Surviving the Side Hustle

E125 - How Private Chef Benjamin LeRose Built a Brand on Trust, Teamwork, and Timeless Standards

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 125

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Ready to rethink what “hustle” really means? We sit down with Chef Ben LaRose—founder of Fork and Delicious and the force behind a growing chef’s table and consulting brand—to explore how a side hustle can scale without sacrificing standards. Ben breaks down the difference between momentum and forcing outcomes, and why his mantra is simple: accept, adapt, and keep hustling.

We dig into how he split his work into two clear lanes—Chef Benjamin LaRose for fine dining, takeovers, and consulting; Fork and Delicious for larger catering—so clients instantly understand the value they’re buying. Ben shares how he built a trustworthy crew, from servers to a social media lead, and why he avoids micromanagement by hiring people he can truly rely on. He’s transparent about pricing and sourcing, detailing the real costs behind a seven-course dinner with pairings and the commitment to farm-quality ingredients from the tri-state area. When prices spike after a signed quote, he stands by the number—because a promise matters.

You’ll also hear his playbook for growth: collaborations with restaurants, pop-ups that showcase his cuisine, and an ambitious plan for food trucks that deliver seasonal, fine dining experiences with white linens and table-side polish. We get into the human side of business development too—coffee chats over crowded mixers, honest conversations over surface talk, and personal touches that turn a meal into a story people share. Ben’s community mindset shines in his donation events and a forthcoming buffet-style charity concept aimed at turning meals into momentum for good.

If you’re building a brand, leading a team, or navigating volatile costs, this conversation offers a grounded framework for staying true to your standards while scaling smart. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves food and entrepreneurship, and drop a review telling us which idea you’re trying next.

SPEAKER_01:

What's going on, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Surviving the Side Hostile. I'm super excited because we've got another returning guest today. And today we've got on Chef Ben LaRose. Chef Ben, man, it's it's incredible to kind of bring you back here because I was looking through the uh archives of the episodes, and the first time you were on, it was episode number 27. And that was released on Do You Know When?

SPEAKER_00:

I think it was in September or November of 2023, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was it came out on December 27th, 2023. And uh it's it is one of the most downloaded episodes that uh that we have, so very popular. Um and the last time that you were on, you kind of gave us a behind-the-curtain scene of the culinary world and the grind of building the side hustle while working full-time as a chef. Uh, just for those who might not have checked out that first episode, make sure you do go back and check it out, episode 27. And if you don't know who Ben is, Ben is the founder of Fork and Delicious, which is a brand that um started as a meal prep and has grown into private events and a chef's table style catering experience. Uh, in that first conversation that we had, Ben was sharing on how he basically built his way up from dishwasher to chef over like 15 years and why leadership and coaching people in the kitchen became just as important to himself as cooking himself. Uh, he shared a little bit about the vision behind Forking Delicious and some of the challenges of balancing the demands of the chef career itself, balancing a new business and a personal life. And we've wrapped up that episode by you sharing some advice. And your advice at that time was to don't sleep on the hustle. Um, and you shared that there's always time and opportunity if you're willing to put in the effort without burning out. So that was a great conversation. I'm excited to kind of dive into this one. So again, then welcome to the show. And I'm excited to kind of hear what you're up to, man. So how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm good. Thank you for having me back. Same thing. Uh, but you know, the hustle's grown for sure. You know, we've gone from, you know, that meal prep like we were talking about and small events to influencer dinners, pop-ups, restaurant takeovers, consulting, dinners at people's houses, literally an array of things. We've actually gotten to a point where now fork and delicious is now just a signature catering experience. And we kind of built, I don't want to use the word rebrand, but separated entities almost. All of it falls under fork and delicious, obviously. But you know, Chef Benjamin LaRose now is the focus for the consulting and the fine dining aspects of restaurant takeovers and or the chefs tables experiences. Now uh Fork and Delicious kind of has its own entity where it kind of branches off to larger scale catering operations.

SPEAKER_01:

So interesting, interesting. So it sounds like a lot of evolution, a lot of changes, and things kind of growing and and moving. Since the last time we kind of chatted, what would you say for yourself or your brand is the biggest win or the proudest moment for what you've got going on?

