Conversations with Greg Jones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Jones.

Hi Greg, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a career working chef and teacher with 20+ years experience . I have worked in fast paced environments ranging from the most hi-tech kitchens to make-shift grills on the beach. I have had many amazing adventures working as a chef in my career but there are two that stand out. I am a lifetime fan of the Angels and I was invited to celebrate with the team after game 7 of the 2002 World Series for the work I did in their kitchen. I was also in the locker room for the 2007 Stanley Cup Anaheim Ducks win. Celebrating with both teams were pinnacle moments in my career. It made the countless work hours almost wash away. I have donated my skills for many medical foundations, Government Leaders and charities with one goal in mind, “Great Food Always!”

As A Newbie
Cornerstone Catering began my true food service career. I started there while I was still in culinary school. I worked as a prep cook in the morning, after lunch, ran off to school, and back to the coffee shop and kitchen all night. Wash, rinse, repeat. With all that, I worked my way through the ranks as Chef Assistant in a short 8 months. I was free to play with my food and really test my skills with little to no regard for my budget. This job gave me the basic food service skills, taught me about time management, and how to manage a diverse group of employees. During this time I also did part time work driving for a catering service, working for a butcher, and helping out the family biz.

Chip Upgrade
Aramark Sports and Entertainment took me from prep cook to full fledged Sous Chef in 2 years. I worked hard and learned a ton. By my second year, at the age of 22, I was working for Aramark at Angel Stadium running my own kitchen, making my own menus and working about 80 hours in a week. I eventually became the Luxury Suites Chef, contracting out about $30,000-$50,000 of revenue in a single day. It took a lot of teamwork and planning but the job always finished with happy patrons and even happier GM’s. I then spent 2 years working at the Honda Center and experiencing a whole new world of food service. This is where I learned finesse, style and all the details. From the Eagles to Disney on Ice and everything in-between, I saw it all. Getting a crash course in thinking on your feet was a wonderful skill to acquire.

Going International
Jones Catering was my most inspirational and gratifying culinary adventure thus far. I spent three years on the island of Grenada working as a culinary consultant, caterer, personal chef and culinary teacher. You could find me at the Rum shack or “lime’n” on the beach most days as the world turned a little slower. I had enough time to center myself and enjoy my mini retirement. I learned about new foods, culture, and experienced the most vibrant and powerful spices in the world. I had lots of time to study and learning about other cultures only made me want to create every day. The more I learned, the more I yearned to share with others.

“The Migration of 2010” was a tremendous educational and life changing experience. We moved from the island back to the mainland, into a state we had never visited, knew nothing about, and all arrangements were made via e-mail. It was a recipe for disaster. No home, no money, no life line to save us. When we got settled we grew to love our surroundings. Raleigh, North Carolina, was a definite culture shock coming originally from Southern California and most recently from a Caribbean island. To get back to the speed and efficiency I wanted, I spent 6 months working 4 or 5 different line cook positions sharpening my teeth once again working the grind and preparing for war. I went to cook for Meredith College working for my old friend, Aramark. I was the Executive Chef of an all women’s college, steeped in tradition and southern charm. While there, I got my Corporate structured wings, making waves of change and teaching old dogs new tricks. By far, not the least culinary educated set of co-workers but definitely the hungriest to learn. I cooked for 2800 ladies, school officials, politicians, the North Carolina Governor, and a lot of newlyweds.

Next up, my desert adventure was working at an Embassy Suites Hotel. I worked long hours and odd days with an 18-hour food and beverage operation. I was running one small kitchen servicing a full breakfast buffet, room service, fine dining restaurant, and a busy banquet department. You could say I was running a circus. During my brief stay at the hotel we got a lot accomplished. We re-launched a restaurant into a fine dining steak house and bar, survived hotel crippling hoards of Club soccer and softball families, grew the banquets department to an increase in sales of over $65k monthly, became an official venue for the Palmdale Chamber of Commerce, won back to back “Taste of Palmdale” awards for Best Restaurant and had an editorial in the AV Press. We never stopped pushing the boundaries.

Loyola Marymount University switched gears for me. Going from a one man show to commanding 50 cooks, 10 dishwashers, 25 front-house staff and micro-managing the budget spun me around for a minute. I quickly straightened the ship and with our team, built a well-oiled machine producing over $100,000 in sales weekly. With 11 separate concepts running harmoniously together under the same roof took a lot of organizational skill and a little gambling. This large brigade would push out made from scratch, fresh prepared, and hand trimmed meats daily. The 7-day operation takes a toll on the creative artistry of cooking. My passion began to fade and I felt I was being replaced by a robot. Time to go!

