Celebrity chef turns concept of crowded kitchens into corporate training tool
There's a "well-done" saying about the wisdom of having too many cooks in the kitchen, but local chef Tre Wilcox is turning the concept of a "crowded kitchen" into a corporate training tool.
"I'm just a chef who figured his way out of the restaurant industry," said Wilcox with a booming laugh, "and discovered a life!"
Wilcox is prepping his next group of corporate contestants at his Plano-based Tre Wilcox Cooking Concepts.
"[It's] competition, stress, working together," he said. "It's exhilarating!"
Local "foodies" will be familiar with the Tre Wilcox name. He's been twice nominated for the "Rising Star Chef" award by the James Beard Foundation, often described as the "Oscars" of the food world. And he earned quite a following while leading some of Dallas' most notable restaurants.
Outside of North Texas, he gained "foodie fame" appearing on Bravo Television's Top Chef season three and Top Chef All-Stars.
But now Wilcox is cooking up a new venture – using competitive cooking as an avenue for corporate team building.
"We take away Google. We take away search engines... we make them work together," Wilcox said. "We give everybody a mystery basket. They have to work together to create dishes to beat their competition."
Team members start with 36 minutes on the clock and they're off! Of course, the goal is to see who can cook... but the real icing on the cake is to see who can connect, communicate and learn to work as a team.
And it is work! Remember that "mystery basket?"
"Jelly and bean puree!" shares one group of contestants with a "what-are-we-doing-here?" burst of laughter. The giggles threaten to boil over when another co-worker thinks to clarify "with cream of chicken!" [soup]
Throughout the modern and immaculate staging kitchen, the groups huddle, sizzle and strategize. Wilcox walks around, offering advice and reminding them of the rules "...jelly needs to be in both dishes! Steak and the fish!"
Yeesshh.
"I hope the food will be edible," another contestant says with a chuckle.
But they all seem to know that "winning" isn't exactly the point.
"It makes them understand that you don't have to be like me to get this task accomplished," Wilcox said. "[It's] the reaching over and saying 'let's just get this done.'"
On this night, those working to make sure the meats aren't overdone work for a cybersecurity company called Valence. CEO Yoni Shohet said the "Top Chef" style team building is a great way to make a sales meeting more memorable.
"I think it will help people have a joint experience," Shohet said. "[They'll] think about teammates over the course of a year, remember this and say 'we had a good time together.'"
There's a lot of good-natured ribbing along with the prepping.
"I pretend like I know what I'm doing," says one staffer with a grin as he deftly flipped a strip of steak. He's leaving a teammate to figure out what to do with the jelly!
Then, as the clock wound down, the teams were worn out – mostly from laughing.
But the hope is that they all come away winners... by savoring a fresh perspective on working together as a team.
"Our walks of life and backgrounds don't matter," Wilcox said. "It's what can you bring to the table to help us accomplish this task?"
Wilcox also hosts private events and offers cooking classes – no competition required.