Christian J. Fischer, an author, culinary coach, and stalwart in the hospitality industry, emphasizes the gravity of hospitality in his life. For the chef, hospitality is not just a profession. It’s ingrained in him through his upbringing in Austrian culture.
Watch now to learn about hospitality being in your blood, helping chefs become authors, and how to give back to your industry.
Watch now to learn about hospitality being in your blood, helping chefs become authors, and how to give back to your industry.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Welcome to Restaurant Influencers
00:13 presented by Entrepreneur.
00:15 My name is Sean Walchef,
00:16 founder of Cali BBQ and Cali BBQ Media.
00:19 In life, in the restaurant business,
00:21 and in the new creator economy,
00:23 we learn through lessons and stories.
00:26 Wanna give a special shout out to Toast,
00:28 our primary technology partner for believing
00:30 in the power of storytelling,
00:33 for giving us the opportunity to share these stories
00:35 with entrepreneurs, restaurateurs,
00:38 content creators all over the globe.
00:41 Thank you guys for listening.
00:42 And today we have a very special episode.
00:44 Why I truly believe in digital storytelling
00:47 and being active on all platforms.
00:51 You never know who's watching your content.
00:53 You never know who's listening.
00:55 And during the pandemic,
00:57 I was invited to an app called Clubhouse.
01:00 Many of you know, I speak about Clubhouse a lot.
01:02 It is a social audio app,
01:04 but it gave me the opportunity to meet today's guest,
01:07 which is Chef Christian J. Fisher.
01:10 You can find him @ChristianJFisher.
01:14 Christian, when I met you on Clubhouse,
01:17 I listened to the words that were coming out of your mouth.
01:21 I went to your social pages.
01:23 I went to your Instagram.
01:24 I went to your YouTube.
01:26 I went to your website.
01:27 And I said, my goodness,
01:29 this man is a gift to the hospitality space.
01:32 This man is a gift to the entrepreneurial space,
01:35 and I need to learn from him.
01:36 And not only have I learned from you, followed you,
01:39 but I've been featured on your show,
01:42 your new show, "The Disruptive Chef,"
01:44 which I encourage anybody to listen to.
01:47 But more importantly, I have you here in the hot seat.
01:50 So our audience can learn from some of your wisdom
01:53 about personal branding, about entrepreneurship,
01:56 about storytelling, and what you're building today.
01:59 Christian, welcome to the show.
02:01 - Thanks for having me, Sean.
02:02 And by the way, thank you very much
02:03 for the really kind intro.
02:06 And also, hey, that shout out to Toast everywhere I go.
02:10 And if I frequent a restaurant, I make sure,
02:12 hey, what program you have.
02:13 If you don't have Toast, look into it.
02:15 I think it's the best product on the market.
02:18 - Christian, let's start with our favorite random question,
02:20 which is where in the world is your favorite stadium,
02:23 stage, or venue?
02:26 - Oh my God, this is amazing.
02:27 So for me, I'm a big fan of, you know, I'm native Austrian,
02:32 so I like music.
02:34 So my favorite stage is here in Connecticut.
02:37 I love something called, you know,
02:40 it's a studio up in Hartford.
02:43 And for me, I go there all the time
02:45 because my daughter dances.
02:46 My daughter spends time there.
02:48 So if you ever had the opportunity to go to Goodwin,
02:50 go, it's an amazing place.
02:52 It has a little bit of history.
02:54 I live in a 250-year-old house.
02:56 For me, it incorporates everything,
02:58 and the food is amazing every time you go there.
03:00 - What is it called?
03:01 - The Goodwin.
03:02 - The Goodwin.
03:02 And how many people- - The Goodwin Opera House.
03:05 - How many people fit in the Goodwin Opera House?
03:07 - About 180.
03:08 So it's a historic building right on the Connecticut River.
03:12 Absolutely spectacular place.
03:14 It's, you know, one of those things,
03:16 it's a destination just to get there.
03:18 And if you ever have the opportunity to get there,
03:19 spend the day there, it's an amazing place.
03:21 - Beautiful.
03:22 Well, my grandfather was a huge fan of the opera.
03:24 He took me to many beautiful opera houses.
03:27 Today, we're gonna go to the Goodwin.
03:29 We're gonna bring the audience with us,
03:31 so you that are listening,
03:33 what we want to do is put on the best hospitality
03:36 storytelling conference in the world,
03:38 TEDx style, where we give people a chance
03:41 to truly tell their story, inspirational stories,
03:43 no sales pitches, just storytelling at its finest.
03:47 And Christian, I'm gonna ask you to come on stage
03:49 and I'd like you to let the audience know
03:51 who are you and what do you believe?
03:53 - So that's a really good question.
03:55 So first off, you know, I'm born and raised in Austria.
03:58 So if you can't tell from my accent,
04:00 I'm not a, you know, a resident of the US.
04:05 So I'm native Austrian,
04:06 had the opportunity to grow up in a small town.
04:09 My parents had a hotel for almost 60 years.
04:12 So I grew up in the hospitality industry.
04:14 I've been in it all my life.
04:15 Had the opportunity to have my first restaurant at 19.
04:19 I had six by the time I was 23,
04:21 which I sold to an international company
04:23 and they offered me a job for 20 years
04:25 to come to the US, work with them for 18.
04:28 And for me, that's been in my blood all my life.
04:32 I love food.
04:33 I think food is the only medium
04:37 which brings people together.
04:39 For me, food and especially around the kitchen
04:41 is where real relationships are being built
04:44 and where real problems are being solved.
04:47 And for me, you know, our generation, I believe,
04:51 is, you know, over-connected yet under-related.
04:54 So for me, what we need to do more of
04:56 is having a meal with people and spend time with people.
04:59 So for what I stand for is bring back the opportunity
05:03 to really break bread with people
05:05 and connect with people without phones,
05:09 without technology, just person-on-person.
05:12 Because for me, that's how you create
05:15 and that's how you build.
05:16 Everything we do, the chair I'm sitting on
05:18 was created in conversation.
05:20 So we need to create more in conversation.
05:22 - What is hospitality in Austria?
05:24 - So for us, hospitality is a serious business.
