Many of our passions start from our childhood. Our interests and hobbies are inspired by our parents and our experiences that we live through at a young age. These things can be picked up when we are older, but often they are not and we find new ways to enjoy our passions when we are older.
William Harrington, better known as Mr. Chef Will, discovered his love of cooking when he was young and spent time in the kitchen with his mom. These were the moments that have stuck with him for years.
“I grew up in the kitchen helping my mom cook and that’s where my love for cooking began. I love to bake and create different recipes on my own as a kid. The older I got, I started making chicken sandwiches and selling them out of my moms kitchen with no culinary experience. The more I cooked the more I started to think I needed to make a living doing so,” Mr Chef Will recounts.
Mr. Chef Will’s passion turned into a career. He decided to take his love of cooking and enroll in Le Cordon Bleu where he learned the ins and outs of professional cooking. However, when Mr. Chef Will decided to have a family, his outlook on cooking changed completely.
“I am the father of 10. Wanting a different life and future for my children and being able to create something that they can carry on with was a motivating factor but my wife pushed me to believe in myself. I run a chicken tender restaurant and a catering/ private chef business,” Mr. Chef Will says.
Since deciding to open up his own restaurant, Mr. Chef Will has found incredible success. Though the pandemic was difficult for him in terms of finding employees and having people in the restaurant due to limitation on capacity, Mr. Chef Will has still been able to exceed expectations by differentiating himself from the competition in an important way.
“Nothing in my restaurant is processed or frozen. We make everything in house daily. My mindset is also very important. I can honestly say that I wanted to quit many times. My wife, Erika, however has an “everything I touch turns to gold” mindset so there is no quitting in her mind. She is my backup membrane,” Mr. Chef Will remarks.
Mr. Chef Will’s advice for those who are looking to start a similar business is simple:
“Don’t give up. It is going to get hard and you will have many nights of stress but believe in yourself enough that you don’t quit on you. Get a mentor and connect with an organization that can guide you into the steps of getting your goal accomplished,” Mr. Chef Will advises.
To find out more about Mr. Chef Will, follow him on Instagram here and check out his website here.