Feb 18, 2013 8 Questions With: Alice Cheng
Alice Cheng is the founder and president of Culinary Agents, an online professional network for matching qualified talent with job opportunities in the food & beverage industry. Prior to founding the company, she’d spent 13 years at IBM, in positions focused on strategy, sales, business development and transformation. Then, through different walks of life with Jerrome Abustan, Mehdi Chellaoui, Katrina Fetzer and Melissa Gisler, she was introduced to both the joys of the food and beverage industry and the extreme hard work, dedication and artistic nature of it. “When I saw an opportunity to merge my business experience with my passion for the F&B industry and the people in it, I jumped at it.” Read on to learn more about this fascinating entrepreneur and the company she founded. And you can follow Alice on Twitter: @culinary agents and @aliceycheng, and on Facebook.
Photo: Scott Gordon Bleicher
What are you currently working on?
Building, creating, evolving Culinary Agents, a new online tool to help address some inefficiencies in the hiring process for the Food & Beverage industry. At the same time developing a platform where F&B professionals can showcase their talent, build professional network and leverage that network to find new opportunities, further their career…sky’s the limit. The media has propelled this industry and it’s workers into the spotlight and while consumers are now eager and excited to watch and participate…the investments in tools and technologies to enable the actual industry are lacking.
How would you describe your job?
AMAZING – Creating something that has the potential to change the industry that you’re serving is truly a wonderful feeling. I’m constantly learning and meeting new people, watching them reach the “ahha” moment never gets old for me.
Don’t get me wrong, it can also be scary, stressful and frustrating at times. In many ways we’re also faced with the challenge of behavior change and generational diversity. Tradition vs innovation, mix in all sorts of unique personality types and we have ourselves a party!
What does your average work day look like?
Organized chaos. I really try to plan out my day so I make time for myself but running a start-up gets tricky sometimes. From the crack of dawn I focus on working on the product with my team…most of the time I didn’t go to sleep that much earlier so I can pick up from where I left off on one of our open chats. I am typically online for most of the day or connected somehow. The day consists of either meeting with talent or talent seekers, constantly getting input and feedback that people are eager to share…I love it because it’s like picking the brains of the most talented consultants who know the industry inside and out. Between meetings I’m hopping from one Le Pain Quotidian to another…coffee, power outlets and the occasional WiFi gets me through the day. I keep in close contact with my small team…without them Culinary Agents would not be where we are today. I try to make time to cook almost every night and hit the gym 6 days a week but everything in between is non stop phone calls, emails and computer time. I do admit that I’ll multitask to watch Top Chef, Chopped, Iron Chef etc. Of course spend time with my patient and loving boyfriend who is folded into this organized chaos whether he likes it or not.
Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere – cliché I know. Mainly from people. From the cook busting their butt and then taking on an extra shift…to the dishwasher who works their way up to General Manager…to the corp drone who left to pursue their passion. I also love to travel and to cook, I forever collect recipes from magazines etc but don’t necessarily try them…they just pile up in my office / living room…I’ll get to them eventually. I am also a tech geek at heart…I love reading about other tech start-ups, latest tools and gadgets etc.
Photo: Heather O’Hara
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up?
I wanted to be many things (some things never change) until I was 12 I wanted to be a famous flutist and shortly after that I wanted to be a big time Advertising Exec…this is pre Mad Men of course.
What are you reading at the moment?
I finished Restaurant Man by Joe Bastianich not too long ago which was a great read. Right now I’m reading Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, Letters to a Young Chef by Daniel Boulud, Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries of course my articles and magazines La Cucina Italiana, bon appetite, Forbes, Inc., Fortune and Fast Company. It really depends on the day and the device.
What’s your favorite post-work destination?
Ah, that has to be the gym with my man…can’t beat that combo.
What’s your favorite restaurant?
Actually, I don’t have one favorite restaurant but I have a favorite kind of restaurant. While I really love the fine dining experience, the restaurants that I frequent and find myself always recommending are the local homey ones. Notably fresh ingredients locally sourced when available. Rustic, warm ambiance, Open kitchens are a plus. When I find these I frequent them often and recommend them always.