05:28 If you get into the hospitality industry,
05:30 you need to go to school for minimum three years
05:32 to serve food.
05:33 Hospitality in Austria, that's what we're known for.
05:37 We are one of the friendlier countries
05:39 if you come out to Europe.
05:41 And for us, I think hospitality is blood
05:44 because we wanna make sure we treat you
05:46 the way we treat our family.
05:48 And if you come to Austria and you go on a walk
05:51 on the street and you ask for somebody,
05:52 "Hey, where can I get a great meal?"
05:54 Don't be surprised if they invite you to their house.
05:57 This is just who we are as a country.
06:00 I mean, you know that better than anybody being, you know,
06:03 where your family is from Europe.
06:04 - Yes, from Bulgaria, we believe that the village
06:09 teaches us many lessons in hospitality that, you know,
06:13 it doesn't matter the size of the city,
06:14 it doesn't matter where you are in the world.
06:17 If you're able to welcome someone into your home,
06:20 which is what we do as restauranteurs.
06:22 Can you bring us back to the first restaurant
06:25 that you opened at 19?
06:27 - So, you know, it sounds really good on paper.
06:30 But the real story was,
06:34 I was in, so I drive my motorcycle.
06:38 It was a beautiful spring afternoon.
06:42 The light turns green.
06:44 I keep going.
06:45 The next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital.
06:49 I had, you know, the four screws, my upper body in a cast.
06:52 A guy ran the light and took me out
06:56 and was in the hospital for a little bit over a month.
06:59 On my drive home from the hospital with a friend of mine,
07:03 we got hit literally two miles from the hospital.
07:06 We going onto the Orenburg, on the highway,
07:08 a drunk driver comes down, hits us straight on.
07:11 Back in the hospital, literally two hours after I left.
07:15 I was in coma for 10 days in the hospital for 14 months.
07:18 And for me in Austria, I had to make a choice
07:21 where all of what we doing today kind of started.
07:24 And I had to make a choice.
07:26 I had the opportunity to not work.
07:30 In Austria, I was considered 56% handicapped.
07:33 So my challenge was I couldn't work any better.
07:35 Nobody would hire me because I'm 56% handicapped.
07:38 So for me, I needed to do something on my own.
07:41 Love the food, love to cook.
07:43 I started my own restaurant.
07:44 So for me on paper, I look at this guy,
07:46 had a restaurant, 19.
07:48 Reality is it was for me out of necessity
07:51 because I didn't want to sit home as a 19 year old
07:53 doing nothing and retire
07:55 and then just be a couch potato for the rest of the life.
07:58 I had this guy come up and said,
08:03 "Hey, Christian, you need to make a choice.
08:04 You have until tomorrow night.
08:06 Are you going to sign the paperwork and retire
08:09 or you stay home or are you going to walk away?"
08:12 And I made the choice to walk away.
08:14 And for me, it started all, I worked with the restaurant.
08:18 I worked that I had the opportunity to sell out
08:21 by my concept and it became the restaurant concept
08:25 for a hotel chain.
08:26 And he brought me to the US.
08:29 So for me, if I wouldn't have made that choice,
08:31 I would have never come here.
08:32 I would have never adopted three amazing children from China.
08:37 And I would never have had the opportunity
08:39 to meet people like you.
08:40 - When you came to the United States,
08:43 what did you expect and what was the reality?
08:47 - So for me, I expected the golden vest.
08:51 And what reality was,
08:54 I went to a place where they put cheese on macaronis.
08:58 I was like, this is not okay.
08:59 You don't do that.
09:01 I also classically French trained.
09:03 I went to a place where they put barbecue on a meat.
09:06 I was like, you're putting ketchup on a meat.
09:08 How dare you?
09:08 How are you disrespecting the meat like that?
09:10 And for me, I wanted to go home really bad.
09:14 Reality is I wanted to go home so bad
09:16 because I didn't like it.
09:17 But the bride in me said,
09:21 "I need to at least suck it up for six months."
09:23 Oh yeah, or everybody thinks at home I'm a loser.
09:26 So I kind of duffened it out.
09:29 And for me, my challenge at beginning was I thought,
09:33 "Hey, French cuisine, this is bad that.
09:36 And how come, how dare they not cook French cuisine?
09:40 It's the best."
09:40 And for me, what I didn't do is learn
09:43 the American culture and history
09:48 before I made those judgments.
09:49 And I'm happy I stayed.
09:51 But even now when I tell people to come to America,
09:55 I say, "Don't, it's different."
09:57 And it's different, not just in the way we eat here,
10:01 it's the way business is being conducted.
10:03 It's a little bit different than in Europe.
10:05 So for me, I expected the golden vest,
10:07 but what I had was a lot different.
10:09 And like I said, for me, I still don't like mac and cheese.
10:13 I don't think it's right to put cheese on macaroni.
10:16 It's just something I grew up on.
10:17 But for me, it allowed me to do what I do.
10:22 But for me, it really wasn't what I expected.
10:27 And that was certainly a learning curve.
10:29 - When did you open your first restaurant in the United States?
10:32 - So we had our first one in '92.
10:36 We were in Woodbury, Connecticut.
10:38 And in Woodbury, Connecticut, the first location,
10:41 didn't really work because we needed to get some permits.
10:45 So we opened up in New Milford, Connecticut.
10:49 It was called Cafe Vienna.
10:50 And we did Austrian food.
10:53 And at the time, New England was really big.
10:56 So we said, "Hey, let's take New England recipes
10:59 and make them better, be European."
11:01 It was really great. Nobody came.
11:05 And we were like, "Why don't they love our food?
11:07 It's so amazing."
11:08 Claim each other's terrible as it is.
11:10 Look at this.
11:11 We run the down the bake,
11:13 and then look at all the stuff we do,
11:14 and people don't like it.
11:15 Until we had a customer and he says,
11:18 "Christian, you know what the biggest problem is?
11:19 It's you."
11:20 I said, "What do you know about American cuisine?"
11:22 I was like, "I don't like mac and cheese.
11:25 I don't like barbecue."
11:26 And he says, "No, you don't understand."
11:28 So he says, "Come with me."
11:29 And his name was Bernard.
11:30 He had a restaurant called the Good News Cafe.
