680: Aaron Chamberlin on Building Community Through Food

Aaron Chamberlin's family has been working in the restaurant industry since the 1930’s, led first by his grandfather, who was a chef himself. Aaron credits his grandfather with having inspired him to become a chef at a very early age, and already had him cooking in the kitchen by the age of nine. A few years later, at the age of 14, he’d hold his first job in the industry. Aaron would go on to work at some of the best restaurants in the country, from New York City, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, and in Phoenix. In the early 2000's Aaron returned to Phoenix where he joined the La Grande Orange Hospitality Group. Aaron has since gone on to open his very own St. Francis and Phoenix Public Market Cafe.

Check out Episode 437 with David Scott Peters as mentioned in today's episode!

Check out Episode 613 with Horst Schulze as mentioned in today's episode!

Show notes…

Favorite success quote or mantra:

• "Win the fucking day."

In today's episode with Aaron Chamberlin we will discuss: 

• Food service in the family
• Winning the day, every day
• Training and how to do it right
• Avoiding culinary school
• Showing you care to attract the mentors you need
• Working in a 3 million dollar kitchen
• Persistence
• Creating your own culinary school
• Tough start in the industry
• The importance of learning what NOT to do
• Violent kitchens
• Regrets
• Thriving through chaos
• Serving 3,000 customers a day
• Ego
• Proactive vs. reactive
• Transitioning from artist to business person
• Partnerships

Today's sponsor:

BentoBox empowers restaurants to own their presence, profits and relationships. The hospitality platform disrupts third-party services that come between the restaurant and the guest. BentoBox puts the restaurant first and offers tools that drive high-margin revenue directly through the restaurant’s website. BentoBox is trusted and loved by over 5,000 restaurants worldwide including Union Square Hospitality Group, Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern, Lilia and more.

Restaurant365 is a cloud-based, all-in-one, restaurant-specific accounting and back-office platform that seamlessly integrates with POS systems, payroll providers, food and beverage vendors. It generates accurate real-time reporting and analysis in user-friendly dashboards, facilitating immediate, data-driven decision making. Restaurant365 eliminates manual, error-prone processes and is designed to help restaurant businesses grow with functionality that helps optimize labor costs, reduce food costs and increase revenue.

 

Knowledge bombs

1. Which "it factor" habit, trait, or characteristic you believe most contributes to your success?
   • Persistence
2. What is your biggest weakness?
   • Systems
3. What's one question you ask or thing you look for during an interview?
   • Intellectually curious
4. What's a current challenge? How are you dealing with it?
   • Dealing with a recovering from turmoil
5. Share one code of conduct or behavior you teach your team.
   • "Win the fucking day!"
6. What is one uncommon standard of service you teach your staff?
   • "Every day light someone up."
7. What's one thing you feel restaurateurs don't know well enough or do often enough?
   • Spend time with their teams
8. Name one service you've hired.
   • BrandLoyal
9. What's one piece of technology you've adopted within your restaurant walls and how has it influence operations?
   • Social Media - Instagram
10. If you got the news that you'd be leaving this world tomorrow and all memories of you, your work, and your restaurants would be lost with your departure with the exception of 3 pieces of wisdom you could leave behind for the good of humanity, what would they be?
    • Dedication
    • Drive
    • Discipline

Contact info:

Instagram: @aaron_chamberlin

www.chefaaronchamberlin.com

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

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Huge thanks to Aaron Chamberlin for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

 

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