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, one of the biggest wins is obviously having the people around me that I have. You know, they've been extremely helpful. A lot of them donate time when that when we're doing the donation events because obviously we're not making money. So I do a lot of those right now. I've done about six in the past four months, mainly just because you know, I like to get back, I like to be part of something. But you know, having my team being able to donate their time too, because nobody wants to work for free. But when people really get behind what you're doing and understand the vision and what we represent as a culture, people are willing to do leaps and bounds to help out a brand like that. And without my team or the people that have been helping me or behind me in every aspect of this, I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's interesting that you kind of bring that up there because uh as I was looking through some of my notes from the first time we kind of talked, you were mentioned a whole bunch about how demanding and challenging it can be at some times by handling everything solo. So, how have you managed to kind of handle that through? And I hear you talking about the team. I know when I was at that one dinner that you were hosting, that you had like a full team of people there. Is everybody working with you for all the events? Is it what is what does that kind of look like for you?

SPEAKER_00:

So I have um 1099 servers who are around most of the time. I have a social media, I don't know exactly what you would call coordinator essentially, who's that girl, Sammy Harris, that was at our thing. Without her, fork and delicious wouldn't be nowhere near where it is. We have a girl named Autumn who kind of does more of like the client relations stuff. Adam Borhoe, who's part of everything you know, Adam. He's been an intricate part in things, you know, growing until where we're at now. You know, Adam's got his own thing, so he still uses us as a brand. And, you know, my kitchen staff, I mean, Matt Bossey, we call him Instagramless Matt, because we can't tag him anything, but you'll see him at everything because he's basically my right hand in the kitchen. You know, I I trust that kid with my life, my event, everything. We recently brought on this girl, Chris Snyder, who has her own uh chef, private chef catering, which she kind of we're kind of collaborating. Um, but she donates her time. We we give her stuff. Uh if I pronounce it wrong, I'm sorry, Chris, but her thing is look, Coke private dining. I might have butchered that. I'm not, I don't speak French. So, and then you know, Tim Bellantoni, everybody knows Tim. He's been an intricate part of like the Greenwich uh culinary scene andor bar scene. He did a lot of bar programs, and then this kid Jose, who has been in and out of most of my events uh as uh like a line guy and and has been a pivotal part. He was huge in that uh influencer dinner that I did that you guys came to. Yeah so that's like my core group. Then, of course, there's the extra people like you know, I have three servers that do more than enough, you know, this girl Bethany, this girl Natalie, and then you know, the random people that love love to come in and help out, you know. Um, and they really see what we bring as a team, you know. We're not just going in there catering, knocking out food with meaningless stuff. We're coming in with the idea and the precision and the want to create an experience that they'll never forget.

SPEAKER_01:

And I gotta ask you because I know when I first started transitioning out of strength and conditioning and I was trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to do, I was uh constantly going in and out of different like coaching programs and things to kind of get the ball rolling. And it was difficult finding a good mentor and a good coach that would actually lead me and guide me and help me figure out what it was that I wanted to do. And it sounds like you're kind of that role model figure being the chef and everything. And so I gotta ask, like, how did you find flipping it around? How did you find all these people? Have you just worked with them for a long time? Is it have you like worked with some and then lost some people and picked them back up? Like, how did you put together this team?

SPEAKER_00:

