Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Ytterberg.
Hi Susan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a professionally trained Chef and attended Le Cordon Bleu- a life long dream after working in an unrelated field- legal recruiting for 25 successful years!
While working in the corporate world, I worked my way up the ladder and as a hobby, took over 60 cooking classes along with attending a cooking course in Julia Child’s home in Province, France. The course was led by Cathy Alex who had worked with Simpka Beck- the co-author of Mastering The Art of French Cooking ;(also authored by Julia Child..). This experience was pivotal to me deciding to finally exit my corporate career and make the brave move to, “start again” and begin my culinary education and career!
I decided to pursue my passion for cooking attending Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco and graduated top of class with a 4.0 gpa. I knew from the onset, I wanted to start my own company working as a Personal Chef for private clients. During my internship at Le Cordon Bleu I worked as a line cook at the beautiful Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and appreciated the honor to work there, thanks to Annie Somerville Executive Chef. I also worked at a very specialized company, “Parties That Cook!” Specializing in small and very large hands-on culinary corporate team building events. I worked for them for 3 years and loved that experience! I then moved to Orlando and continued my culinary career here.
Starting my company Golden Plum Personal Chef Services was a natural next step and my focus is in several areas:
1) Personal Chef working for private clients cooking weekly meals. Clients range from business professionals, families, pro athletes in the NBA, NSL, NFL and also actors.
2) Cooking Classes offering private and at times public cooking classes with hands-on learning and fun!
3) Corporate Team Building events- hands on cooking experiences for corporate clients including the event planning itself and lead Chef for the event
4) Corporate Chef to national corporations- offering recipe testing, special event cooking, trade show leadership, corporate Brand Ambassador representation
5) Media appearances including TV, Print & Radio
6) Food Writing- I have been published often in Orange Appeal & Edible Orlando Magazines and prior had a column in Lake Mary Life Magazine.
7) Corporate Wellness Fairs- Chef demos, presentations and healthy food recipe sharing
Along with the specialized cooking I do, I have had the good fortune of working for very special people! It has been a lot of fun getting to know my clients and an honor to work for them.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It wasn’t until my late 20’s that I realized I had this crazy dream of going to Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and becoming a Chef- it would have been very helpful if I had started earlier in life but the calling wasn’t there when I was younger and going to college!
The question became, how do I go to a full time culinary program and not work? Couldn’t afford that at the time. I was still immersed and actually quite happy in my former career so I kept the dream of cooking school as a next, “phase of life” plan when I would have the time and money to make it happen.
When I finally came up with my action plan years later, I resigned from job and started at Le Cordon Bleu. That’s a simple sentence for something that felt like I was jumping off a cliff! Leaving the familiar career and security of it to launch a completely new career, start a company and go to cooking school was a little unnerving. I went forward with confidence in all my decisions and I knew I needed to work hard and be brave to start anew to fulfill my dream.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Golden Plum Personal Chef Services, LLC?
My company www.Golden-Plum.com
I work as a Personal Chef to private clients and have built my reputation on providing customized menus that support the dietary goals and food preferences of my clients, Because of my professional training as a Cordon Bleu Chef and working with diverse clientele, I am able to cook food that supports their wellness goals.
I cook a wide range of cuisines and can cook any diet, There are so many diets and I can support any of them. Whether it’s keto, gluten-free, organic, low carb, medically prescribed meals, etc. I can cook any of them.
As stated earlier in this interview I work in a variety of different capacities as a Chef. Working with private & corporate clients, food writing, media work and team building I have a lot of fun and work hard to ensure my clients are happy with my product.
What matters most to you?
Creatively, cooking is a great vehicle to experience the world without leaving your kitchen! Cooking cuisines from so many different regions in the U.S. and abroad is fun way to learn about other cultures.
I love building the relationships with my clients so much and nothing makes me happier than receiving emails and texts letting me now how much they loved a meal I made for them! That makes my day.
Entrepreneurship is also quite satisfying and I love that I am running my own company and have created a niche for myself in the culinary world. If I had not had such a substantial corporate career, it might have been difficult for me to launch my company! Having business expertise with business development, marketing, building requirements for a web site, understanding how to network, mastering public speaking etc has helped me tremendously in having the success I have.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.Golden-Plum.com
- Instagram: @chefsusanytterberg
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/ChefSusanYtterberg
- Twitter: @ChefSusanYtt
- Youtube: @chefsusanytterberg
- Yelp: Golden Plum Personal Chef Service
Image Credits
Credit for photos: Chef Susan Ytterberg
