How to Maintain Success As a Professional Chef

Like all of us, many chefs dream of the day when they can think of themselves as “successful.” It’s a subjective term — one that varies depending on what you want out of your career — but one that always feels like a goal nonetheless. Being named as a 2024 F&W Best New Chef, is a solid indicator that this dream for success has become a reality, but the challenges don’t end when a chef begins receiving accolades. In fact, it can bring up a whole new slew of questions: What opportunities should I take? How do I leverage my recognition? How do I consider my team in every action? Where do I go from here?

To help prepare and support the class of 2024 Best New Chefs through these challenges, editors at Food & Wine organized a panel of industry veterans — Best New Chef alumni who have done an excellent job at navigating their own success as part of our annual mentorship program. The panelists included 2002 BNC Mike Anthony, chef of Gramercy Tavern in New York City; 2020 BNC Tavel Bristol-Joseph, pastry chef and co-owner of Emmer & Rye Hospitality Group in Austin, and 2023 BNC Amanda Shulman, chef and owner of Her Place Supper Club, My Loup, and Amourette in Philadelphia. 2013 BNC Chris Shepherd, founding director of the Southern Smoke Foundation — an organization that provides emergency relief, mental healthcare, and general support for folks in the restaurant industry — moderated the discussion and offered his own insights.

Here are some of the chefs’ most essential tips for how to make the best of your success.

Take it all in

It’s easy for chefs who receive a lot of recognition to have imposter syndrome. Maybe they don’t believe they deserve their success. They may also deflect, not admitting to the massive amount of work they’ve put into their career. Or maybe they immediately look to the future: What’s next? How can I maintain my legacy? 

But according to Anthony, it’s necessary to slow down and be proud of yourself. “It took me a really long time to realize the importance of taking a moment and accepting that you deserve the accolades that you’re given,” he says. “It’s even more important to celebrate — to accept the pat on the back and realize that the next morning, you’re still going to put yourself in front of the mirror and say, ‘I have some more ideas. I’m just getting started.’”

Think about what you want out of your success

“Success looks so different for every single person,” said Shulman. “Some people want to be [restaurant group founder] Steven Starr and have a million restaurants. Some people want one and done. And some people want to use their restaurant to leverage opportunities and then get out [of the hospitality industry].” Shulman suggests finding someone in the industry to look up to and has a career path you hope to follow. For her, it’s 1999 F&W Best New Chef Marc Vetri.

“I worked for him for a really long time and he’s still my biggest mentor,” Shulman said. “He takes the entire summer off and goes to Colorado with his kids. That’s the coolest thing that has nothing to do with restaurants, but I can use what I’m doing now to help move me in that direction.”

Develop your brand

Some of the best advice Shulman ever received was to write down what she wanted her “personal brand” to be. “Figure out how you package yourself to national and local media so you know the message you’re trying to deliver about who you are,” she said. But to Bristol-Joseph, your personal brand should never feel set in stone. “I think pretty much every day and every decision that you make will shift your brand,” he said, “because, to me, the brand is the legacy that I’ve created.”

Choose the right opportunities

There are a lot of exciting things that come with the Best New Chef accolade, but arguably the most life-changing are the opportunities that come after. “All of a sudden people are going to start throwing opportunities at your door,” said Shulman. “Take a step back and be like, ‘What do I actually want to do?’”

To determine the correct opportunities to take on — the ones that are actually worth taking time away from your restaurant to do — Shepherd recommended considering four things: “Is it something you truly believe in? Is it a friend that needs your help? Is it a cool experience? And are you getting paid?” 

Bristol-Joseph has a similar mentality when it comes to saying “yes” to opportunities, based on the pillars of his restaurant group. “We call it the ‘Three Ps,’ he said. “Passion, people, and profit. If [an opportunity] or partnership doesn’t align with something that we are truly passionate about, something that serves the people, and then — it’s a business so there has to be profit there — we normally don’t move forward.”

One of the most challenging parts of this process is balancing passion against pay. It can sometimes make sense to volunteer for a cause that you truly care about, even if it is unlikely to pay its participants, like a nonprofit. Anthony, for example, has been a board member at God’s Love We Deliver — an organization that cooks and delivers medically tailored meals to New Yorkers too ill to cook or shop — for 12 years. “I don’t make money doing that, but it helped me channel something that’s important to me and ultimately, without trying to, use that platform to promote myself and Gramercy Tavern,” he said.

But at the same time, if you’re taking time away from your work and family, money often has to be in the equation. “Set a number for what it means for you to get off the couch if you’re off that night,” said Shepherd. “Personal capital means so much more than financial capital.”

Give yourself the time and space to take those opportunities

To take advantage of all the new opportunities, it’s essential to have time away from your restaurant or primary business. And it’s even more crucial to accept that that is an OK thing to do. “I have been in a line cook mindset for the past 12 years of my life,” said Shulman, who before helming her own restaurants worked at Vetri Cucina and Momofuku Ko. That meant not being able to see herself getting off the line and doing other things. “The BNC award kind of gave me permission and an idea of OK, I can use this to make other opportunities that aren’t necessarily tied to the line.” 

It’s very freeing because it’s very hard work and it’s sometimes hard to see past that hurdle,” Shulman continued. “But it really was a permission to get my shit together, hire more people, and train them so I can have the opportunity to explore these new doors that have been opened.”

Be flexible

“I would recommend staying open and flexible,” said Anthony, explaining that when he was a young cook, he never imagined he would work for a restaurant that he didn’t own himself. “I could not have predicted the way my professional career unfolded. I couldn’t see it. I didn’t dream of it. But it happened. And the good news is, I’m fairly self-critical and it continues to unfold in ways that surprise me.” So although it’s great to have a vision for your future, you should also be open to it panning out in unexpected ways.

Prioritize your own happiness

Ultimately, all the panelists agree that what matters most is your happiness. Take that into consideration for every choice you make. “I’m no expert in brand management, but one of the things that I realize in my life today is, I really value being able to wake up in the morning and feel happy,” said Anthony. “I feel happy about what I do and I continue to love it. That should be your North Star.”