We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Johnny Przybylek. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Johnny below.

Johnny, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I think most business owners would agree that your emotions are like a roller coaster when it comes to owning your own business. Some days you are so happy that you work for yourself, that you are finally doing what you love to do. Other days you contemplate if its worth it. Are you going to be successful? should I quit all of this hard work and take a nice salary job and have the comfort and predictability of a weekly salary. I would say that there is no way that I could ever go back to working for someone else company. The biggest feature that I enjoy is the fact you can take your business as far as you would like. If you are hardworking and dedicated to those 12-16 hour days there is no ceiling and the sky is the limit. You are not working for someone that caps you off even if you are going above and beyond. It can be scary. You question if what you are doing is correct, you get judged and critiqued from people that have no idea what your back story is or why you do the things you do. The phrase” if you love what you do you will never work a day in your life” really comes to mind here. Some days I will work 16 hours but it doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy cooking, I enjoy creating new menus, going shopping, meeting vendors and discussing new trends and products that are going on in the food industry world.

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 name is John Przybylek and I am an executive chef and multi business owner. Cooking was never something I envisioned as a career path when I was younger. It was a pay check at that time. A paycheck that paid the rent, the mechanic to fix my car, for the groceries I ate, the shoes under my feet , the shirt on my back and the little bit of social life I could find between the many jobs I worked. I had never went to college and was working a job that did not pay well, has long hours and did not have any benefits. when I was about 25 years old I took a year off of cooking and tried to figure out what I wanted to do. During that year I realized how much I missed being in the kitchen, I realized it was something I was very good at; the adrenaline of serving hundreds and hundreds of people of night, yelling down the line at a fellow chef with beads of sweat dripping down your face, burn marks on your hand, flames bursting from under sauté pans, soot on your skin, the sound of pans slamming into a dish tank. It was chaos, it was like you were in a war, and the people you worked along side of is your army. It was not for the faint of heart but I loved it. I wanted to make a career out of it and as much as I loved going to “battle” in those hot kitchens. It was no way to make a decent living. I started venturing out and experimenting with high end products. Teaching myself new techniques, staying up to all hours of the nights because I had a specific dish brewing in my head that I wouldn’t have been able to sleep until I perfected it. I am proud to say that I taught myself how to be an executive chef along with how to run a professional business along the way with some help of some great entrepreneurial friends to guide me. Cooking is an endless learning curve. You will never master cooking or the billions of recipes and techniques to it, but you can get pretty damn good at it. I now do what I dreamed of when I was younger. I am a private chef. I create custom menus for my clients using fresh local ingredients. I create menus that are in tune with the seasons and have a focus on exquisite flavor and astonishing presentation. Along this journey I have created 5Knives catering not only a business but a brand I stand behind. 5Knives catering is synonymous with the most imaginative and flawless executed events. Under the direction of myself and a staff of seasoned professionals, consistency and dependability have become the quintessential components for a successful event. The hallmark of good food is that we believe a dinner for 10 people deserves as much attention as a charity gala for 3000. The most important phrase I can explain to my clients is this. “The difference between a good meal and an absolutely amazing meal is the passion behind the chef” you wouldn’t want an artist that hates painting, to paint a portrait for you would you? I love to cook!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Covid 19…. It was an incredibly hard time for everyone right? Restaurants were closing left and right. Peoples livelihoods coming to a halt. Dreams being crushed. It was a pandemic that affected every person in the world in one way or another. Supply chains being so disrupted that you couldn’t get a damn roll of toilet paper. Food costing more than it ever has in history. well, when life gives you a pandemic and there is not a damn you can do about, you make the best of it. As restaurants were being temporarily and permanently closed down i decided to capitalize on that moment. I too was laid off, thus giving me the opportunity and extra time to pursue my side hustle of doing private dinners. I catered to private in home events. Marketing “An unparoled dining experience” if you cant go out to eat, might as well have the chef come to you. So in the face of one of the worst eras in history I was able to use it as an opportunity to launch a career I had always wanted, so, fuck you covid, I win.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I have always had an interest in photography. My mother was a photographer growing up, my great grandpa was an artist. Some things ran in the family. I loved creating “food art” and presenting masterpieces on a plate. I slowly began making a profile on my Instagram of food I have made without realizing that was building a portfolio. People loved what I was making which encouraged me to continue creating fun dramatic plates of food. I do not have a ton of followers or are in anyway an influencer. I figured I enjoyed the pictures I was posting so others would too. Who doesn’t love some food porn?

Contact Info:

• Website: 5knivegr.com
• Instagram: lifeofchef_jp
• Facebook: 5knives catering
• Other: 5knives café johnny przybylek