I would work as a cook, get a little money, then open another restaurant.
I own a couple of restaurants in places like Dubai and Sharjah.
Even if the chef has a good business head, his focus should be behind kitchen doors. A business partner should take care of everything in front of the kitchen doors.
I love creating new things. It's difficult to be creative once a restaurant's open. People want the same dishes. For me, the creativity is in opening a new place and starting a new menu.
The role of a chef isn't to reinvent dishes but to tweak.
When I'm menu-developing at Milk Bar, I'll go for weeks at a time where all I'm doing is testing out layer cakes or different cookies and testing out changes.
When our folks focus on exactly what is needed to succeed in the restaurants, they should be able to lead themselves to restaurateur level.
As a restaurateur, my palate is one of my most important tools.
I need to open a restaurant, a big soul food restaurant in Beijing!
I love food, and my girlfriend comes from an architecture background, so we might open up a restaurant.
Chefs become attracted to being able to get product and then clientele - those are the two things that attract you as a chef.
I enjoy the creative side of the business side of being a restaurateur. That's my thing. The thing I'm constantly thinking about is, how do you create new, interesting situations that keep people coming back?
It's not easy to have success with restaurants in different cities, but I like the challenge.
I suppose more than anything, chefs have gotten better, which is great news, which makes my life a lot easier. I can be a lot more creative in terms of the menu.
The toughest decision is always whether to open a restaurant. Two or three bad months, and you could be out of business.
I'm in the process of brainstorming with my marketing team and all that stuff, trying to come up with a concept for a late-night restaurant for people in Birmingham.
A friend of mine had a private kitchen that was available and it was an inexpensive way of starting a restaurant and testing whether or not I could sell my cuisine.
I wanted to work in a restaurant. Le Cirque was looking for a chef and they approached me. I was excited to be able to be part of this restaurant with an amazing reputation, but not a good one for food at the time. I made it clear that if I was coming to Le Cirque it was going to change.
I want to open a restaurant, and I want to start selling properties. I want to own some stock.
Chipotle was going to incorporate all the things I had learned at the Culinary Institute and Stars and really elevate typical fast food.
I started cooking when I was 18 years old, and now I have restaurants all over the world.