So the team that I have now or currently kind of found their way into it. Um, there are people that I trust to do their job where I don't have to feel like I have to be on top of people. And for me, being able to trust somebody to do their job is huge because being pulled in a hundred different directions, it being my side hustle for now, which may not be for long, actually, may actually be coming my full thing within the next couple of months, hopefully, fingers crossed. But being able to trust people to do their jobs without having to badger them or be on top of them and and or basically, you know, micromanage. I don't like to micromanage. I if I if I have an idea, I put it on the paper or in a text message to somebody, if they can create something with it, then that's amazing. You know, but mostly it's people I trust. You know, if I'm not doing events with certain people anymore, it's because I don't trust them to be doing their job. And that's just, I mean, that's the hard truth about being in the industry and or or running a business. If you're not gonna keep somebody around that I I can't have them just lollygagging and not doing what they need to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I don't remember where I heard it. Somebody, somewhere along the line, somebody had told me that uh trust is so unique because it takes so long to earn and you can lose it so quickly.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. It takes I'll put it this way in Adam's podcast, I mentioned I trust people as far as I can throw them, and I still don't trust people. The fact that these people that I have on my side working for me, or not for me, because I don't consider anybody working for me, I consider everybody working with me. You know, um, nobody's better than anybody knows nobody's greater or and or higher position. But it comes down to trusting that job to get done. And in order to do that, you can't you can't have somebody who's not invested in the brand, you know, and fork and delicious as it is has a great background. We love to give back, we love to be part of it, and we're happy to donate whenever we can. And people see what this is and what I bring to the table, and then they're if they're willing to back me to the fullest extent. Like, for example, Sammy, my social media uh coordinator, she she essentially posts reels, whatever, all that good stuff. She doesn't ask for a dime. I pay her, but she does this out of the kind of sort of heart because she believes in it. And that to me is huge because if you believe in me, I believe in you. And I'm a big, big firm believer on, you know, you you got my back, I got yours. And that's that's a trust thing, you know, and it's a mutual respect as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. Um, and so I see like you've got that you got a great team around you, you're constantly doing new events, you got dinners and things going on. Where do you see because you said you were you just a minute ago, you said that you're considering it becoming like the full-time thing. What is the vision of that look like to you?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, if we're if we're talking full dream or we're talking about just enough to get by, um, you know, I I ideally am booking enough almost to be able to do it full time. But the problem is it's the time factor, you know, balancing my day-to-day job while doing this is not easy. You know, I'm I'm up on if I have an event on Saturday, I'm booking on a Thursday, I'm prepping on a Thursday night, overnight, Friday overnight, Saturday we're executing, Sunday we're cleaning up, and Monday I'm back to the grind again. Well, I'm working on Monday through Sunday, a Sunday through Friday job. So it does have its burnout points, but the success point was, and my future in this is I would love a standalone restaurant, obviously, where I could do the catering out back and have a line up front, but also I am in the works to doing a uh food truck concept, and then that would be bailed off with two other food trucks coming off the bat. So I could end up uh essentially the would be three food trucks in the long run with a standalone restaurant with catering operations as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice, yeah. I mean, I'm excited for that. That'd be pretty sweet to uh see some of the food trucks around because I love love going to all the different events around Stanford, at least specifically with all the food trucks all the time. And um, it's just it's a great, great thing to be doing.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's one of those things that you know people just like the experience. One of the ideas I have with one of the food trucks, and I'm gonna say it on here, so everybody wants to steal it, be my guest, because if you can't, if you can do it like I can, then good for you. But a food truck that does pop-up fine dining experiences. Um, so you know, maybe like a seasonal dinner where you have a food truck, pulls up, sets up this picnic tables and or tables with beautiful chairs and white linens, and you're cooking out of a food truck, but you're bringing that five-star experience where people are like, I can't believe this came out of a food truck. So redefine food truck, essentially.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's pretty sweet. Thank you for sharing that. That's cool. If that's one of your visions, I'm excited to see that. That'd be really awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Hopefully it all plays out. You know, it takes time. Everything takes time and patience and acceptance.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, well, so in order to get there, what do you feel is kind of like the biggest bottlenecks right now with your business? Is it that kind of tug of warp between the job and lack of time, or is it something else that's kind of slowing you down here?

SPEAKER_00:

I think the biggest thing is lack of time, but also, you know, it takes a certain kind of mindset to make the jump from a day-to-day where you have a constant paycheck where you don't know if it's gonna work out. And that really comes down to the fear of failure, you know. Granted, I don't think I'll fail, but you know, there's always that little thing in the back of your head that always says, what if you do? What if you do? What if you do? I mean, the brand speaks for itself, the food speaks for itself. It really just comes down to having the time and and also, I mean, financials, you know, it's very expensive to launch a food truck, it's very expensive to launch a restaurant. It it comes down to that. And right now I'm talking to multiple different people about ways to get income andor finances, or even a silent, silent investor, you know, angel investor, whatever you want to call it. But I'm looking into all those possibilities. And, you know, right now they're all conversations, but in due time, when it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. And that's kind of where I am. I'm not gonna force anything to happen because that's where you set yourself up. You know, if you push, push, push, there's a difference between a hustle and push, in my mind. The hustle is the day-to-day, what you need to get done to get stuff done. The push is if you're pushing something so hard that you you want it to happen so bad that it actually may fail because you put too much push and you were not ready to get there.

SPEAKER_01:

Interesting. Can you explain a little bit more on that? Because that's uh pretty unique. I don't think I've heard that like somebody said that before.

SPEAKER_00:

