that's born and raised here.

Chef Chris Berube (01:17):

There's not-

Chef David Hill (01:17):

Everybody's from different places.

Chef Chris Berube (01:18):

There's not many of us left.

Chef David Hill (01:20):

All the chefs. It's rare.

Chef Chris Berube (01:20):

Not many of us left.

Chef David Hill (01:22):

It's rare. Really rare.

Chef Chris Berube (01:23):

It is. It is.

Chef David Hill (01:24):

How often are the employees that you work with all from Florida? Is it kind of often or rare?

Chef Chris Berube (01:30):

You know, I don't think I have one.

Chef David Hill (01:34):

Wow.

Chef Chris Berube (01:35):

At least not in my kitchen. In my kitchen, I have Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Mexico, Haiti, but none that are even from Florida, which is nice because it brings that diversity to it, to where we trade stories about, "Hey, well, up here going through this and going through the winter," and I looked at him, "What's winter?"

Chef David Hill (02:00):

Right. Right.

Chef Chris Berube (02:01):

They're like, "Oh, yeah. Getting negative five." You mean cities actually get that?

Chef David Hill (02:07):

You have no idea.

Chef Chris Berube (02:08):

No. I lived in Texas for a year and it got down to about eight degrees and, of course, here I was, the Florida boy and shorts and a parka going, "Hey guys, this is all right. I mean, I don't know if I can do this another year, but..."

Chef David Hill (02:19):

Yeah. Well, let me ask you, when you think back about your childhood, of going into this chef life stuff, what was it that drew you to want to do it? Or was maybe a first job, a dishwasher, cook or something? What made you want to do this?

Chef Chris Berube (02:35):

It was actually a very, very unfortunate accident that led me into this.

Chef David Hill (02:41):

Let's hear it.

Chef Chris Berube (02:42):

My first job was actually Outback Steakhouse. I was a young, dumb kid, 16 years old bussing tables. It lasted for about two months and the natural high school kid in me was like, "Man, I don't want to work right now." And I left and worked the gas station for a little bit, but every Sunday we would have barbecues and everyone, we'd literally put food on, take a truck, hop off a bridge, and just swim down a canal. And then, finally I was like, "Man, I'm going to stay back and just man, the food a little bit." I started just doing random stuff, and the one that always sticks in my head the most was we had a bunch of chicken wings, and instead of just your barbecue or your lemon pepper, I was like, "You know what, let me try something."

(03:22):

I sprinkled some cinnamon, some brown sugar, put some orange slices in it, put in the oven, baked it, then threw it on a grill. And I was like, "Man, this is pretty good. You know what? I'm going to keep on doing this."

Chef David Hill (03:33):

Uh-huh.

Chef Chris Berube (03:34):

Then we fast forward, through high school, I had straight A's in architecture, actually, and I actually wanted to pursue that and was in college for architecture. Of course, I needed a job to pay all my bills, pay my rent, and I landed a job at PF Changs. I had worked there previously for about a year in Naples, but there were opening up a PF Changs in Gulf Coast Town Center in Fort Myers. I was like, "Hey, I already got experience at this company."

(04:01):

Well, I went there and one of my high school buddies is one of the managers and he's like, "Yeah, let me go ahead, put in a good word," and I landed the job there, and I was actually front of the house to start off.

Chef David Hill (04:12):

Oh, okay. So, not in the kitchen.

Chef Chris Berube (04:14):

No, I wasn't even in the kitchen, and at the time I didn't even have the desire to be in the kitchen.

Chef David Hill (04:19):

But let me ask you, with an operation like that, I'm guessing the cooks back there, they don't make those sauces, that they come in jars or-

Chef Chris Berube (04:27):

Nope.

Chef David Hill (04:27):

They actually make all those sauces?

Chef Chris Berube (04:29):

100%.

Chef David Hill (04:30):

Wow.

Chef Chris Berube (04:30):

They make-

Chef David Hill (04:31):

I never would believe that, just because the consistency issues. I just don't believe...

Chef Chris Berube (04:36):

I still use the recipes to this day.

Chef David Hill (04:38):

Wow. Okay, well go on with your story.

