Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Knaz.
Lee, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and raised in Israel, in a kibbutz community called Gan Shmuel, population 700. It is there that I got the awareness and appreciation for food growing all around me: citrus orchards were everywhere (with their intoxicating scents when in bloom), crop fields, vegetable gardens, a cow farm, a fish farm and of course, the Mediterranean Sea. The land provided generously.
After taking part in the war which broke out in the summer of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon, I decided it was time to move. I came straight to LA and quite quickly after my arrival, I started cooking. It was the marriage between my agricultural, rural upbringing and the boundless energy radiating from the Californian sunshine that made me fall in love with the craft of making food and sharing it with those around me.
My culinary career was launched in 2010 when I made it to the final four on the hit TV show Masterchef in its 1st season in the US. Following the airing of the show, I dove deeply into the restaurant scene in LA and simultaneously launched my business, Mission Olive, which provides private chef and boutique catering services.
Over the years, I’ve had the joy of cooking for people from all walks of life, including some of the world’s most wealthy and famous. Today I provide exclusive culinary services for individuals in their homes, families coming to LA on holiday, wellness retreats and more.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like any transition in life, my culinary career has had its ups and downs. Coming off the high and meteoric rise of Masterchef, there were things I had to learn quite quickly. First and foremost, the cooking world is NOT a reality show. It is REAL reality. It is one of the most demanding, grueling and stressful work environments I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been at war. 😉
Another huge learning curve took place as I was transitioning into being 100% independent, running a small business. It’s one thing to know how to sauté, braise, roast, grill, chop, season, serve, etc. It’s a completely different beast to handle branding, marketing, accounting, sales, customer relationships, etc. Those are things I am still learning till this day.
Being a private chef is magical in that each scenario is unique, each client speaks a different “language” when it comes to food and service. The trick in the private chef world is to be able to maintain culinary excellence while exercising extremely high levels of emotional intelligence and sensitivity to your surroundings. Not an easy task, as I am still learning.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mission Olive story. Tell us more about the business.
On one hand, there is nothing special about what I do. I cook food and serve it to people in ways similar to what has been done for centuries. I learn and draw inspiration from culinary giants, whether that’s Thomas Keller or my neighbor’s grandmother. I specialize in serving the essence of wholehearted cooking on a platter.
There are so much noise and confusion in anything food related these days, with diets, restrictions, and preferences being thrown around like fashion styles. Whether they are aware of it or not, people want to eat food that nourishes the body with nutrients, and the soul with pleasure. I believe both must exist for anyone to be satisfied in the long term. What I do is capture those two elements, and by virtue of craftsmanship and soulful attention, I nourish people.
In addition, I am currently launching an online program that coaches chefs and cooks through the rocky yet satisfying transition into becoming personal chefs. The program helps chefs gain the knowledge they perhaps were missing to create a small business and everything that comes with that. More uniquely but just as important, the program dives into topics such as kitchen mindfulness, strength & movement, emotional and interpersonal intelligence which are imperative to succeeding and maintaining a thriving career in the private chef arena.
I believe that personal chef services are no longer reserved for the rich and famous. It is a service that middle-class families will very soon be able to afford, once the market adjusts and regulates. With increasingly busy lifestyles, working families depend on high-quality nutrition, without the time to handle such an important task. I am on a mission to create a growing pool of qualified chefs and cooks that will be able to provide such a service with budget-conscious families in mind.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
There is a masterplan that we are all a part of, in life and in business. You may call it luck. I prefer destiny, or perhaps fate. Eventually, I believe there is no such thing as luck. Everything that we encounter is unfolding before us for a reason.
It may be pleasant, or it might be extremely painful. I do my best to embrace my personal history to the fullest extent, including all the beautiful and joyful times as well as the dark and depressing times. It’s all been pushing me forward to the next chapter of the story.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.missionolive.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/leeknaz
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/leeknaz
Image Credit:
Kate Hauschka (@khauschka), Leslie Rodriguez (@leslierodriguezphotography)
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