11:33 He brought me into his cafe and he says,
11:34 "Look what they eat.
11:35 Filet mignon, chicken, all the good stuff."
11:37 And he says, "You know why we're doing so well?
11:40 I cook what they want."
11:41 I was like, "Why would you do that?
11:42 You're kind of selling out."
11:44 And then a few weeks later, I said, "Bernard, teach me."
11:47 And Bernard said, he says, "It's really good.
11:49 Christian, you're really good in this stuff."
11:51 He says, "Allow people to get to know you."
11:53 And at the time, he only took cash.
11:55 You know, in '92.
11:56 And he says, "You need to do something called credit cards.
11:58 You know, they're for toast."
12:00 You know, I was like, "Credit cards?
12:01 How dare you?"
12:02 You know, when you don't do cash.
12:05 So for us, what changed everything was kind of allowing people to come in and said,
12:09 "Hey, this is our cuisine."
12:10 So we did traditional New England cuisine.
12:13 We kind of tweaked it without getting in trouble.
12:16 And, but we had two, three dishes on from Europe and people said,
12:19 "Oh my God, this is pretty amazing.
12:20 Can I have that?"
12:21 And for us, we became, you know, kind of local celebrities, my partner Fritz and I.
12:26 And yeah, that's how it all started.
12:31 And we had then a third location in Florida.
12:34 And then we sold out in '98.
12:37 When did you write your first cookbook?
12:40 Oh my God.
12:42 So I had the opportunity to write all of the Toll House cookie cookbooks, honestly.
12:48 So I wrote all of those books.
12:50 And then I wrote a book for Nestle called "International Cuisine."
12:53 And we spent a lot of time, a lot of work on that.
12:58 And I wanted people really to get to know Europe.
13:01 So when we went to Switzerland, we were like, "This is the farmer.
13:05 This is where the product comes from.
13:06 This is how you make it."
13:07 And we had this amazing book.
13:09 Nestle spent a fortune on this book.
13:11 We never sold any of them.
13:13 And then eventually we gave them away for free because nobody bought them
13:16 because it was just too much.
13:17 What year was this?
13:18 And so that was in '98.
13:19 And then Toll House cookie cookbooks, I wrote 14 with them.
13:26 We wrote "International Cuisine."
13:28 They said, "Christian, you need to write another one.
13:29 Let's do it upon France and the other sides of Europe."
13:33 So we wrote another "International Cuisine," spent again a ton of money,
13:37 never sold any of them.
13:38 And then they became then giveaways.
13:40 So when people came, we gave them as a giveaway.
13:43 We never sold any of them.
13:45 And for me, I always had my wish to have my own book.
13:48 And I wanted something because I'm so proud of my Austrian culture.
13:52 I wanted to have a book where I said, "Hey, I want to give back to my home
13:56 country of Austria," and I called it "For the Love of Austria."
13:59 And then there was my love letter back to my home country, which allowed me to
14:03 do what I do today.
14:04 And it was for me also reminded that this is where I started.
14:10 This is where I learned to do what I love more than anything, which is food.
14:15 And it was also a reminder for me about my family because food was serious for us.
14:19 When we ate, we sat down.
14:23 There was no, "Hey, I go and eat in front of the TV or I read in my room."
14:28 Eating was an event.
14:31 And for me, this is my reminder internally that we all need a little bit more of that.
14:36 And for me, that's where I came from.
14:38 CB: What's interesting for me in the show that we do, this is a show about storytelling.
14:44 This is a show about hospitality.
14:46 It's a show-- we're a barbecue business that became a media business and understanding
14:52 the creative process of creating something, creating food, and then creating a business
14:59 out of food.
15:00 And then telling the story of the food business becomes a secondary business.
15:05 It becomes the game within the game.
15:07 And when you're writing a book, you're essentially doing what you said, a love letter.
15:13 That love letter can't happen unless you remove yourself from the initial creative process
15:18 to come to a secondary creative process.
15:21 Can you bring us inside how you went through that?
15:24 CW: So for me, I think every chef wants to write a book.
15:29 I think deep down, we all want to find a way to share beyond of what we do in our kitchens.
15:35 And for me, that book was in my head for 15 years before I actually wrote it.
15:40 And for me, in that process, it was always-- you know how life happens.
15:46 I started a book.
15:47 We got busy with the restaurant.
15:49 Or we had something else.
15:50 At the time, I worked for an international company.
15:54 And I was the head of culinary for them.
15:55 Over there, I was seeing $3 billion in food and beverage.
15:59 And for me, I always gotten busy with that.
16:02 I always gotten busy with that.
16:03 And then in 2016, I said, you know what?
16:05 I commit.
16:06 It was the first time I said, I have a goal.
16:08 That was my goal-setting workshop.
16:10 And I said, I will write a book.
16:11 And for me, what the most amazing thing about writing a book is-- and we are sharing this
16:18 with our programs currently in the industry-- I honestly believe every chef needs to write
16:23 a book because a book exposes who you are as a person.
16:27 So if you're genuinely lazy, you will never get the book done.
16:32 If you cut corners, your book will never be what you really want it to be.
16:36 If you think you want to do it always on your own, a book is exposing that you can't write
16:41 a book on your own.
16:42 You can't.
16:43 It takes a long time, and it's very expensive.
16:45 And then for me, a book really brings out who you are as a person.
16:49 For me, I had to learn a lot about food photography.
16:52 I had to learn a lot about editing.
16:54 My book, as I gave it to a friend of mine who was my editor, she says, oh my god, how
17:01 many more times can you mention Mozart and you think you just got to go twice is enough?
17:05 You just-- but for me, it's the whole history piece.
17:09 And for me, writing that book was not just for me to write the book, to go out there
17:15 and say, hey, listen, I wrote a book.
17:16 For me, I wanted to create something.
17:18 I said, I started something, and I finished it.
17:20 And for me, now I want chefs to write a book because it will expose who you are as a person.
17:29 And I believe there's nothing greater satisfaction than having a book on your shelf.
17:34 And I think people should write multiples.
17:36 And we wrote 18 since then.
17:38 And so for me, that's really where it started.
17:42 And it was just-- for me, I did everything in milliliters.