Chef Chris Berube (04:39):

It's one of those things that-

Chef David Hill (04:39):

I didn't mean to interrupt.

Chef Chris Berube (04:46):

No, it's all right. I loved it because I've done it for everywhere. I take little bits and pieces. "Okay, well this sauce, I know it's going to do this. It's going to taste like this, and-"

Chef David Hill (04:53):

And change it up a little.

Chef Chris Berube (04:54):

Yeah, to where... Some people have crucified me for it because they're like, "Oh, well, that's Asian and this is continental and that's Mexican. You can't throw all that..." I'm like, "Well, if no one told you that tomato and basil went together, how would you figure it out?"

Chef David Hill (05:07):

With cooking, there's no rules.

Chef Chris Berube (05:09):

I love it. That's exactly-

Chef David Hill (05:11):

Yeah, it's no rules. No boundaries.

Chef Chris Berube (05:12):

No, and that's what I told someone, is a lot of classically-trained chefs cannot stand me because I don't do stuff the classic way. But what led me into the kitchen was, I had worked my way up. I was a food runner and then within four months they're like, "Hey, let's move you up to a bar back. It's a little bit more faster paced, you can handle it."

Chef David Hill (05:32):

At PF Changs, we're talking?

Chef Chris Berube (05:35):

Yeah, PF Changs.

Chef David Hill (05:35):

Okay, go ahead.

Chef Chris Berube (05:35):

And then from the bar back, it was like, "Let's see what these servers are making. I want to make server money." So, naturally went into serving and then I was actually long boarding and had my dog pulling me on the lawn board, almost like wake boarding, until he decided to go towards the grass and hit the grass. Hands went out forward to save myself, and I actually fractured my wrist so bad that I almost needed surgery. So, I was in a cast for about two and a half months. Couldn't do anything so they had me hosting, which, it was nice because I learned almost every single aspect of the front of the house.

(06:14):

And then right before that when it was slow, I would dabble in the kitchen a little bit. If our pantry side was in the middle of prep and I rang in a salmon or something, I'd go back there, I'd grill the salmon, do everything.

Chef David Hill (06:27):

Nice.

Chef Chris Berube (06:29):

I got my cast off and I went back to the front of the house for about a month or so, and my chef was like, "Dude, you're not too bad in the back of the house. You want to give it a try?" And I was like, "Sure. Yeah, let's do it." They threw me in in the middle of a season on a two-and-a-half-hour wait Friday night, and I think we did somewhere around 1600 covers that night. It was a $35,000, $40,000 night. I went in and they said, "All right, sink or swim," and it was the funnest thing I'd ever done.

Chef David Hill (06:58):

Yeah. It's high pressure.

Chef Chris Berube (06:59):

It was.

Chef David Hill (07:00):

It's real high pressure doing that.

Chef Chris Berube (07:02):

It was an adrenaline rush and the guy who was on pantry with me, it was like a dance. We did not even have to talk. We'd call the ticket, as I'm plating what he started, he's off finishing what I'd started, and it was the best teamwork I've ever seen.

Chef David Hill (07:24):

It's like poetry in motion.

Chef Chris Berube (07:26):

It was. It was beautiful. I mean, to this day, I've only had two or three other people that it was in such sync that, like I said, you didn't even have to talk. And our pantry station there, it wasn't... Today, you have your pantry station, most of the time you're putting out your salads or your desserts and stuff like that. We had a Char-Broil grill, a Salamander, a six-top burner, a steamer, our fryers, plus our desserts, plus our salad. So, I got pretty well rounded, all at that.

(08:00):

And then, I needed some change and my brother was living in Texas, working at the Ritz Carlton, doing valet parking and doorman. He was like, "Hey, you can make a lot of money doing this," and I was like, "All right. Well, I'm still young. I'm 22 years old." So, I moved out to Dallas within three weeks of him offering me this job, and I went out there. I was going to go to PF Changs, but when I went out there, "Oh, no. We haven't heard anything. No one sent any request over to transfer you," and that was kind of the end of my PF Changs there. I was like, "Okay, I'm just going to go straight to the Ritz and work there," which, it was a fun experience

Chef David Hill (08:40):

In the kitchen, that is.

Chef Chris Berube (08:41):

No, I was valet parking cars.