So essentially, what the way I look at it, and this is for me and me only, is that if I'm trying to force something to happen, it's not going to happen. You're you're basically putting yourself in a position where I'm a firm believer where things happen when they need to happen. And uh that that's played out multiple times over the past six to eight months. You know, there's events where people, I've set out a quote and they say, Oh, you're a little too expensive. Well, you know, that's the thing, is the breakdown behind it, you people don't look at that. They see the day of the event, what's going on the table, and that's it. You know, but my head, it's all right, I accept that fact that I'm too expensive or a little more on the higher end of the money scale. But the quality of food I'm bringing is very high. But I'm also gonna accept the fact that if this event's not meant to happen, it's not meant to happen. I'm not gonna, I'm not going to lower my standard of what I bring to the table to hit a price point because then I'm really not valuing what I'm putting out. It becomes that whole mindset of if you put something on a plate, would you eat it? And if if I'm not willing to get behind the brand or the the product I'm putting out, then I cannot, me personally, I cannot do that. So that kind of funnels into everything. It's if if you're pushing something that's not meant to happen, it's not gonna happen. You know, the hustle alone, you could hustle all day long. If you got the mindset for a hustler, you're gonna do it. And that it's a vet that's a very rare thing to have now. I've I've learned over the past two years that I've been basically pushing pork and delicious for the most part, is that if you don't have drive, the hustle's not gonna be behind it. It's not you can't learn it. It's not like you wake up and all of a sudden you got hustle and drive. You either have it, you don't. And and you can read it right off people off right off the bat. You know, there's a lot of people out there that I've and this is not to bash anybody or say anything, but a lot of people say they have a hustle, and I look at them and I go, I don't think you do. You just want to you just want the notoriety. And that that that there's a difference there. You know, I I I I'm willing to stay up for three days just to get something done because I have to get it done because I committed to somebody to bring experience to them. You know, is sleep, uh, that's what copies for. Sleep, I'll sleep after the event. But, you know, it's funny because me and Matt, um, when we were doing the last event, uh, we talked about it, and he's like, you like to stress yourself out. I'm like, well, it's not really stress, it's just more like I want it to be perfect. Everything has to be perfect in my mind. And you know, I think we talked, we might have talked about it on the last podcast where if I put something on a plate and I don't like it, or uh, then I'll redo it over and over again. Meanwhile, it'll still be beautiful at the first time I do it. And that that to me is is passion. You know, you have to have passion for what you do. And you know, leading off of all that, where you come back to it, is like, like I said, accepting that certain things happen when they happen.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I love that too, because you you're speaking to holding yourself to a certain standard, but then also establishing boundaries. So, like, yeah, you do know you do have to push for certain times. Like, yeah, if you gotta work hard to get an assignment done, or you're trying to make a certain amount of sales for a deadline, like you gotta be able to crank it into another gear to make sure that it gets done and deliver the product, the service, whatever it is, at the standard that you hold yourself to, and not really sacrificing or bending the standard to anything else. And I like it too because you know where the boundary is afterwards. You said, like, yeah, you'll sleep after the event. And I remember back when I was like grinding like 70 plus hours a week, there was no sleep. It was just I'm gonna keep pushing, and then next week I'm gonna keep pushing, and then the following week I'm gonna keep pushing more, and I'm just not gonna sleep ever because it was just an endless like cycle of people and sessions and such.

SPEAKER_00:

So and like going back to that, I mean, like I'm willing to put in the time any day, but like when it comes down to it, is me not me pushing myself to a limit where I break is not gonna make my future happen any faster. You know, there's a time frame for everything, it's just whether you've you're around the right people, you're going to the right clientele. You know, it's really it's it's it's like you said, it's boundaries. Boundaries in your business is just as big as big as boundaries in your personal life.

SPEAKER_01:

And you know, it's something important to kind of uh comment there on that. Like, yeah, things will happen when they're meant to happen, but if you're not prepared and if you're not holding yourself to that standard and you don't have that identity and value for yourself, then when the opportunity does come, it's just gonna go all right past you because you're not you're not prepped and ready for it. So I think uh I think you hit hit the head on the hammer or hit the hammer, hit the nail on the head, whatever the saying is. I gotcha. But I think, yeah, that was like perfectly said there. Nice. But so I'm excited uh because I'm seeing a lot of different events all the time. I'm curious to hear how are you getting all of these different events and things going on? Because it seems like every day social media you guys are doing something new. I just recently saw something else that looked pretty sweet that you guys were doing. So, where are you, what kind of systems are you doing to get these connections and set these opportunities up?