17:45 My editor said, Christian, you're in America.
17:48 You got to go to Almsos.
17:49 But it's not as good as milliliters.
17:51 For me, it was like, you don't got to-- and he was like, you just got to let go.
17:54 But for me, it kind of exposes who you are.
17:58 And for me, I had a publisher at the time.
18:01 And I ran into somebody in an airplane.
18:05 And he was an internet marketer.
18:12 And he said, do not let them take your book.
18:14 Self-publish.
18:15 Because self-publish came a long way.
18:17 And he said, you want to own the rights and the pictures and all of that.
18:21 It made a lot of sense.
18:21 So for me, I started self-publishing.
18:24 And you know the story.
18:25 Out of that, we own a publishing company now because we want to help chefs write books.
18:29 Preston Pysh (00:33:50):
18:30 How do you simplify the process for chefs to write books?
18:33 Christian Strauss (00:33:53):
18:34 So I wrote in total 34 books.
18:36 Preston Pysh (00:33:55):
18:37 34?
18:38 I thought it was 18.
18:39 Christian Strauss (00:33:57):
18:39 Yeah, it was 18 of my own, including all the books we wrote for Nestle and everything else.
18:43 And so you know what--
18:45 Preston Pysh (00:34:03):
18:45 34 books?
18:46 Christian Strauss (00:34:04):
18:47 So if you write it for that long, there are certain things which you learn.
18:52 And then for me, as we wrote it, hey, we did this already.
18:56 Can I have a template which kind of helps me with margins and everything else?
19:01 And one of my new books where I took the 60 most popular bar drinks that made salad dressings out
19:07 of it, it was as a joke.
19:10 I said, nobody said you can't eat and drive, you can't drink and drive, but how about eating,
19:14 drive and have a nice martini dressing?
19:16 But for me, I wanted to simplify it down that anybody can write a book.
19:21 And it's not as complicated and we make it a lot harder on our own than it needs to be.
19:26 And we also make it a lot more complicated than it is.
19:29 All it is an hour and a half a day with certain principles, certain formats and certain goals,
19:35 you will have a book in 90 days or less.
19:37 Preston Pysh (00:34:54):
19:38 90 days or less.
19:39 That's incredible.
19:40 Is that program available now?
19:41 Christian Strauss (00:34:59):
19:42 Yeah, the program is available now.
19:44 Our best student, his name is Peter, wrote four books in 90 days because what we do as chefs,
19:52 we overcomplicate it.
19:54 And our slogan in our program is, complexity is the enemy of execution.
19:59 We don't want to write the book, we want to help you write a book because as soon as you
20:04 have the first one done, more things can come.
20:08 And the one book he had, he wanted to write this 300-page book.
20:13 Nobody reads 300-page books anymore.
20:15 You need to become an expert in something.
20:17 And now he wrote four.
20:19 He did the first one around barbecue, then he had around seafood.
20:23 Now he has a leadership one.
20:24 He has a dirty day program book of how he schedules his day, and he calls it Dirty Days
20:31 of No Bullshit.
20:32 Again, it'll take a hard look at yourself, of who you are and what makes you tick.
20:39 We have people which write books because they want to keep the legacy of their family alive.
20:43 We have people which want to share something.
20:46 And I honestly, I challenge people, especially in the healthcare space, if you have a way
20:52 to make something easier, faster, more efficient, I think you have a responsibility to write
20:57 that book.
20:58 Because if you have a process, let's say you have this student currently in the program,
21:03 and she lives with type 2 diabetes.
21:07 And she says, "I learned how to cook with type 2 diabetes, not only how to cook, how
21:14 to make food absolutely delicious.
21:15 And when I go and people come, they don't even know that my food is different than theirs
21:20 because I make it delicious.
21:21 I learned this."
21:22 And she says, "Not only is it really good, I know by doing this, I just extended my lifespan
21:29 five, maybe 10 years."
21:30 And I kind of come back to her and say, "If you have the skill to teach somebody a cooking
21:36 skill, a style, a technique, which could expand their life five to 10 years, how dare you
21:41 not write the book?"
21:42 And for us, that's how it all started.
21:46 And the 90 days is an arbitrary number.
21:51 If it takes 100, it doesn't matter.
21:53 But for us, we do this eight weeks because that's every week you have a milestone.
21:57 And if you hit those milestones, you can get a book 140, 160 pages done in a very short
22:02 period of time.
22:02 Preston Pysh (00:36:40): Why is giving back to our industry so important
22:06 to you?
22:06 Jens Datl (00:36:44): For me, it goes back to growing up in Austria.
22:12 I lost four of my very good chef friends.
22:16 I was the designated driver.
22:18 My aunt had a discotheque.
22:20 I was the DJ.
22:21 I look out, my friends are gone.
22:23 By the time I caught up with them, they hit a tanker on a foggy day and the car was on
22:31 fire.
22:31 It was so hot.
22:32 We heard them scream.
22:33 I'm sorry.
22:35 It was so hot.
22:36 It's 30 years ago, but I can feel the heat.
22:42 And for me, there was nothing I can do.
22:45 And for me, that was the hardest thing around that I lost four of my very good friends that
22:49 day because of alcohol.
22:52 And for me, it became the driving force, Sean, enjoy a glass of wine.
22:56 This is totally okay.
22:57 Have some champagne.
22:59 That's totally okay.
23:00 Access for me is a challenge.
23:02 And then it started in 2011.
23:05 I lost two of my good friends to suicide in the industry.
23:08 And then 2014, we started a non-profit is called the Culinary Leadership Academy.
23:13 And for us, we turned, we showed chefs leadership skills because what I found is in our industry,
23:20 chefs think I need to do it all on my own.
23:23 It's weakness to ask for help.
23:25 I, you know, it's like the whole military syndrome.
23:27 If it's not me, nobody's going to do it.
23:28 I need to look out for myself.
23:30 And that's not true.
23:31 There's a lot of great people out there which are willing to help.
23:33 So for me, you don't do it on your own.
23:36 And for me, it started around leadership because how can I manage a kitchen?
23:40 How can I manage a team?
23:41 If I can't even manage myself to, you know, drink a case of beer after service, because
23:47 I think that's normal.