Chef David Hill (08:43):

Oh, okay. I thought you were going to try to keep pursuing.

Chef Chris Berube (08:45):

No, because at this point it hadn't set in that that was really what I wanted to do. I was looking for that fast buck, that front-of-the-house kind of money. And it was great because I was in the best shape of my life running 15 to 20 miles a day, and about a year into it, my mom's husband passed away and they were living down here. So, I came back to kind of help my mom out, stay with her so she wasn't lonely, and when I came back I was working at the Ritz Carlton in Naples for a little while. At this point, I was still young. I think I was about 24 years old or so, and life hit me a ton of bricks living in the fast lane and I landed myself a DUI, which-

Chef David Hill (09:32):

That can slow you down.

Chef Chris Berube (09:35):

I never realized how much of a blessing it actually was. As much as I loved the money, I was making stupid money for a 23, 24-year-old kid, I was making almost $90,000 a year without any serious bills. So, every night was a club night going out partying. But when I got my DUI, obviously, I couldn't park cars anymore and I decided to go back to restaurants. I was like, "Hey, I know restaurants," and one of my old sous chefs from PF Changs was actually now the culinary partner at PF Changs in Naples, and I was living back in Naples. Me and him always got along. I looked at him as one of my early mentors, so I went back to PF Changs, except for this time I went on the wok cooking, more that fast paced. Little did I know that was going to spark my favorite style of cooking, wok cooking, saute. To this day, I tell everyone, I'm like, "There's no adrenaline rush like getting 20, 30 tickets lined up on a saute station with 12 burners in front of you and just rocking it out."

Chef David Hill (10:49):

Yeah. You got to love that because I think it's a certain individual that likes that kind of stuff and can do it, because I wasn't really good at that. That production where you're on the line. That just wasn't my thing. I need to have a little time. Let's put it together, right, not speed through stuff. You know what I mean?

Chef Chris Berube (11:06):

Yeah. That honed in my skills as far as volume, and like I said, it was a blast there. You got that heat going to you, you got all your pans going, you're going around. But after, I started noticing how much I really loved cooking when I was there and it was actually my mom... My mom's been my hero throughout life. When I was about 12 years old, she was an alcoholic and she, at 36 years old, quit drinking. I think this year in August is actually 23 or 24 years that she's been sober.

Chef David Hill (11:46):

Wow. Good for her.

Chef Chris Berube (11:48):

She noticed that, "Hey, I'm actually pretty good at this," and she bought me my first set of knives. It was a nice set of Henckels.

Chef David Hill (11:56):

Nice.

Chef Chris Berube (11:57):

I remember it was wrapped up. It was a birthday present, and she handed me it and I had no clue what it was. It looked kind of like a long bookcase of some sort or something, and I opened it up and there was a note that said, "You're great at this. Here's your first set of knives. Make something of yourself." And that kind of spoke to me, because when she gave that to me she'd already signed up for college, and she went back to college in her late 30s to pursue a master's degree in criminal science. It kind of showed me that, "Hey, it's never too late." Especially at a young age.

(12:33):

I'm thinking by 25, I got to know what I want to do with my life. And it showed me that, "Okay, it's never too late to really do what you want to do." So, I was working at PF Changs still, but I had one of my buddies who'd been in the culinary field since he was almost 16 years old. He landed a dish washing job at a private club and he started to take notice of little things I'd post on social media, some nice platings and stuff like that. He actually offered me my first club job over at... Was it...? Not Bonita Bay.

Chef David Hill (13:13):

Shadow Wood?

Chef Chris Berube (13:14):

No, it's over Pelican Marsh off of 41.

Chef David Hill (13:19):

Pelican. Not Pelican Bay?

Chef Chris Berube (13:21):

No, no, not Pelican. I always forget.

Chef David Hill (13:24):

Pelican Marsh. There was [inaudible 00:13:26] Cafe.

Chef Chris Berube (13:25):

Chef Wilhelm was there for-

Chef David Hill (13:28):

Mediterra.

Chef Chris Berube (13:29):

No, no. They got one on the beach and one's the golf.

Chef David Hill (13:32):

Oh, Bay Colony?

