We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Binotto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I’ve been in the restaurant industry my entire life, starting at the age of 15. Throughout my career I was fortunate enough to work with some incredible chefs such as Iron Chef Morimoto and Graham Eliot, winning some of the most coveted awards along the way, from 2 Michelin Stars to the Forbes Five Star Award. I had become an executive chef at 28 and established many fine dining and casual restaurants over the years. Often to escape the city and restaurant life I would take camping trips with friends and family, this is where my fascination for live fire cooking began. This type of cooking fascinated me because it’s a step back from fine dining molecular gastronomy and is a technique that connects us with our primordial culinary roots. Over the years my passion grew and I continued my experimentation with campfire cooking diving into teachings of the greats like Francis Malman and Niklas Eskdet. Once the pandemic hit I took a trip to beautiful up north Michigan and was inspired to gather the gumption and create “Embers & Ash” which is a fine dining live fire culinary experience that takes our guests to dine in beautiful settings like the beach, farm, forest, desser ect.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My parents were both in the restaurant industry so I was in kitchen since I could walk. At 15 I was washing dishes and by the time I was in college I was a line cook at the nicest restaurant in the city. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some incredible chefs through my career and have soaked up as much knowledge from them as I could. I fell in love with live fire cooking on camping trips growing up and as a young adult. Bring a Chef is more than just being able to cook food, problem solving and putting out metaphorical fires is part of the job too. As a chef you have to be a yes man to your guests because your aim is to please but the balance must be the same for your staff as well. I credit alot of management skills to working for the montage in Laguna beach for many years. Now working in the private sector everyday with a new client is a new puzzle to solve, which keeps it kind of fun and fresh. I look forward to those puzzles it’s the repetitive routine that I don’t
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I opened in the first six months of the pendemic! It was a very interesting time to launch my first solo business. I had no budget for marketing or PR, nothing for photographers or videographers let alone something like a social media manager . I learned everything for myself and my wife helped and is a tremendous part of this business and it’s success . Over the past 3 years things have changed dramatically in the restaurant industry but we overcome adapt and survive that’s a chef life and that’s Embers & Ash , something like a pheonix rising from the ashes hahaha
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
I took what little savings I had and during the pandemic we got a couple checks so I decided to do something irrational and kind of crazy, I bet it on myself, took the risk and launched Embers & Ash
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chefbinotto.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/chef_binotto?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/embersandash.co?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-binotto-78726b229?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
- Twitter: @chef_binotto
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@chefbinotto?si=qWvDUNi9jXWfhdUK
Image Credits
Veny Binotto