SPEAKER_00:

So, I mean, honestly, if I'm being fully transparent, a lot of it's word of mouth. The only marketing I do is is social media. So I'm posting on Instagram, I'm posting on Facebook, I'm posting on TikTok once in a while. I barely use TikTok, I probably should utilize it more because everybody's on TikTok. I I'm still learning TikTok. I don't get it. I have a TikTok, but I don't think I posted anything on it in a while. But um it's a lot of word of mouth, like a lot of ref like referrals. And that's one of the biggest ones. And then like like I did, like the influencer dinner I did, that was fully paid for by me personally to get this event, like get the ball rolling. So, you know, they say spend money to make money. I agree with that to an extent. You know, like for example, and I know this kind of a plug in the middle of the podcast, but my November 2nd dinner, right, that I'm doing is in collaboration with Tripp's Restaurant in Stanford. And, you know, we came to an understanding that we'll do a seven-course meal. Four courses will be me, three courses will be them. And to me, that gets me a whole nother realm of clientele. You know, it may not be fully my event, but we're we're forecasting it to be 30 plus tickets sold, you know. Um, we're on track track for that. And I mean it's not a cheap dinner, but and then and I'm gonna explain this on a podcast so people can understand it. Because people see that number of$300 for a seven-course dinner, and I'm gonna break it down. Labor up to$300 is nothing. Two days of prep plus the seven courses plus alcohol pairing. If you think about that, when you go to a dinner, if you got set uh one one course with one alcohol pairing, what would you say it costs?

SPEAKER_01:

Jeez, dude, I from where it seems like everywhere around here, like Victoria and I go out, like have one drink, maybe an appetizer and an entree. Dude, we're spending like anywhere from two to five hundred bucks, depending on where we're going.

SPEAKER_00:

So if you break that down over seven times, I mean, uh$300 is nothing for that. Because I mean, granted, it's not a huge portion, but you know, it's the value and the understanding. Like, I we I'm buying stuff sourced from Connecticut and or the tri-state areas. You know, if I have to, I'll go to a farm in upstate Connect uh New York if I have to find something the right way. I'm not buying, you know, Joe Schmoe's chicken from you know, restaurant depot. That's not what I'm doing, you know. You don't use Joe Schmo's chicken? No, no, Joe Schmoe's chicken is not on the pla on the menu. But like I like, for example, with that in poster dinner, when you were there, you saw the value. We brought we I went to Henny Penny Farms in Ridgefield, and they actually had lambs that they you know butchered there on site, and that's what we brought to the table there. You know, I I think it it's a whole nother realm. And I think I got a little off topic, I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I mean, so it's like it's you're going out, you're connecting with people, collaborating with other like organizations, and I think that's important too, because when I'm working with clients and we get into like principle number six, all about opportunity creation. One of the steps in that is about collaborating, but then also collaborating often, and then how to set up a good collaboration under really understanding the commitments on all the parties at play, what's the capacity, what's the like time frame and everything, and then also like how do you know it was a successful collaboration? Like, you got to know a lot of these things and you got to think about that ahead of time before you propose an idea of a collaboration with somebody because it's very people think like like people are like I know for a fact, at least in the personal training and strength and conditioning realm, people were very afraid to let other people use like work with their clients or even talk to their clients or even look at their clients.

SPEAKER_00:

And it comes down to trust. That's one of the biggest things, right? So I've been talking with two chefs, the one that works with me from her name, the Chris Snyder girl, who has her own thing, you know. But and then I also talk to this kid that I know who um I believe his Instagram is Muddy Eats. He's a chef personal chef and private chef as well. We talk all the time because you know, comes down to like if I can't do something, I'm I'm happy to work with somebody. I'm happy to pass the event on, you know, if I can't do it or if it's not in my realm of what I want to do, somebody else be be my guest. You know, the problem is everybody's so afraid to cross-utilize and or help each other. It comes down, and I hate to use this world word, but it comes down a lot to ego and selfishness for a lot of people because they'll be like, I don't want to work with give that person the business because then then I'm helping them. It's like, why? Why not help that next person?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I mean, that's that like I like I said, my the culture of fork and delicious is to change the world one plate at a time. It doesn't mean that I have to do it by myself. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I think I shared I don't know if I've ever actually shared it with you, but uh when I first moved to the building, my apartment that I'm living in, I put it out on the uh post on the community wall. And I asked, is there any like personal trainers in the building? Two people messaged me and and uh one other woman had messaged me. And once I had met up and connected with them, the two first two people, they were like, if you're a personal trainer, why are you asking for a personal trainer? Like, I'm not working with you, and they wouldn't even listen to what I had asked. But the third person, the woman, she sat down and actually sat with me and I was like, Hey, like I'm looking for other trainers because I want to do an event. I want to bring the other residents in. I'll talk about either nutrition or movement stuff or stretches, mobility, whatever it may be. And then you pick another topic and you can talk on it. That way we bring a crowd in, and then from there we both deliver good service or an experience, and then from there it's okay, now you can go try to sell to whoever you want, and I'll do the same thing.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. I mean, it's about it's about not just collaborating, but it's about how do I use this word and trusting the group as a whole, you know, the community. There's a chef community that are private chefs that just don't mess with each other. And I don't understand it because they want all the that that comes down to the greed. Everybody wants, wants, wants, right? But for me, I hustle hard enough. I might as well help somebody out if I don't need the event or if I can't do the event, I might as well help another chef. You know, I I'm all about brands. I love I love Muddy Eats brand. I love the La Coke one. They're great, they're great people, and I and I believe in them. So I'm obviously not gonna shut them out, you know. Obviously, there's some people you just don't want to work with, and that's just what it is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. There you go. Um sweet. Um, well, so I'm interested though, because so we kind of talked about how you're starting to get more of these opportunities and how you're collaborating with more people. How do you get a little bit into like the tactical here? How do you develop better relationships with these people? So either the people you're collaborating with or the customers yourself, like how do you go and connect with it? Because I know a lot of people listening here go to a lot of different networking events and struggling to develop relationships with either customers or potential leads or et cetera down the road. So, what specifically to you, how do you deepen your connections and relationships?