Chef Chris Berube (13:34):

Bay Colony

Chef David Hill (13:35):

Got it.

Chef Chris Berube (13:36):

And I-

Chef David Hill (13:36):

I know them all.

Chef Chris Berube (13:38):

So, I got my first real, more fine-dining style, and I went in there and I looked at the stuff that Willhelm was doing. I was like, "These are gorgeous. This isn't just putting something on top of some rice."

Chef David Hill (13:50):

Yeah, he's great.

Chef Chris Berube (13:51):

Oh, he was... I mean, it was unbelievable, the food he was putting out, and the high-end ingredients and like you were saying, not just the fast production, throw it on a plate, and send it out.

Chef David Hill (14:07):

More fine tuning. Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (14:08):

Taking certain garnishes and just, "Okay. That garnish shifted a half inch. Now bring it back real quick."

Chef David Hill (14:14):

Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (14:14):

And it locked me in. So, I spent about a year there, really-

Chef David Hill (14:22):

What was your position there?

Chef Chris Berube (14:23):

Just a regular line cook.

Chef David Hill (14:24):

Line cook. Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (14:26):

My buddy Adam that got me the job, I'm good on saute. He's better.

Chef David Hill (14:32):

Okay.

Chef Chris Berube (14:32):

I know this is a big argumentative thing. I was LeBron, he was Michael.

Chef David Hill (14:37):

All right.

Chef Chris Berube (14:37):

Sorry to all the "LeBron is the GOAT," people. So, they stuck me on the middle, which was our oven, calling the tickets, and I'd never really done the expo side of it, as far as from inside-the-kitchen standpoint. So, that honed my skills a little bit more and after I left Bay Colony-

Chef David Hill (14:59):

Well, how long were you there exactly?

Chef Chris Berube (15:00):

About a year.

Chef David Hill (15:01):

Okay.

Chef Chris Berube (15:03):

At this time still kind of recouping from my DUI. I didn't have my license and I ended up moving to the other side of town. It would've been about a two-hour bike ride, so I found something on 5th Avenue because I was living over on the east side of town and I actually landed at Yabbas.

Chef David Hill (15:19):

Oh yeah, yeah. That's a good place.

Chef Chris Berube (15:22):

That, I would say, set the tone for the rest of my career because-

Chef David Hill (15:29):

It's all that tropical Jamaican kind of feel.

Chef Chris Berube (15:31):

Yeah, it was an island feel but we had the steaks, we had the seafood, we had sushi, and it was a well-diversed menu. I had a chef there for about a month and a half who, at the time, he had checked out mentally and they brought in the chef from Pazzos, their sister company, Chef Ryan Milito. I think he's about four years older than me. He actually went to school with my brother, and to this day, he's my true mentor.

(16:05):

He not only showed me the fine points of cooking sauces, why you do this, how to preserve this, he also showed me how to treat a staff. Because I had worked with those chefs that, they were yell, yell, yell, cuss you out, make you feel like an idiot, and I went in there and he wasn't a yeller. Now, if you were goofing off and doing a lot of stupid stuff he might get on you, but he respected his staff. I'll never forget, it was a Friday night in the middle season. One of our dishwashers didn't show up and he goes to take off his coat to go back there and do dish, and in my head, I'm thinking, "He's earned his stripes."

Chef David Hill (16:53):

Right.

Chef Chris Berube (16:54):

He's been in this business for a while. There's a reason he is the executive chef, which that's the reason he is. He's not afraid to go do whatever. I took mental note of that and instilled that in myself that, "Hey, if you want a staff to respect you, you have to do the jobs that you're going to essentially ask them to do at some point."

Chef David Hill (17:14):

Clean the fryers, do all that heavy stuff. Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (17:15):

Clean the fryers, mop the walk-in floor.

Chef David Hill (17:20):

Get their respect.

Chef Chris Berube (17:22):

Even out in the parking lot. There's a mess in the parking lot. Why are you going to wait two hours, leave that mess there for your dishwasher to come in when you're the first one? Go out there and clean it yourself. Take pride in what you do. Treat your staff with respect. I think it's the life lesson that anyone tells you: you want respect? You got to give the respect.

Chef David Hill (17:40):

Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (17:40):

And I took that with me and it has made the job so much easier.