Windward School Kitchen. It is undoubtedly the most impressive school cafeteria in Los Angeles. We were a “Scratch” kitchen that cooks for a population of 800+ twice a day with selections that circle the world. It is a farmer’s market of fresh prepared items. We provide versions of popular food concepts, themed holiday meals and heartwarming comfort food. Everything we did there was to help the younger generations achieve greater things. I believe that there is “No better way to feed the soul than through the belly.” I tell people that we serve smiles! I’ve seen more smiles and enthusiasm from the dishes we created at Windward School than I have ever seen in my 20+ years. It has re-kindled my passion for teaching and willed me to spread my knowledge to anyone who wants to listen!

After creating food for millions throughout my career I quit my corporate gigs and looked to the next adventure. The Covid pandemic gave me the ability to focus on my family, the growth of my children, and teach those in desperate need of culinary skill sets. I run a in-home culinary education program focusing on the individual needs of my students. I use a 360 deg approach to my teaching allowing the student to maximize our time together getting the most out of the dollar. I have no standardized class, menu, or course catalog. Everything is customized to the needs of every student, event, or celebration. I focus my classes on teaching Core techniques and culinary concepts rather than set dishes. It’s the old give a man a fish, or, teach them how to fish adage. Cooking should be fun and inclusive to any age. Just find a way.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Life is a moving river of challenges. I never thought of making cooking a career when I was young. It was something that I found fun and was a way I could help out the family when it was needed. At a young 17 years old my Mother was Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was hospitalized for a good amount of time. At that time I had been helping her with shopping for groceries, making dinner from time to time and never really focusing on it much. After her diagnosis I became the sole provider for all home cooked meals at my house. This added on to my school work, 2 jobs, and sports teams I was involved in. It added a lot to a teenagers plate.

That is where I thought this was something I was good at and could do for a career, even though I had my sights set on a different path for collage. It was my mom who said to take a year off from generic collage classes and take a few culinary classes to stoke the fire a bit. I never turned back.

Working in the restaurant business it is never an easy time. It is a volatile ever changing landscape of passion, standards, creativity and greed. Spend less and make more, more, more. Most of the jobs I was honored to be hired for were highly sought after and competition was fierce. I always went for the working man’s jobs, not looking for acclaim or prestige saying I worked for this chef or that restaurant. I wanted to feed the people, and I have fed Millions.

The downside to working for a huge corporate food service company is you turn into a number and not a person or a talent. I spent most of my career working for Aramark, Sodexo, Compass, and Hilton getting pushed around from one venue to the next and never staying long enough to make a legitimate mark. Don’t get me wrong, when I entered a kitchen it became the best version of itself for the time I was there. Yet the white collar exec’s always rocked the boat to squeeze out as much juice as fast as they could drying up every well and killing the spirit of the culinary artist in charge.

That is why I left that all behind to touch the few people with passion to better themselves, learn, and grow as a culinarian. Re-igniting my passion for the culinary arts. I find myself now happier that ever working in kitchens with my students and customers giving them the personalized attention to create something wonderful.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
From the beginning of my career as a culinary student I was given the name of Chef McGyver. My ability to make a meal from nothing with nothing and be able to feed people. I have always been quick on my feet, catlike reflexes and able to pivot my focus to achieve a goal. When I got to culinary school those skill sets magnified and things began to click in to place. So creating tasty, scrumptious, yummy food was a cake walk. When a added food management to my bag of tricks I was able to streamline and maximize the kitchens output and revenue stream. I now use those skills to teach the everyday person how to utilize their dollar to the max, while giving them the culinary concepts to travel the world from their kitchen. Many of my students and customers affectionately call me the No Waste Chef. I give them industry insights, cheat codes, and life hacks to get every penny out of their hard earned money.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The divide of skilled labor and unskilled/automated replacement labor is getting wider each year. Those that are in the industry working low level positions have no drive to climb the ladder and better themselves. The food industry is merely a short stopping point to something else, or a place you are stuck in for life. Automation in restaurants and the food industry at times can be a great thing when you, as a customer, do not have to rely on the employee to give you the quality experience you are looking for. Corporate entities have been testing this side of the business for half a century. Now with technology speeding past the human mind of creativity and problem solving, the world of the restaurant is about to become obsolete. The 2 biggest consumer groups in this world are still the baby boomers and the newly financial independent Millennials. Both with very specific needs and both looking for the easiest way to get it. Here is an example; Boomers order groceries online now because they cant walk through the store without using all their energy to get what the y want and Millennials just simply feel it is a waste of time and energy when they could just push a few buttons. Cloud kitchens and ghost kitchens will be the new normal soon enough where unskilled labor will mass produce ready to heat foods and be delivered via autonomous machines heating the food to be hot and ready at delivery.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.luckyduckculinaryservices.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuckyDuckChefGreg/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-jones-50446922
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lucky-duck-culinary-services-fullerton