23:48 So for me, and then if you look at the numbers of 2015, was the first year in our industry,
23:54 you know, we have about 2.3 million chefs in the USA.
23:57 They call them chefs, anybody who is responsible for a kitchen.
24:00 And in 2015 was the first year where we broke a thousand suicides.
24:05 And for me, the thousand suicides, what we know of, how many happened we didn't know
24:10 of.
24:11 So for me, that started in giving back.
24:13 And that we have from there, you know, our story, we created the culinary, not just the
24:19 leadership academy, we've ever had that program.
24:21 We created the culinary executive masterminds where we kind of get chefs together and say,
24:26 "Hey, what can we help you with?
24:28 What do you need help with?"
24:29 You heard it said, if two or three more people gather, there's a separate mind, which is
24:33 the mind of the combined.
24:35 So we're using that format to teach people business skills, you know, life skills.
24:40 And sometimes it's just lending an ear.
24:42 I have a very good friend who just lost his son, 15 years old.
24:47 Another friend of mine lost his son at 12.
24:49 Sometimes I'm just on a call with him and don't say anything.
24:53 But for me, we created this because we all need somebody who sees in us what we don't
24:57 see in ourselves.
24:59 And for me, that's what giving back is all about.
25:02 And what is this program?
25:03 What's it called?
25:04 And how do people find out?
25:05 So that's, yeah, so that's our program.
25:08 It's a culinary executive mastermind, which is we meeting once a month virtually.
25:12 And sometimes we meet twice a month.
25:15 We bring some speakers in and we do some hot seats and we learn or share some things we
25:20 learned.
25:21 The amazing thing is over the last five years, we did it.
25:24 We created 27 businesses out of it.
25:27 Some people doing business together, more than half of the team or group which comes
25:33 has books.
25:33 So for us, we wanted to create a platform to support chefs all the way around.
25:39 And that's what we do.
25:42 So is that separate from the five day program?
25:44 That's separate from the five day program.
25:47 So for us, we have currently four different programs, very support chefs.
25:50 One of them is our leadership academy.
25:53 The second one is the book writing course, because we want them to write that book course.
25:57 The third one is our mastermind group where we get people together, which want to have
26:02 some help starting a restaurant, starting a new career.
26:05 And then our newest one is the choices.
26:07 You heard me talk about sitting in a hospital and have to make a choice.
26:11 And for me, having the opportunity, having some mentors, which helped me to make the
26:16 right choices, helped me today owning nine businesses.
26:20 We're doing just Chef 100 million in our menu because of making the choice.
26:25 Hey, I don't want to retire at 18.
26:27 So now we want to take those skills I have learned over the last 35 years and teach them
26:34 to other chefs.
26:35 And we have a free program we're doing, a five day challenge, which starts on the 18th
26:40 of next month.
26:41 It's in January.
26:43 And we're going to have this every quarter.
26:46 So we want to bring people into this platform, not just chefs, culinary masterminds, culinary
26:52 groups, inspired people which are in the industry, restaurant owners, anybody in the hospitality
26:59 industry.
27:00 We want to teach with a few simple steps and formats.
27:02 You can create something amazing.
27:04 And if you have a group like you created here, we all want to be with people which are like
27:10 us.
27:10 So we want to create a community where we support each other and get stuff done.
27:15 And for us, we learned over the years that most of the chefs and restaurant owners are
27:21 one skill away from double their income.
27:23 So I feel my responsibility is to teach this to the chefs out there, because for me, I
27:31 walk into restaurants and I see chefs having amazing skills.
27:35 One of them is not business.
27:38 And I honestly believe you heard it said that nine out of 10 restaurants fail, not because
27:42 the chef doesn't make amazing food, because they never worked out a few skills.
27:47 One of them is how to run a business.
27:49 So for us, this is what we want to teach in that because we don't want to have nine out
27:54 of 10 restaurants fail.
27:55 We don't want to have nine out of 10 chefs living paycheck to paycheck because you can
28:00 create a little bit of side hustle or side business or do something totally different,
28:04 which only takes a few hours a week.
28:06 And that's what we teach.
28:08 Preston Pysh (00:36:40): I love that.
28:09 And we'll put links in the show notes for the Choice Makers Blueprint.
28:13 So anybody that's listening can figure out which quarter it is and when's the next available
28:18 classes.
28:19 For you, I love the one skill away from doubling your income.
28:23 It's one of the reasons why we believe in storytelling, why we believe that every one
28:29 that's listening, it doesn't matter if you own a restaurant, if you don't own a restaurant,
28:33 if you're in technology, if you're in sales, if you're in marketing, you are your own media
28:37 company, no one's coming to build your own personal brand.
28:40 When did the light bulb go off for you?
28:43 You have nine businesses, almost $100 million in revenue.
28:47 You've been a part of 34 books.
28:50 You know about branding, but let's talk about online branding.
28:55 Wolfang Pisco (00:37:22): So for me, it started really in 2014 because
29:01 the internet took off.
29:03 I didn't know anything.
29:06 So for me, I started in 2014, I bought my first course where I went in how to start
29:13 at the time of a YouTube channel.
29:15 We just started it 10 years later.
29:17 Preston Pysh (00:37:44): That's fine.
29:21 Slow and slow, like barbecue.
29:23 You do your media like we do our barbecue.
29:25 It's fine.
29:25 Wolfang Pisco (00:37:51): How to start a Facebook group.
29:29 Now we have 12 Facebook groups we're running and one of them has 52,000 chefs in that.
29:34 Preston Pysh (00:37:58): Wow.
29:35 Wolfang Pisco (00:38:00): Culinarians.
29:36 So we're doing all of that.
29:39 And then it changes so much.
29:41 And for me, I always think the time you and I met, you always had a skill I wanted to
29:49 have doing this.
29:50 And for me, I consider myself a networker.
29:55 I honestly believe we meet people for two reasons.
29:58 Number one, they need to learn from us, so we need to learn from them.
30:01 And for me, I make a point if I connect with somebody to not be in your business, but always
30:09 be there if you need anything.
30:10 And I always say, "Hey, how can we do something together?"