Chef David Hill (17:48):

That's awesome.

Chef Chris Berube (17:49):

Because it was one of those things that he told me. He goes-

Chef David Hill (17:51):

It's like a life lesson.

Chef Chris Berube (17:53):

It really was. Just treat people with respect, just in general. He's like, "If you do that, you will see your staff will do the jobs that no one wants to do without you even having to ask them do it. And it was so true. So, I was at Yabbas and, of course, saute again was my station. Then it came time for season slowed down and it was like, "Okay, well we can split up shifts with saute," because we had two of us on season, and he was like, "Do you want to learn anything else?" I was like, "Throw me back on pantry. You got sushi over there. I don't know how to roll sushi." So, I spent a whole summer just rolling sushi.

Chef David Hill (18:39):

Awesome. More experience.

Chef Chris Berube (18:40):

Yeah. And of course, that led into, "Well, hey, you're actually really good at sushi," so they hired another saute cook and they put me on sushi for the next season. I was like-

Chef David Hill (18:50):

There you are. There's your spot.

Chef Chris Berube (18:51):

I'm like, "Okay." So, now I learned how to roll into it with some speed. Then, I met my current girlfriend and after a couple months we decided to move in together and she lives way out in the Estate, so far away from 5th Avenue that, just like with Bay Colony, it didn't make sense to stay there. So, I ended up putting in about a three-month notice that, "Hey, I can make it. I'll finish out the season for you guys," and I finished out the season there, but I was living way out in the Estate still with no license. So, I'm like, "All right, I got to find something around here." I was still line cooking at the time but I was a key employee, and I just happened to stumble into Pelican Larry's one day for lunch and I saw someone that I knew actually previous from the place I worked.

(19:40):

They're like, "Hey, by any chance are you looking for a job? Because we're pretty short staffed." I was like, "Coincidentally, yeah. I am." I met with the KM of their... JD Damas from The Food Rock, and it was about three weeks into it and he just looked at me and he's like, "You're not a $14-an-hour line cook, are you?" I was like, "Eh, not really, but I need a job."

Chef David Hill (20:07):

Yeah, yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (20:07):

It was about two weeks later, the director of operations came and he's like, "Hey, me and JD were talking. He would hate to lose you," and I'm like, "Wait a minute. Am I getting fired?" He's like, "No, we want to give you your own store." So, it was like I finally cut out all my partying, and I try to tell some of my staff, "Take the initiative. You want to move up? When I was working at Pelican Larry's before I got my own store, I had a choice. I could either be 45 minutes late to work or I could be seven and a half hours early to work."

Chef David Hill (20:44):

Right. Now, where was this location?

Chef Chris Berube (20:46):

This was the 951 and Immokalee location.

Chef David Hill (20:48):

Oh, okay.

Chef Chris Berube (20:52):

I don't like to be late, so I was like, "All right, well, I'm going to be seven and a half hours early. I can help prep. You guys need me to paint something, you need me to do whatever, I can do it." And then they gave me my own store, which, I spent about a year Ubering, almost, back and forth.

Chef David Hill (21:10):

Wow.

Chef Chris Berube (21:10):

$70 a day to Uber. But it worked out nicely because when they gave me that store, I actually found out that I had my first child on the way.

Chef David Hill (21:21):

You had a lot going on.

Chef Chris Berube (21:22):

It-

Chef David Hill (21:23):

Changed everything.

Chef Chris Berube (21:24):

Oh, my gosh. It was the best thing that ever happened because that child mindset went away. My partying stopped, I focused on it-

Chef David Hill (21:34):

You've got to grow up fast.

Chef Chris Berube (21:34):

It was.

Chef David Hill (21:35):

Grow up fast.

Chef Chris Berube (21:38):

My child was born and about three weeks later I'm like, "Look, I can't be riding a bike anymore. I got a kid," and I got my license back. I got everything fixed that I needed to get fixed. I finally, I had my life back and it was awesome, to the point today, I'm even like, "You know what? I didn't have my license for years. I'm driving today. Don't worry about it."

