We were lucky to catch up with Michael Behar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started Feasteezy in the Spring of 2020. I chose the name “Feasteezy” to combine my past, present, and future. “Feast” being my present and future food path. “Steezy” being my past, meaning “effortlessly stylish or elegant,” a term commonly used in skateboarding, which I hold near and dear to my heart.

The pandemic had put my job, as the manager of a barbershop, on hold indefinitely. With most people stuck at home, I started posting Instagram stories of me making breakfast, lunch and dinner through a comedic lens. I had been cooking for most of my life, but had never pursued it professionally due to self-doubt. Much to my surprise, my videos and recipes started to catch on. I would get messages from friends or followers asking for more videos if a day went by without me posting something. I’ve had problems with believing in myself for most, if not all, of my life, so it was really reassuring for me to see and feel that what I was putting out was actually enjoyable.

Flash forward a few weeks, and unemployment had started to take its toll. Rent was due and I was $300 short. I don’t know how else to describe it, other than survival mode kicked in, and I thought, “If I make 30+ sandwiches, sell them at $10 a pop, I should be able to make rent!” I had just watched the movie ‘Chef’ and was freshly inspired by the Cuban Sandwich. I got extremely lucky with a sale on pork butt at Kroger, put in an order for several loaves of Cuban bread from Publix, and it was on! I started posting on Instagram about the “pop-up”, tagging every food account in Nashville that I could find, to reserve sandwiches for Saturday. Between reposts, word of mouth, and the support of friends, I sold out before I started cooking on that Saturday. It was such a hit that I continued doing it every Saturday for the next few months, selling out every weekend.

I then spontaneously thought, “How cool would it be to have a successful cookbook, as a nobody?!” Terrified of publishing prices, I decided to buy a domain and built my own website to share a “virtual cookbook.” Over the next few weeks, I created and photographed 50 of my own recipes. No fluff, just recipes, from simple egg tutorials to focaccia bread and chicken parmesan wings. The website did well, but never took off the way I had hoped, which wasn’t discouraging to me—I just started to brainstorm more on how to expand and grow.

I started to conceptualize ideas for what I wanted pursue: ways to bring different ethnic cuisines to those that may not travel, are not able to travel, have watched the travel food shows I’ve loved, or have experienced and/or seen what the world has to offer. I want Feasteezy to share all these aspects in every direction the business goes. Whether its a pop-up, catering gig, or a brick and mortar, I want to share the same love for food, and the stories that come along with them, to everyone I can.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Michael Behar. I’m 32 years old, and am born and raised in Nashville, TN. I became interested in food at a young age. Between my mom always cooking for my brother and me, to my dad and uncle in the restaurant/bar industry, as well as my dad’s family in New York with French backgrounds, great food was always around.

My first memory of cooking was helping my grandmother Lola in the kitchen of my childhood home. Then, my uncle Jay was (and always has been) an incredible host, cooking large and inviting meals for his whole neighborhood. I would frequently watch and help him for these, which gave me a great foundation.

My dad helped open, start, and run several bars and restaurants throughout Nashville growing up. I loved visiting him at work and seeing everything behind the scenes. Things unfortunately took a turn when his hidden alcohol and drug abuse grasped him to the point of a failed suicide attempt, leading to his heart failure death 2 years later, when I was 16. I suddenly didn’t want to have anything to do with food or the industry.

After several years, I naturally fell back into a version of love for food. I would watch travel food shows, competitive cooking shows, and videos about food non-stop. I became a good home cook, recreating dishes that I had just watched. With enough practice and experience, I started to create my own meals and dishes. I never had a lot of confidence or belief in the outcome until I started cooking for other people. I still struggle with this confidence to this day, but have slowly learned to trust myself more.

With my love and passion for cooking continuing to blossom, more friends and family members encouraged me to pursue something in the food industry. I resisted everything. It took some time to understand why, but I eventually realized it was out of fear of becoming my dad. I feared what the industry turned him into. This whole perspective changed during the pandemic, when I created a pop-up out of my apartment kitchen in order to make ends meet. It became successful enough for me to pursue a new Japanese pop-up about a year later.

Without him, without my family, all the good and the bad, I wouldn’t be where I am today, which is conquering my fears, and leading me to the position of Executive Chef for a new neighborhood bar called Reunion in East Nashville. I created my first menu from scratch, and for once in my life, I’m proud of myself.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Feasteezy started out as financial survival during the pandemic in 2020. The image I had for it, slowly, but steadily turned into an online virtual cookbook, whilst also creating cooking tutorial videos. The next milestone that I reached, was creating a pop-up, out of the poke restaurant that I was working at, called Kawai Poke Co. With much help and encouragement from my boss and friend, Yev, I was able to successfully run a Japanese Sushi Sandwich (Onigirazu) pop-up out of his restaurant, on the weekends. Every weekend i was making up to 60 of these sushi rice and nori wrapped “sandwiches,” selling out almost every weekend. Out of the blue, by word of mouth, I was approached by a bar, in Wedgewood-Houston, called Never Never, to potentially create a food menu from scratch. I jumped on the opportunity, without any knowledge or experience, thinking “I gotta learn somehow.” They also mentioned another bar that they were planning on opening, if I had any interest in doing that menu, as well. I wanted more experience, and jumped on board immediately. By the Spring of 2023, the lease for Kawai was not renewed, and I felt at a cross-roads. I wasn’t sure of what to do or where to go. Though I had been working on these menus, the opening dates were still open-ended. After about 2 months of unemployment, running around doing odd-jobs and Uber Eats deliveries, an opportunity to work for Butcher & Bee (One of my favorite restaurants in Nashville) arose. After 1 month there, the owners of the bar, for which I had been creating the food menu fro, reached out. The kitchen staff that they had hired, didn’t work out, so they offered me the position of Executive Chef. That bar is called Reunion, and is where I am working today. Even with all my self-doubt, I’ve reached a position where I finally feel I belong, even after the hardest of days.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients for me has always been a combination of social media and word of mouth. In social media, I do my best to tag and reach as many people as I can, to get the word out, on whatever it may be. I believe that between that and always doing my best to be at my best when hosting, cooking, catering, or serving, goes the longest way. I love entertaining and sharing the love of what I do with others, and think/hope that encourages others to want to share and or recommend any of my services.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thefeasteezy
• Linkedin: feasteezy

Image Credits
Hannah Kik