SPEAKER_00:

So personally, what I do, I don't like I'm not a big fan of other people reaching out on behalf of somebody. So I'll set up a coffee date. Like, let's meet up, let's have a conversation. Or if you can't, let's have a conversation on the phone. And I'm transparent and honest on everything. I talk the same way I talk to anybody else. Same way if we were sitting there at one of those network events, how we talk, I talk to my clients. And I think being real and honest with everybody and being transparent and not trying to sell yourself as something you're not helps deepen those. Because I have had a lot of conversations, and I hate to say this, that are very service level and meaningless with people that want to collab. You know, and those are the kind of people I probably won't. But if you tell me, hey, listen, and I and I'm gonna curse right now, my business is fucking struggling, and I just want to know your take on it or if we could do something together, I'll be like, hell yes, let's do something. Because you know what? You're being real with me. You're not gonna be like, everything's cop aesthetic, I'm doing great. All right, cool, then you don't need me around. Like, that's fine. We can we can keep saying hi and keep moving. I'm not a huge proponent. I personally don't go to a lot of the social things. I mean, I've been to a couple with you and Adam and all them, but I mean, I don't my time, I feel like it's more worth if I'm out talking to people personally. Like it literally, so I did a wedding event for in Torrington and I had conversations almost every day with them. You know, eventually, yes, when it gets to the point where I probably won't be able to do that with everybody, but I'm gonna sure as hell have somebody to my right that can do the exact same conversations. And if I need to step in, I'll have a conversation with them. Absolutely. I don't mind. I like bringing that personal aspect because I want the people who are hiring me to know who I am. They don't need to like you could hide behind a brand name. Like I can hide behind a fork and delicious name any day. But who is that person? And people love to know the fact that, like, I'm trying to grow, I'm trying to build, I'm trying to be this person, I'm trying to get to this point. Like the guy that I did the dinner for that wedding for has been hugely awesome. He checks in now daily, almost daily, every other, like, probably like maybe one, uh, probably like once every three days. He'll be like, how's everything going? I'm like, it's great, man. How are you? You know, text me. I don't care. Is your client? I'll answer. You know, it's it's you're not they're not just a client. They're buying a service from you, but they're buying the service from you because they believe in you, not because they believe in just your brand or what you're putting on a plate, or if you're like for you, a personal trainer. You're like, Rob, the reason why I mess with you so much is because I like you as a person. I trust you as a person, you know, I know you as a person, you know, and that that that's huge to me. I think that brings a personal touch because when it comes down to having my restaurant, I want somebody up front who will do research on the people that are coming in that night and know little tricks on them, you know, like they put a birthday. All right, well, reach out, call, call them and say, hey, where was your first dinner? Like, or something like that, you know, and then we'll build a little experience about it. Or give them a card that says, hey, we know you met at this place. Here's a little dessert. Uh say they made it met France. Here's a croissant, you know what I mean? Or something, I don't know. But those those attention to details and personalizing everything makes you more valuable than anything else. Forga Delicious could not matter if I didn't pay attention to what everybody else wanted. I'm not going to tell you that your opinion doesn't matter ever. Because, you know, you're not just a client, you are a person of value. You're investing in me, and I'm investing in something back to you.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. Yeah, you showed a good amount of value there. You talked about how it's important to be authentic, authentically yourself, and uh not afraid to be vulnerable, and really making sure that you're like dialing in on the small little details. And dude, I think that's super important to kind of point out because so many times you see people who are just like waiting to say whatever they need to say next and like barely ever listen.