Chef David Hill (22:03):

Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (22:03):

Save your gas. I don't care what gas costs. Save it. I'm driving. And then from Pelican Larry's, I left to open Timeless because I wanted to go back to more of the fine dining, intricate plating. I had heard all these things about the chef there, that he was one of the best in the biz that was around, his flavors were amazing. I went to Timeless and when Hurricane Irma came around, my son was about five months old at the time, and we went up north because I'm like, "I'm not having a five year old in a category 5 hurricane."

(22:43):

So, we went up north. We didn't have power for almost three weeks out in the Estates after it hit. The chef got upset that I couldn't come back and I was let go, which it's like... It was those things that it sucked, but it was another blessing in disguise because I was line cooking. So, I found something. One of my buddies from the Ritz Carleton was a general contractor and he's like, "Hey, I could use a labor right now," so I was like, "All right, cool. It's something for right now."

Chef David Hill (23:10):

Just to get by.

Chef Chris Berube (23:11):

Yeah, pay the bills. Then my old KM and director of operations from Pelican Larry's messaged me. It was funny because it was literally 10 minutes after an argument with me and my girlfriend going, "Well, we need more money," and I was like, "The only way I'm going to get more money is go back to being a chef."

Chef David Hill (23:32):

Well, what you do, that's what you do.

Chef Chris Berube (23:34):

10 minutes later, I get a text message. "Hey, I know you said you were kind of trying to leave the industry to be with your kid more, but I have a sous chef position open for X amount of dollars. Do you want it?" And I was like, "This is a message from God." I was literally just talking about this, 10 minutes later that, "Hey, this is what we need."

Chef David Hill (23:57):

You got a blessing.

Chef Chris Berube (23:59):

Sure enough, I took it, and it was actually right down the road from the location that we're at right now over at... God, again, the name slips from me. Bay... Bayfront.

Chef David Hill (24:11):

Well, I noticed your shirt here. Your chef jacket there, is that your business or-?

Chef Chris Berube (24:16):

This is actually my personal business.

Chef David Hill (24:18):

Okay, Go into that.

Chef Chris Berube (24:20):

This revolves... Because after I'd gotten into, "Hey, I'm going to do this chef thing. I see it," and at this point I had already landed my first exec job and my first exec job was extreme fine dining. I mean, to where, if you've ever seen the movie Burnt, Bradley Cooper-style, "Hey, the potatoes are supposed to be X thin. Did you measure it? Well, why not?"

Chef David Hill (24:45):

Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (24:47):

I had a buddy of mine who was getting married and he's like, "Hey, how would you feel about catering our wedding?" And I was like, "Well, I haven't catered anything, but sure, why not?"

Chef David Hill (25:00):

Yeah, you could do it.

Chef Chris Berube (25:01):

"Is everything all right?" He's like, "Well, the catering place, they're estimating $18,000 for our event," and I was like, "All right, well, what in the hell you got going on, man?"

Chef David Hill (25:12):

Yeah. Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (25:12):

He's like, "65 people, five course, 12 passed apps, and that's it." I was like, "All right. Yeah, let's do it."

Chef David Hill (25:22):

And you knocked it out of the park, didn't you?

Chef Chris Berube (25:24):

Me and one other person did the entire event because he wanted to save some money and didn't want any servers. Luckily, the bridesmaids had all had past experience, because we needed servers to take out each course. I remember I was hanging out with him the whole night before because I'm like, "Hey, I'm not going to actually be able to be at your wedding." We must have stayed up 'til 4:00 in the morning, just talking about everything. Me and my buddy ended up prepping from 6:00 in the morning until 6:30 at night, got every single passed apps done about 10 minutes prior to it.

Chef David Hill (26:02):

Whoa. That's close.

Chef Chris Berube (26:02):

And all we had was six burners and two ovens to work with, and a regular household kitchen. I was like, "Man." I looked at the money I made, even cutting his... I think I charged him maybe 75% of what the catering company had quoted him.

Chef David Hill (26:22):

But that was kind of the start of the idea that, "Hey, I could do this?"

Chef Chris Berube (26:26):

Yeah. It was like, "I want to get this under my belt."

Chef David Hill (26:27):

But it's catering and private chef. Tell me what it is, what you really want to do.

Chef Chris Berube (26:31):

In the name, it's Infusion Culinary Services.

