The grueling lifestyle of a chef is legendary: long hours, working holidays, stress. Why would anyone in their right mind choose this way of life, especially if the person had seen their parents consumed by the chef lifestyle?
Turns out, being in the kitchen means being in a comfort zone for several second-generation chefs in Charleston.
“Early on, I was encouraging the opposite,” said Ryan Jones, co-owner of Free Reign Restaurants which includes Southbound, Honeysuckle Rose, Allora and Community Table. He has two sons working in his kitchens.
“It’s a wild business. There are lots of hours and long days and months and holidays and weekends. But they grew up in the kitchens, hanging out with the chefs and staff. I would have said, ‘don’t do it,’ but I guess it was inevitable that they would do it.”
His son, Trae, is a sous chef at Honeysuckle Rose.
“I was always into food,” he said. “My favorite food was foie gras when I was five.”
His older brother, Kobe, sous chef at Allora, said his parents’ love of food infused his whole childhood.
“It was second nature to me from growing up and having birthday parties at the restaurant,” Kobe said. “When I was young, I was a picky eater, but when I was in high school, I started working in the restaurant and seeing how it was from an employee perspective, and now, it’s pretty cool to learn the hospitality end of it as I got older.”
A family affair
Dylan Jackson, who is in his mid-20s, works with his father, Tres Jackson, who owns Sorghum and Salt. Dylan said he wasn’t planning to be in the kitchen at first.
“Right out of high school, I wanted to be a doctor, and I was going to the University of Alabama on the pre-med track,” he said “It was awful. Then I got a welding degree, then I was thinking about going to Julliard for music.
and Kobe (right) | Provided
“But then Covid came along and I was never a big fan of school anyway. This gives me something creative and fun to do, something I care about and I get to spend time with my dad, too.”
The kitchen is not all bad, Tres said.
“There are good parts to this business if you are around good humans and not in a toxic environment,” he said. “I just want the kid to continue to grow and to be a good human and to achieve success in life. It doesn’t matter to me where that is. It’s superawesome to go to work with your family.”
Matthew Collins, breakfast chef at Circa 1886, agrees that not all kitchens are toxic.
“It depends on the kitchen,” said Collins, son of Circa 1886 Executive Chef Marc Collins. “I wouldn’t consider my position grueling, although it’s not easy. Our kitchen is not supercasual, but it’s not soul-draining. It’s a good ecosystem.”
Treated differently?
Often, when a parent is coach of a child’s sports team, the child is either the favorite or he’s more intensely criticized than teammates. Is it that way in the kitchen?
“There’s no question it’s a delicate situation because, even though he’s my son, he knows there’s no place for me to be biased. There has to be the same set of standards for everyone in the kitchen,” Marc said.
Marc said he has had his whole family at the restaurant. His wife is a morning server at the restaurant. Another son was a food runner and bellman at the adjacent Wentworth Mansion until he left recently to pursue an aircraft maintenance degree.
Meanwhile, the Jones family has gone all in on the business as well. In addition to Trae and Kobe working there and daughter Ayla working as a server, mom Kelleanne co-owns Free Reign Restaurants with her husband Ryan.
And while there are benefits to working as a family, the next generation’s eyes are wide open about the cost of a restaurant lifestyle.
While Trae said he hopes to do something on his own in the hospitality business sometime in the future, Kobe said he wants to travel and see the food culture in other countries.
Dylan Jackson at Sorghum and Salt said he is open to a chef’s life.
“At first, I was just going to be here for a couple of months and wash some dishes, but I fell in love with the place and I like working with my dad,” Dylan said. “It’s been almost three years. It could be a pretty good future for me.”
But Matthew Collins at Circa 1886 says he’s not so sure.
“After seeing my dad dedicating his whole life to the restaurant, it’s a little too stressful for me. I don’t think I would want to run a restaurant. It’s a lot to juggle,” he noted.
Still, all of the offspring said they love working with their parents. And for the parents, it’s a way to stay connected in a career that often takes them away from family life.
“A lot of people say you shouldn’t work with your family,” Marc Collins said. “I think it’s a blessing to have my family around. As a chef, I had to work a lot of hours to get Circa off the ground. The commitment was really intensive. I’d have to get up in the morning to get them off to school and then I wouldn’t see them again until the following morning.
“It’s come full circle to see them grow into young men who get to see what their dad does at work. It’s rewarding for both of us and it’s an opportunity to bond and be with them.”
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