SPEAKER_00:

And dad active listening is the biggest part about being a good business owner and or boss and or co-work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and even just like networking too, because I'm thinking about it through like the networking standpoint, like nobody's authentic. They just come to these events trying to sell everything and they're they're not vulnerable because their businesses are probably struggling if they're spending time at these networking events. Not struggling, but they're probably in a growing period. And but they're acting like everything's great and everything, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and they don't want to admit that, like, hey, maybe they are having some difficulty with certain things, and then they don't pay attention to any of the details as well. They're just like, Yeah, well, I don't remember anything you just said, I don't remember your name, but here, try to buy my product.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's the problem, is that if you're st if if you go into this knowing that you need to build and get connections, you need to listen to what's being said. You gotta be open-minded and willing. You have to know that you need to learn. And I'm never gonna know everything. I'm still learning a lot, but I'm willing to listen to get to those steps. And that's the biggest thing. Like, I feel like watching so many businesses and smaller businesses and people that I've met over this period of time that I've been, you know, actively engaging. In these social events is like everything's surface level. And I want to get down to nitty-gritty. I want to know what you're struggling with. And then I'll tell you what I'm struggling with. And let's try to come up with a game plan. Andor how can you help me in a way where it benefits both of us, but also does not sacrifice the quality and the understanding of what we are as people.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, man. That's that's powerful stuff, dude. Um, yeah, I'm also you've got I know you got events coming up, and I think by the time this this episode airs, I think we'll be past that um that one guy's coming up. But on the further horizon, what else you are we expected to look forward to is that food truck kind of thing? Is that coming up anytime soon, or is that still like down the road a bit? Or like what are you focusing on right now? Just more of the events?

SPEAKER_00:

Right now I'm focusing on restaurant collaborations, pop-ups, and the private chef's table dinners at people's houses. I feel like that's a value that's not being utilized enough by people. They just want to book catering. And to me, you're paying for the catering aspect, but you you could pay the same money for a 10-person, 12-person private dinner where you're getting five courses, and that value is way higher to me. And you know, I feel like people just see the numbers like we were talking about earlier, but you're getting authentically the chef in front of you. That's why I'm doing more of these pop-ups and these collaboration dinners with restaurants because I want to I want people to see what it's like to go to one of these things, but imagine having it at your house. And if they really want to try it, next time I post tickets for a sale, come in or reach out. You know, um it's it's one of those things that like it's underutilized, and I would love to build it more, but obviously it's a it's a special demographic essentially that wants to do those things. You gotta be a foodie, you gotta be able to afford it. I mean, like I'm willing to work with some people, but like, you know, food's expensive. I mean, and that's the realest part about this, you know, is that the food scene is forever changing. Ups, highs, lows, you know, beef prices are about to shoot up by like 180% because they lost like 70% of the cow slaughter for this year, you know? So when I have to say, oh, excuse me, the filet is, you know, this expensive, so we're gonna have to raise the price of this dish by like, I don't know, 26%. It's just what it is. But yeah, so like the catering that does things, I think I'm also probably gonna um we're in talks to doing a multi-collaboration dinner with uh two different restaurant groups. So that that could be good. And then I'm also talking about doing a separate club with uh another brand. If that happens, we'll we'll I'll be sharing that, but I don't want to share too many details because it's all in the works. You know, there's a lot of good things in the works, and I'm very blessed and you know, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for where I'm at and where where it's heading. Um, you know, and I'm grateful for the right people that are around me, you know, more than they probably even know. You know, I tell a lot of people, people every day, I love you for this, you know, thank you so much. But I can say it until I'm blue in the face, but it's still good, it's still I need them to always know that I love them and they do wonders for what we're doing. Uh but one of the biggest things that I want to put together over the next few months, probably closer to like spring, is I want to do a full catering experience slash slept for club thing. So everybody donates X amount of dollars. They can it'll be an open buffet, and um 100% of the proceeds, like the profit line, will be donated to charities of of uh of choices. So, because like I said, changing the plate what changing the world one plate at a time doesn't mean just an experience, it means the people that are of your communities, the people that are struggling. You know, I've been a big proponent on I don't talk about stuff on social media, I don't do that. But when it comes down to these podcasts, I want to help the next person, regardless of who you are. Everybody means something to everybody. And being able to use my platform andor the money that I have to donate to help that, I would in a heartbeat. I wish I was rich because I would like to help everybody, but that's not how this works.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, unfortunately, right? Well, so that's that's really awesome. So I'm looking forward to all those events that are kind of coming up there. And I I want to pull it back for a second there because you had mentioned about the prices of things kind of going up and changing and how it's kind of like an ever-changing environment. How do you handle that? How do you how do you plan for stuff and then like all of a sudden it's like, oh great, egg prices are through the roof? Like, oh, how do I do that? Like, how did you how how do you how do you prepare for stuff like that?