Chef David Hill (26:38):

Okay.

Chef Chris Berube (26:39):

That way it's not infusion catering, infusion meal prepping, but-

Chef David Hill (26:48):

It could be everything.

Chef Chris Berube (26:50):

Everything, So, I do meal prepping for people who want the healthier side of meals, but I also do it for the families that are like, "Hey, we work 12 hours a day. We don't have time to come home and cook a full meal." I prepare meals for people like that.

Chef David Hill (27:09):

Now, where can the people find you? Is there a website yet?

Chef Chris Berube (27:12):

The website isn't up yet.

Chef David Hill (27:14):

But is that primarily how they're going to find you going forward? Or is there a plan?

Chef Chris Berube (27:18):

That and social media.

Chef David Hill (27:20):

Okay, so Facebook, Instagram.

Chef Chris Berube (27:21):

Facebook, I have the page set up right now.

Chef David Hill (27:24):

I don't think I've seen that, though. Did you push that out to the people? Do a lot of people know about it?

Chef Chris Berube (27:29):

It hasn't been pushed out as much as it should because-

Chef David Hill (27:33):

Okay. Well, I'm going to follow it. I'm going to go after this and I'll-

Chef Chris Berube (27:35):

Yeah, yeah.

Chef David Hill (27:36):

Send me a link or something.

Chef Chris Berube (27:37):

Yeah. Lately, I've been promoting it a little bit more through my Facebook page. I'll make a post on it, Infusion Culinary Services, and then I'll share it throughout my pages, my stories. But I started with more meal prepping clients.

Chef David Hill (27:55):

Awesome.

Chef Chris Berube (27:56):

Then it was one of things like, "Okay, this is doing all right, but I really still need that job that is going to pay my bills consistently." I still wanted to hone my skills a little bit more, because in this game... Actually, Willhelm taught me you will never stop learning. The day you stop learning-

Chef David Hill (28:15):

Right. You could never know everything. Never.

Chef Chris Berube (28:17):

The day you stop learning is the day your career is over.

Chef David Hill (28:19):

Cooking is infinite.

Chef Chris Berube (28:21):

It is.

Chef David Hill (28:21):

You could never know everything. Never ever.

Chef Chris Berube (28:24):

That's why I love when I get that new up-and-coming line cook that's like, "No, I know how to do it. I know how to do that. I know how to do it." Show me.

Chef David Hill (28:31):

Yeah. There's many different ways to skin a cat. I mean, this guy might not do it exactly the way you do it, but the result might be very similar. You never know.

Chef Chris Berube (28:40):

That's how I've looked at it, is... It's almost like math, and this is what I tell some of my cooks right now, it's like, "What's two plus seven." "Well, it's nine." "What's five plus four?" "Nine." "What's three plus six?" "It's nine. What's your point?"

(28:52):

There's multiple ways to get to the same conclusion and the same result.

Chef David Hill (28:57):

I love it. That's a good way to put it.

Chef Chris Berube (29:00):

He also taught me, because my first day there he's like, "Hey, do you have a crab cake recipe?" "Yeah." "Okay, go ahead and make one for me." And we had a big party coming up with him. I was like, "You don't have one that you want me to use?"

(29:11):

He goes, "Well, I've never tried yours. Yours might be better than mine." I was like, "Okay." So, I tell my staff that. I have to tell my dishwashers, my servers, everyone. I'm like, "Hey, if you have an idea, don't be afraid to throw it out to me because you might know something that I don't." It was a 16-year-old dishwasher that gave me his mom's recipe for salsa, and to this day I still use it. I'm like, "Man, it's amazing." But right now I'm at The Pearl Steak and Seafood and it's one of the best places I've been.

Chef David Hill (29:48):

So, you're the head chef there?

Chef Chris Berube (29:49):

Yes.

Chef David Hill (29:50):

Okay. How many hours are you pulling right now?

Chef Chris Berube (29:53):

Out of season? About 45 to 50.

Chef David Hill (29:55):

Okay.

Chef Chris Berube (29:56):

I would say the owners, they are a blessing because they are a very family-oriented place. You had the mom and dad, unfortunately dad passed away last year to COVID-

Chef David Hill (30:10):

Oh, sorry to hear that. That's terrible.