30:12 And for me, this really what started everything because the way you looked at the phone, and
30:20 I think you heard me say that, I was like, "Oh my God, Sean is the food service Gary
30:24 V." He makes so much sense.
30:26 And hearing Gary V talking about it, I was super inspired by that.
30:31 But you were the guy doing it.
30:32 I was like, "Shit, that guy can do it.
30:34 I can do it too."
30:35 And then even starting this show, for me, there was one thing I learned.
30:39 I've been really lucky to have some really good mentors over my lifetime.
30:43 And anybody listening here and watching this, you got to get a mentor.
30:46 And if you have a mentor, you want to make sure you have somebody who has done what you
30:50 want to do.
30:51 And for me, one of my latest mentors said to me, he says, "Christian, you know what?
30:55 What I love about you is when I give you good advice, you act on it."
30:59 I never knew that I did that, but it was nice to hear it from him.
31:03 And it was even with us, you and I talked about this show a week later, we headed up
31:07 and running, and now we already feel like it's in.
31:09 I give a lot of advice, Christian.
31:11 I give a lot of advice, but very few people, they act as quickly as you did and as thoroughly
31:17 and more importantly, as thoughtfully as you did.
31:21 And for me, and then anybody listening, just you, you're a friend of mine.
31:27 Guys, if you don't follow what this guy does, and for me, I always use that video I seen
31:33 where you said, "Why don't do more people unboxing?"
31:36 I was like, "Shit, he's absolutely right.
31:38 Why don't more people doing it?"
31:40 And for me, I always knew about Toast.
31:43 And by the way, we're using it in our restaurants now.
31:45 That's all thanks to you.
31:47 We converted from another program, which shouldn't be named.
31:50 It was not really that great, but it's made in Europe.
31:54 And so for us, it became one of those things.
31:57 For me, I try to model people.
31:59 I think he was Jim Rohn who said, "Success leaves clues."
32:04 And if people do something successfully, you know you can kind of backtrack and do it.
32:08 And for me, you've been always very generous with giving me advice.
32:12 And for me, I said, "If you give me advice, I promise I will act on it."
32:15 For me, I have no pride in that because if I would have known how to do it on my own,
32:21 I would have done it.
32:22 So for me, I look at people like you and say, "Hey, thank you for sharing that with me.
32:26 Let me share my outcome with you."
32:28 And that's been really amazing with our relationship.
32:31 - One of my mentors recently told me a quote that I love and I've repeated,
32:38 which is, "If you learn to love what you do, it will share all its secrets."
32:43 - Yeah.
32:44 - You talked about those success.
32:46 Success will leave the clues.
32:49 The secrets will reveal themselves.
32:51 When you're doing the things that you're supposed to do.
32:54 When you started, let's go with the disruptive chef,
32:59 what were the clues that reinforced that you were doing what you were supposed to be doing?
33:04 - You know, number one is, you know, my old partner,
33:10 Joe, which started with me, the mastermind group.
33:14 Joe always said, "Christian, you gotta be on video."
33:17 For me, I hate the way I look.
33:19 I hate the way I sound.
33:20 You know, for me, I don't like video.
33:21 I still don't like it.
33:22 And for me, the clues was, and I was like, "Sean said I gotta do it."
33:26 My first one, I blew it.
33:28 It was terrible.
33:29 The sound was terrible.
33:30 I'm just, you know, it was like, just, it's out there.
33:32 Sean at least knows we did the first one.
33:35 - He at least knows.
33:35 - And for me, yeah.
33:38 And for me, we'd gotten better.
33:39 And we were like, "Hey, I need to position the microphone here.
33:42 Hey, I need a little bit more light."
33:44 Because my wife tells me, she says, "Christian, you look like you're sitting in a fucking bunker."
33:47 You know?
33:48 Sorry for you.
33:49 - No, this is an entrepreneur audience.
33:51 You're fine.
33:51 - So she says to me, "You look like you're in a bunker.
33:53 You need more light."
33:54 I was like, "Right, Sean has the thing."
33:55 You know?
33:56 And then I looked at yours, you know?
33:59 And then, you know, truth be told, I have no shame in modeling stuff.
34:04 So I looked, Sean's website looks amazing.
34:07 If you look at ours, it looks just like yours with different colors because they're warrants.
34:10 You know?
34:10 And for us, the clue really became, even though we have a small audience at this point,
34:17 but we have people coming back and saying, "I never really thought about that.
34:21 Ooh, I didn't know I can do something else outside of cooking."
34:24 Because what I learned in all of this, chefs have a lot of transferable skills.
34:29 - Yes.
34:30 - And they can do amazing things.
34:31 They just need to give them the opportunity, the choice, as we call it.
34:34 And for me, the more we do it, and when I interviewed, I just interviewed somebody
34:39 who's a seven-time TEDx talker.
34:43 He's a friend of mine.
34:44 We actually, truth be told, we're business partners now.
34:47 And the way he looks at our industry, it gives me the opportunity to look at our industry
34:54 through him because he asks questions.
34:56 And for me, it was like, "Wow, our industry is super amazing."
35:00 And the way he is a really great way of bringing things together and reframing it,
35:06 his name is Chris Cummings.
35:08 If you ever have the opportunity to check out Chris Cummings, he's amazing in what he does.
35:12 And being a seven-time TEDx talker, I want to spend a lot of time with him
35:17 because I think I need to learn some of that.
35:19 So for me, if you're asking me, where was those pivoting points,
35:21 was you pushing me to do it, me getting my first thing done.
35:25 And my team here was laughing because I did an intro.
35:29 It was a seven-second intro.
35:31 I spent nine hours here recording that seven-second intro.
35:35 I was too fast.
35:36 I was too slow.
35:37 You know how it goes.
35:38 I'm my own worst critic.
35:40 I was like, "This really blows.
35:42 I don't want to do this."
35:43 But I promised them I would get it done.
35:45 They come in a month that the intro is done.
35:47 And my wife said, "Oh, my God, this is so bad.
35:50 You spend all weekend doing a seven-second intro."
35:52 But for me, those were all things because I honestly believe if you want to get better
35:58 or if you want things to get better, you need to get better.
36:01 And for me, I call those growing edges or rebound, whatever you want to call it.
36:05 For me, I know the future for us is this.