SPEAKER_00:

So, and it kind of happened with the wedding. So, one of the things that I I was using was short rib and that price shot up. I mean, we used 55 pounds of short ribs, which cost like$680 or something like that. And originally, short rib at that at that weight was around$400 when we were when we quoted them. But unfortunately, that's the belly of the beast in this industry. Once you sign a quote, I'm not changing your price, I'm eating it. I'll eat that number. But yeah, it's just kind of how it has to happen. Like, it's not like I have a freestanding restaurant where I can quote like if something changes one day, I could change the price the next day. You you're you're this is how it works. I mean, obviously you're gonna tailor your tailor your prices later on, but like if I have a quote signed two months before and the prices change within those two months, like it's what it is, man. Jeez. And I'm not one to be like, I'm not one to be like, for example, the only time I'd probably do it is if something jumped up like 300% and we went from like a$200 item to a thousand dollar item. We're gonna have to have a conversation, obviously.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Even then, it's like I don't, I don't, I don't feel like I should do that because I'm still gonna be okay in the end, and this is an experience for you, you know. But I mean, I can't speak for that because I that hasn't happened yet. But yeah, basically you're tied in once you're tied in, and that's that's the way I look at it. You know, it's not it's not your fault, it's not your fault, it's not my fault that the price has changed.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you know, it's it's good to hear that because I know a lot of people that I work with, there's things that go wrong all the time. Like technology goes out, travel, flights are delayed, can't deliver a speech on time, or like products or shipping, like there's always something going wrong in the entrepreneurial world. And then I see a lot of people who kind of bug out when one thing sets them off and then they can't get themselves back onto it and get back on track. And I think hearing what you're saying there is like, yeah, you gotta like stick to it, you gotta be open to having a conversation when things do need to change, and you have to have that confidence and be able to have those difficult conversations. So I think that's really important to know.

SPEAKER_00:

The two words that I use a lot is acceptance and adaptability, but those are crucial when you're running a business. I have to be willing to accept the fact that anything can go wrong at any time, and I have to have to have the adaptability to overcome, problem solve, and figure out. And and if I can't, I have to also go back to acceptance because I don't have control of that situation in the end either way. It's not like I'm sitting here butchering the beef and growing it myself. Not yet. Not yet. Maybe one day. Who knows? I don't know if I'll be into the butchering thing because I don't know. But maybe the ultimate goal, I want to have a farm that's fully sustainable on my own and do dinners there.

SPEAKER_01:

I gotta uh introduce you to a buddy of mine and um good uh good Larry Dix. I don't know if you've ever met him, but he's a person I feel like you should connect with. And Larry, if you're listening to this, man, you gotta you gotta talk to uh Chef Ben over here. Connect with him. Larry, let's have a conversation, man. Well, Ben, man, I'm so so glad we were able to get this back on and we were able to get this episode recorded. I'm excited. I love seeing all the different things that you're doing, and I appreciate you taking the time coming on today. I know you got like your Instagrams being uploaded every day. You got different things going on. So, which where's the easiest place for people to follow you and stay up to date with the new events and the new additions to the business?

SPEAKER_00:

So reaching out through Instagram and or following on Instagram, that's like the biggest line line I have right now, which is chef underscore Benjamin underscore LaRose. I don't know if we'll put a little blurb underneath it, because that's a long one. But then there's also it's underscore forkin delicious. Those are the two. You reach out, you can have a conversation with me any day. I'm I'm open. You guys heard me talk about it, I mean it. So if you ever have questions about anything, even if it's cooking questions, feel free to reach out, you know, or if you want to get involved somehow.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go, guys. Uh, make sure you send him a follow and shoot him a message when you get an opportunity. All about feedback around here, too. So let me know what you thought about the episode and uh what you'd like to see more of. So, Chef Ben, dude, again, thank you so much. I appreciate this. Uh, before we sign off and let it go, pass you the ball, final words, anything left unsaid on this episode that you'd like to share with the audience.

SPEAKER_00:

Nah, just keep pushing. Actually, don't push. Accept, understand, and keep hustling. That's it. And I'll stick, I'll go back to what I said the first time. The hustle doesn't sleep, so just keep going. Got it.

SPEAKER_01:

You heard it. There you go, guys. Another great episode with Chef Ben. Again, thank you. And we'll have to have you back for a third episode, man. Let me know what, man. I'm around. All right. Peace, peace, peace, guys. That's it for today.