Chef Chris Berube (30:11):

... and their youngest son took over. He graduated from culinary school, he's very talented.

Chef David Hill (30:18):

So, he knows his stuff.

Chef Chris Berube (30:20):

He does, and he knows more the business side of it, which was awesome because even with that, you can never stop learning on the business side. Which, he takes care of more of the business side and the front of the house and I take care of the back of the house.

Chef David Hill (30:36):

Oh, so it's a good partnership there that-

Chef Chris Berube (30:38):

It is awesome.

Chef David Hill (30:39):

... you guys kind of help each other get through the daily stuff.

Chef Chris Berube (30:41):

And he's-

Chef David Hill (30:43):

And you're happy.

Chef Chris Berube (30:44):

Oh, I love it because he's got kids that are the same age as my kids, so he understands that life happens.

Chef David Hill (30:52):

True. True.

Chef Chris Berube (30:53):

In the middle of the season, my son and his grandmother got in an accident and it wasn't a thing. I got the phone call. It wasn't a thing of, "Oh, Hey. My son got in an accident. Do you mind?" As soon as I was on the phone that, "Is everyone okay? Is Kyle okay?" He just looked at me.

Chef David Hill (31:11):

Yeah.

Chef Chris Berube (31:11):

It wasn't a thing that I had to try to explain, and "Hey, do you mind if I go take...?" It's like, "No, go."

Chef David Hill (31:17):

He's very understanding. That's a good fit for you.

Chef Chris Berube (31:19):

Yeah, and-

Chef David Hill (31:19):

You need someone who's understanding.

Chef Chris Berube (31:21):

It's a beautiful relationship, because the same thing with him. If he's not in that day because of whatever, it's like, "All right, I got this. Just like I know you got it if I'm not here."

Chef David Hill (31:34):

Gotcha.

Chef Chris Berube (31:34):

You don't got to go through the hoops of everything, so it was a great fit. But at the same time, he knows that I'm really pushing to get-

Chef David Hill (31:41):

Your business going.

Chef Chris Berube (31:43):

... my actual business going.

Chef David Hill (31:45):

I think that's great.

Chef Chris Berube (31:48):

It's one of those things that, going into it I've even told him like, "Hey, I'm never going to leave you high and dry during the middle of a season, but I will give you that heads up that, Hey, this might be my last season, that I'm really going to push for my private events and my catering." And another beautiful part was he was just like, "Dude, I'm all for it. I love to see the people grow. If there's anything I can do to help you with your private events, if you need to use the kitchen, use the kitchen."

Chef David Hill (32:20):

Well, I just want to say that's a great partnership, and the reason that we met is basically seeing all your social media posts. I can tell you're very talented. Your food looks beautiful, and I just want to say thanks for coming on today and I look forward to watching your career blossom.

Chef Chris Berube (32:35):

I appreciate it. You're an inspiration, too, man.

Chef David Hill (32:38):

I try.

Chef Chris Berube (32:39):

Even to this day, because I'd always seen the posts and everything. I'm like, "Man, this is great, and I see he's making a living and he's got a smile on his face."

Chef David Hill (32:50):

Because I'm happy as can be.

Chef Chris Berube (32:52):

The private events that I've done, I'm like, "Man, this is awesome." You're not pressured. You're cooking at your own pace and everything. And then, of course, when you got the Lambo, I'm like, "Dreams."

Chef David Hill (33:05):

All I could say, it was a good pandemic. That's really all I can say about it.

Chef Chris Berube (33:10):

It was true. I think that opened up a big spot for private chefs-

Chef David Hill (33:15):

Right. Right.

Chef Chris Berube (33:15):

... because you didn't have to worry about going into a crowded restaurant and everything like that.

Chef David Hill (33:19):

Well Chef, thanks for coming on and-

Chef Chris Berube (33:21):

Oh, Chef, I appreciate you.

Chef David Hill (33:22):

... and like I said, we'll keep in touch and good luck to you.

Chef Chris Berube (33:24):

I appreciate you.

Chef David Hill (33:25):

All right. See you.

Chef Chris Berube (33:26):

Thank you.