36:09 And if I like it or not, I will get better because I got better in cooking.
36:13 I got better in everything else.
36:15 And keep doing it.
36:17 Repetition is the mother of skill.
36:19 So keep doing it.
36:20 And we're trying to get better every time.
36:22 So one thing I also learned from you, when we're done with this, we kind of sit down,
36:27 "Hey, what can we do different?
36:29 Can we position the camera differently?
36:31 Can I have some of our displays different?"
36:34 And we try to make minor tweaks every time to make it better and give the reader, the
36:41 listener, and the viewer a better experience.
36:45 We want them to become part of our group.
36:48 And hopefully, there's a thing or two we can learn or teach them.
36:51 - Well, I'm so grateful for you.
36:55 Anybody that's listening to this show or if you're watching this, you matter.
37:01 Your voice matters.
37:02 And one of the things that we talk about all the time is no one's coming.
37:05 No one's coming to tell your story.
37:07 So you need to get better at it.
37:09 And we're building a community on LinkedIn.
37:11 So you can send me a message on LinkedIn.
37:13 It's @SeanPWolcheff.
37:15 But every Wednesday, every Friday on LinkedIn Audio, it's a chance for you to join us on
37:20 stage.
37:20 I haven't gotten Christian there yet, but I know I will.
37:23 I will convince him to come on stage.
37:25 So you can ask him questions as well once this episode comes out.
37:29 But we have digital hospitality leaders, Troy Hooper, Jason Berkowitz, Toby Gillette.
37:34 We have so many different people that join us in the community, and they care about you.
37:38 So if you're a chef, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're in technology, if you're in sales,
37:41 if you're in marketing, this is your call to action.
37:45 So send me a message on LinkedIn.
37:47 I will send you the link to the rooms because then maybe one day, you never know, we could
37:53 be at your restaurant filming a show for entrepreneur, filming a show for toast.
37:57 You never know.
37:58 Listen, we were talking about it because I'm a big believer in paying forward.
38:03 I'm also a big believer to mentor people along because I guess I said we all need somebody
38:09 who sees in us what we don't see in ourselves.
38:11 And for me, I love that side.
38:15 I had the opportunity to work in 17 different countries.
38:17 And what I learned, even though food and ingredients were different, the problems were the same.
38:22 And for me, if we work with chefs, restaurant doers, I've been there.
38:29 I had to overcome it.
38:30 I had to learn.
38:32 I had to do some stuff.
38:33 So if we can, I could share that.
38:34 And it's the same thing what you do.
38:36 For me, I could have started my own show.
38:37 And by the way, if Sean asked you to start a show, start a fucking show, you know, and
38:42 you were the guy.
38:45 And for me, the way that you talk to me so many times, but before we started that, you
38:51 said, Christian, it's the single best way to get out there.
38:54 And for me, I'm a big believer in still in old fashioned books.
38:57 For me, that's my goal is to have a million chefs over the next 10 years write a book
39:02 because I believe a book is the single best way for you to become a subject matter expert
39:06 overnight.
39:07 But you said to me, Christian, when you do the show and you the way you explained to
39:11 me about the benefits of it, it's like shit, it makes sense.
39:13 I should have started it two years ago.
39:15 And then I was like, we starting it today.
39:18 We had the logo and the Monday after you and I had this conversation on a Thursday.
39:22 On Monday, the first episode was it was amazing.
39:25 Seriously, probably the most amazing turnaround.
39:28 And I am honored to call you a friend.
39:31 If you're listening to this show, believe me, Christian is a incredible resource.
39:35 He is weirdly available.
39:36 I am weirdly available.
39:37 You can reach out to me at Sean P. Welchev, S-H-A-W-N-P-W-A-L-C-H-E-F.
39:43 Instagram is probably the quickest, but I'm available on all platforms.
39:48 Christian, I first I need to give a social shout out.
39:51 So my social shout out this week goes to Kyle Fluger of Mithril Media.
39:56 So Mithril Media and I have joined forces.
39:59 He is now part of the Cali BBQ Media team.
40:02 So he is the one that Christian mentioned.
40:04 He's the one that helped us turn our restaurant business into a content business.
40:08 So if you go to Cali BBQ.media, you can see the work of how do you how do you sell barbecue
40:14 easily?
40:15 Well, he's integrated toast with our website, but he has also done a phenomenal job with
40:19 our audio, video, words and images.
40:22 So all of the content that we do for digital hospitality, all of our shows, he's laid that
40:26 out.
40:27 Christian, who do you want to give a shout out to?
40:28 This is an entrepreneur who who's gone above and beyond on your team.
40:32 So for me, my team is my digital director of all things marketing.
40:40 She's amazing.
40:41 Her name is Mackenzie.
40:42 Now, when I look back, I should have hired her a year ago, not a few months, because
40:47 you don't know what you don't know.
40:50 And she's been amazing, not knowing anything about the industry.
40:54 She's a quick learner and she's just amazing what she does.
40:57 And I like it so much what she does.
40:59 She's actually in our new program.
41:01 She is not only an employee, she's also a partner in that.
41:04 So she has a piece of ownership in that.
41:06 That's amazing.
41:07 So we're going to go through we believe in smartphone storytelling.
41:11 So if you're listening to this, you have the most powerful tool that a business owner
41:16 entrepreneur has ever been given.
41:18 You can thank all the incredible people that put this technology together, whether it's
41:22 an iPhone or an Android.
41:24 That smartphone allows you to tell stories without asking for permission.
41:28 I'm going to learn a little bit.
41:30 We, the audience, me, myself, we're going to ask Christian some questions.
41:34 Are you an iPhone or an Android user?
41:36 I'm an iPhone user.
41:38 And which version of iPhone?
41:40 I have mine is a 13.
41:42 I have a 13 Pro Max, which is the oldest phone in my family.
41:47 Everybody else seems to have a new one.
41:49 But I just.
41:51 Everyone else gets the upgrade.
41:53 I know you know how it goes.
41:54 And then for me, truth be told, I got yesterday my new iPad Pro, a sixth generation, because
42:03 for me, what I found that the iPad is an in between.
42:08 It works great for content.
42:09 It has a great camera for us.
42:11 We're using it for video shooting.
