We were lucky to catch up with Andy Suarez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andy, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

It was 2016 after being at my previous job working 40+ hours weekly and running to my evening job just to make enough money as a chef. I decided to use my vacation time and sick pay which my job was never happy about when I left since they enjoyed working me until anxiety kicked in. I finally decided it was time for a change and bought myself a ticket to visit friends in Sweden. It only lasted about 3 weeks but taking the risk of going to a different country and leaving my job behind opened up my eyes to the world of food and exploring. So when my time was up in Sweden I came back to Chicago and decided to pursue my own business endeavors. It was then I decided going into 2017 that I would quit my job to be my own boss and never have to feel the way I did at previous jobs. Fast forward to 2023 and after all the years of sacrifice and hard work. I am running a successful business as a private chef in yachting, homes, my venue and traveling to other places for clients to enjoy my food. Life is going to kick you down but taking risks is the only way to move forward and present yourself with amazing opportunities..

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My journey into the culinary world started in high school as I was sitting down in orchestra class playing Violin and not being allowed to go play soccer with my school team. It then hit me that I had to make some choices as to what my career would be and what I was good at. This is when I decided to apply to cooking school since I knew I would never want to sit down or be restricted from being told what to do. I ended up graduating in 2014 with a Bachelors in Culinary management and would go on to pursue a career as chef doing private chef, yacht chef, consulting, catering, fine dining, cooking classes and menu development.

Services I offered are team building corporate events for big clients like McDonald’s,  US National Bank, Kellogs, etc. I also offer catering for big events to clients like Starcomm and Smirnoff and the list goes on. I am currently and mostly offering in home private chef dinners and cooking classes at my venue or clients home in Chicago and other states when needed. I also cook in yachts and deliver drop offs to private jets.

I know things that set my apart from others in my field is that I can execute any type of request for my clients without any issues. I also set myself apart from many other business because I combine my services that include my fun personality that many chefs or caterers don’t have. I like to personally get to know my clients and go above and beyond as a private chef.

I am the most proudest of being able to execute these events as a small business/ chef without any backing from anyone. I am in disbelief that I get to share my food in land, air and sea.

Have you ever had to pivot?

At some point in my career I decided the line cook or overworked chef life wasn’t for me. So I decided to work retail since my first job that put me in Culinary school was working at puma selling shoes and then being stock lead. I then worked at Nike and Vans. But this was the reason customer service merged with my private chef life and I am thankful for this temporary pivot/break.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My social media presence started from word of mouth and the amazing food community here in Chicago. I dedicated a few hours of content and interacting with friends and other people like me that it helped grow my audience. But I definitely believe now it is not truly something you should focus on since business will come if you work hard in other ways.     

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.chefandysuarez.com
• Instagram: Chefsuarez8
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChefSuarez8?mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-suarez-69277826a
• Tiktok: Chefsuarez88