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How I Built A $75 Million Restaurant Empire - Chef Marcus Samuelsson

kkforya

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I've seen Chef Marcus on different shows and be featured in various videos, but I thought this feature from CNBC's Make It series was pretty cool and thread worthy.

Have any of you eaten at The Red Rooster?

Cliffs:
  • He’s been an immigrant 6 times, in many different countries
  • Worked at a 3-star restaurant in France, and was told by another Chef that “Chef you can never own a restaurant, there’s not a Black-Owned restaurant that has the ambition you have”
  • Opened Red Rooster in 2010 and it has become one of the most famous restaurants in NYC, specifically Harlem.
  • Talks about why Harlem and what makes the city so special and unique
  • Says the resultant industry is about working together and overcoming
  • Calls himself a “Swethiopian” - Born in Ethiopia, but adopted by a Swedish couple after he and his sister were separated from their family in the 1974 Ethiopian War.
  • Grew up very close with his family, learned most of his culinary basics from cooking with his Swedish grandmother
  • Talks about how being black, life is extremely harsh and choices you are set out to do are never easy.
  • Set out to America to fulfill his restaurant dream because he knew the Black Excellence existed there
  • Cites Maya Angelou, Oprah, and Prince as his American Black Excellence inspiration
  • Had a first job in America as a Chef and the success from it showed him that he could make it and own a restaurant and have value in America
  • Moved to Harlem and had to learn what it meant to be in Harlem as a community
  • He’s opened 23 restaurants and typically employs 2,000 people
  • He has also written several books about Black Culture and immigration’s influence on his food.
  • Talks about the Great Migration being one of the most incredible events in American History and how Black southerners brought their culture and cuisine to the north
  • His food is influenced by Southern Black American food as well as the pockets of different cultures from immigrants everywhere that live in Harlem
  • Starts to get choked up when talking about Covid-19’s affect on the restaurant industry and taking away the sense of security that people worked so hard to build
  • Through loans from the federal government, they were able to stay afloat, but acknowledges that black and brown communities had to work even harder to get those loans.
  • Is proud of his team for working hard and giving back to their community by serving their community members in need and first responders during the thick of the pandemic.
  • “Be passionate about your field, about the vertical you pick, because if you’re gonna be passionate and you’re open to learn, you will never be out of work.”

I really enjoyed the video!

I searched for a thread on this, so if one has already been made and I missed it, my apologies - please merge.
 

ebonyrose

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That's awesome! And the food looks so good.

OT
He looks like the dude from The Originals. lol
th
 

LadyEsq

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I watched it and have appreciated his story for some years now... I first heard of Marcus on a basketball-oriented blog back in like 2002/2003... as such, I have been semi-following his journey since then... I have never been to Red Rooster but have wanted to go (since I follow Marcus)... however, I did go to Streetbird once and yeah... no...

Overall, I will always wish Marcus the best and love what he has done for his community during this pandemic...
 

RZSB5519

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Awwwww my celebrity chef crush. Love him on Chopped as well. He definitely spoke a lot of truth in the video.
 

Dutsesgem

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I've seen Chef Marcus on different shows and be featured in various videos, but I thought this feature from CNBC's Make It series was pretty cool and thread worthy.

Have any of you eaten at The Red Rooster?

Cliffs:
  • He’s been an immigrant 6 times, in many different countries
  • Worked at a 3-star restaurant in France, and was told by another Chef that “Chef you can never own a restaurant, there’s not a Black-Owned restaurant that has the ambition you have”
  • Opened Red Rooster in 2010 and it has become one of the most famous restaurants in NYC, specifically Harlem.
  • Talks about why Harlem and what makes the city so special and unique
  • Says the resultant industry is about working together and overcoming
  • Calls himself a “Swethiopian” - Born in Ethiopia, but adopted by a Swedish couple after he and his sister were separated from their family in the 1974 Ethiopian War.
  • Grew up very close with his family, learned most of his culinary basics from cooking with his Swedish grandmother
  • Talks about how being black, life is extremely harsh and choices you are set out to do are never easy.
  • Set out to America to fulfill his restaurant dream because he knew the Black Excellence existed there
  • Cites Maya Angelou, Oprah, and Prince as his American Black Excellence inspiration
  • Had a first job in America as a Chef and the success from it showed him that he could make it and own a restaurant and have value in America
  • Moved to Harlem and had to learn what it meant to be in Harlem as a community
  • He’s opened 23 restaurants and typically employs 2,000 people
  • He has also written several books about Black Culture and immigration’s influence on his food.
  • Talks about the Great Migration being one of the most incredible events in American History and how Black southerners brought their culture and cuisine to the north
  • His food is influenced by Southern Black American food as well as the pockets of different cultures from immigrants everywhere that live in Harlem
  • Starts to get choked up when talking about Covid-19’s affect on the restaurant industry and taking away the sense of security that people worked so hard to build
  • Through loans from the federal government, they were able to stay afloat, but acknowledges that black and brown communities had to work even harder to get those loans.
  • Is proud of his team for working hard and giving back to their community by serving their community members in need and first responders during the thick of the pandemic.
  • “Be passionate about your field, about the vertical you pick, because if you’re gonna be passionate and you’re open to learn, you will never be out of work.”

I really enjoyed the video!

I searched for a thread on this, so if one has already been made and I missed it, my apologies - please merge.

So much to learn here
 

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