42:13 And it also works great.
42:16 We have a video wall here.
42:17 We have a 10 foot video wall we just built.
42:19 And there's a really cool app which allows us to put graphics up in there.
42:23 And the iPad works fantastic.
42:25 So that's now my the new one is my traveling iPad.
42:27 The fourth generation is the office iPad.
42:29 So it stays here and becomes a tool for my team to use.
42:33 Now, do you always do software updates?
42:34 So for me, I know everybody says not to, but I'm the beta guy.
42:40 So for me, you know, we are disrupting.
42:43 So for me to get the beta on it, that right, like light comes on, I'm updating, you know.
42:49 For me, I always want to know what is the latest and greatest.
42:51 And if it doesn't work, we figure out how to fix it.
42:54 So absolutely, yes.
42:56 Do you prefer text or emails?
42:58 So for me, I'm old fashioned.
43:01 I like emails, but I find that text is so much easier to get back to people.
43:05 And for me, you know, forgive my spelling because I talk into my phone.
43:09 I don't take my fingers out to fat.
43:11 So for me, I'm a text talker, but text or email.
43:15 Yes.
43:16 And you prefer text or phone call?
43:18 I'm a phone guy.
43:20 Call me even if it's two minutes.
43:22 Just give me a quick phone call.
43:23 Let me, you know, hear your voice.
43:25 Because for me, I love the whole virtual thing, but I love a phone call.
43:30 Do you like voicemails?
43:31 I do not like voicemails to the point.
43:35 If I wouldn't have to, I wouldn't have it.
43:36 I would turn it off because voicemail is a waste of time.
43:39 So for me, I have to be honest.
43:41 You call me.
43:41 I miss a call.
43:42 I call you back without listening to the voicemail.
43:45 Fair enough.
43:46 That's the truth.
43:47 How many emails do you get a day?
43:50 So just shy on the thousand, you know, we have, I know we were just saying we have 27
43:59 emails we managing now.
44:00 And I do leverage AI a little bit for kind of filtering and give me a synopsis on some
44:06 of the emails.
44:07 And for me, I also have a habit.
44:10 I clean out my email at the end of the day.
44:13 Your inbox, inbox zeros.
44:15 Every single day.
44:16 And for me, I delete it.
44:18 I pass it on or I put it into tomorrow's with a note today, Cabot.
44:22 And for me, I'm not sure why.
44:24 I'm not sure if it's efficient or not, but that's who I am.
44:26 Yeah.
44:29 Out of a thousand emails, which ones do you enjoy reading the most?
44:32 I want somebody to give me a fun, exciting capture.
44:37 And I have a good friend of mine.
44:39 I owed him two, two projects back.
44:42 I was two days behind.
44:44 And his subject line says, Hey, call.
44:47 And it was his phone number.
44:48 Nothing in the text, you know, and it kind of made me chuckle.
44:52 But yeah, for me, I want, I have a learner's mindset.
44:57 I teach me something, inspire me, you know, bring me along on your ride and let me know
45:04 who you are.
45:05 And for me, that's with the chefs I work with.
45:08 Anybody can make an amazing, you know, barbecue brisket.
45:13 But I want to have you about what makes it different.
45:16 So give me a little bit of you.
45:18 Do you listen to music on your phone?
45:20 My team, they probably laugh, you know, because I'm a tech guy and when I need to get stuff
45:29 done, I have here, you know, my, my, my radio.
45:33 I listened to the same song on loop because it kind of makes me sewn out and he drives
45:38 them crazy.
45:39 And, and they keep saying, your music doesn't have any words in it.
45:43 I'm a tech guy, still always have been.
45:46 I love dance and tech.
45:47 So yes, I'm a music guy.
45:50 And which map, which map app do you use?
45:53 What do you mean by map?
45:55 You use Google, Google maps, Apple maps, Waze.
45:59 It's really cool.
46:00 So I'm so proud that I'm a Waze user ever since it came out.
46:04 I heard about Waze.
46:05 We used it, you know, and I do Google.
46:09 I like Google and Google bought Waze, you know, but at the end of the day, I use Waze.
46:13 I like that.
46:14 It tells me, you know, I come from a country where we don't have speed limits.
46:16 And for me, I like when he tells me that.
46:19 No speed limits, huh?
46:21 No.
46:23 And suggestions is a speed suggestion.
46:26 Even now, sometimes my wife says that I use the speed science as a recommendation.
46:31 I try to do my best.
46:32 What is your favorite social media app?
46:35 So for me lately, as you know, there's this guy, Sean Walsh, I've said, he, you gotta
46:41 go on Tik Tok.
46:43 And I found myself on Tik Tok last night for three hours.
46:47 My family was sleeping.
46:49 I was watching stupid stuff, laughing, you know, and sending it to my kids.
46:53 My oldest daughter says stop spamming me.
46:55 It was just a kind of I think it's your fault.
47:01 So for me, Tik Tok is becoming because I love Facebook and Facebook is great.
47:06 I love Instagram.
47:07 I can connect sometimes I feel like with Instagram.
47:10 But for me, Tik Tok is my personality.
47:14 I'm a little quirky and it just it makes me laugh.
47:16 My wife said, you gotta get out of the bed.
47:17 You know, the whole bed is shaking me cracking up.
47:19 I'm a 50 year old child.
47:22 But for me, Tik Tok is my thing.
47:25 Oh, Christian, it is an absolute pleasure.
47:29 Where's the best place for people to connect with you and keep in touch?
47:32 So just follow Disruptive Chef.
47:35 And come to our website.
47:37 Again, my website is ChristianJFisher.com.
47:40 You can find us there.
47:42 Every email, everything I post has my personal cell phone in there.
47:45 Feel free to reach out, send me a text.
47:47 Don't leave me a voicemail.
47:47 I won't get back.
47:48 But yeah, come ask questions and hopefully I can be of value when you call.
47:55 And you never know.
47:57 Maybe we start a business together.
47:59 It's fantastic.
47:59 Well, as always, thank you for listening to the show.
48:02 Thank you to Toast.
48:03 Stay curious, get involved and don't be afraid to ask for help.
48:06 We'll catch you guys all next week.
48:08 [MUSIC]