Meet Paul Cressend | Chef & Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Cressend and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
I started manifested it back in the late 90’s. I knew I wanted to do something on my own, just not sure exactly what. Slowly over two decades, it evolved into a business plan in the summer of 2020.

In 2018 I got a tattoo. It was on a day that something very tragic happened, this news sent shock waves throughout the food and beverage industry worldwide. Anthony Bourdain had died. I didn’t do the math but within an hour or 2 of his death, I was receiving my new ink. The next day after I heard the news, I decided it was going to be more than just a “tattoo.” The tattoo was a statement, I thought it up years earlier,
“Create it and plate it.”

I decided to make it my “merchandise” business logo/ hashtag. A few years later I was selling trucker hats, t-shirts and stickers with the logo on it. Sold out of every batch of hats and t-shirts, and I gave most of the stickers away as gifts. Each batch of stickers, shirts or hats I designed were different, different colors, shirt style and that sort of thing. When everything shut down in 2020, I became laser focused on getting my private chef career started. A friend asked me to come over and cook for her and her husband one night, and I accepted the offer. It went so well that I knew it was something I wanted to do permanently, a definite career shift. I was tired of the restaurant business anyway, The grind, long hours, the high volume, low pay and toxic culture all together. A few weeks later, I started working for a catering company who needed people for what was coming up, an extremely busy wedding season. This work helped me set the pace for what I wanted to do. The company was equipped to handle parties of 200 people, and I was not really enjoying the work that I had to put into it, but I did it for experience, and I paid close attention to the owners, observing how they operated their business. The husband and wife who owned this catering company started as a restaurant, and then pivoted in 2020, after most places reopened. They were able to become very successful. I knew once I was doing my own thing I wanted it to be a little more interactive between myself and the clients, so that meant smaller parties and less people. I was constantly doing research on my time off, and found out there are only five or six other freelance, self-employed private chefs in the area. I knew they had to be busy, and I knew I would get busy, eventually. One of the other chefs who worked with me at the catering company, branched off and started his own business, I started working gigs with him. He was more Hands-On with the clients, but also doing larger parties. Once wedding season and tourist season slowed down, I picked up shifts at a restaurant working for a chef friend who I really admire. Eventually, I had to quit because I kept getting calls to do private Chef work. I would go cook for local residents at their homes, and visitors/tourists at airbnbs and vacation rentals. Paulieboy Enterprises private chef services was alive and kicking by the summer of 2021.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One thing that sets me apart from others is that I had over 20 years in fine dining restaurant experience, before I became self-employed. I’m very proud that I am able to customize my client’s menu, and I assure them that I use locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. I am where I am today, because I decided to never give up, and to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I stayed in this industry because I was always learning. I kept learning and as a result, I get better at my job, as the years go on. I never looked back. Getting started was very challenging, I did all the work by myself. Administrative, marketing, social media, point of sale system, shopping, kicthen/cooking supplies, event planning, ingredient sourcing, etc. I did it alone, …without a storefront / permanent business location. It took a good year into it, and some very, very rocky roads. Eventually it smoothed out, everything I needed came into place. I learned that small businesses like this don’t become successful overnight, and when you’re doing it alone, you work many more hours then you would at a restaurant. However, It’s different. It’s exciting, and it’s challenging. Most of all, it doesn’t feel like work. I’m doing what I love. I’m doing what I used to call a hobby. So I kept doing it, and I got better and better at it. I want the world to know that what I’m doing in business and in my personal life was something I decided I wanted back in 1998, when I was a rookie line cook working at a dive bar. During that time, my vision was blurred and I was dealing with a lot of personal distractions, a lot of substance abuse and mental health issues. I lost focus, and I would rather party all the time, instead of learn about being an entrepreneur. I nearly forgot everything I wanted to do in the very beginning. Luckily, during that time where I was unemployed in 2020, it all started to come back to me. What do I really want to do with my career? And my mind just went into overdrive. It was flooded with all the early dreams and memories from the 90s. And that’s when I decided to risk everything and become a self-employed, freelance private chef. I said this is it, there is no other option. This is what I want to do, it’s going to provide a life that I will never need to escape from.

And here we are. Same mindset, same fierceness, energy and tenacity, because I decided to believe in myself, knowing that I have what it takes to do this. To do anything. Fearless motivation. Never give up.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Everyday I would take my friend to eat breakfast. We’d go to The Med. It’s a great Diner right in the middle of downtown, or maybe the S&W Food Hall, there’s a great little breakfast spot in there. We’ll hit up different coffee and Pastry shops after breakfast to get the morning going. I would show them West Asheville. We would spend at least two days eating, drinking, and exploring that part of town. It’s a great area for shopping and food, and bars, small music venues with live performances. Downtown, I’ll show them the orange peel, a great music venue or the Grey Eagle, another one. Dinner and drink spots are easy. We would go to The Admiral and Jargon, on the west side, Thai Pearl also in West Asheville, downtown we would hit up Cúrate, Cucina 24, Huli Sue’s, the Blackbird, and Contrada. Mother cafe and bakery, on the south slope, with Andale Way, Little Chango and or La Rumba for our Latin American fix. We’ll check out Pritchard Park downtown on Friday night for the drum Circle. It’s got some amazing energy going on, if the weather is good, I would take them to the French broad chocolate lounge, The Times Bar, Static Age record store, Baba Nahm, Laila, Manicomio Pizza, Asheville art museum, the Asheville Museum of Science, we’d explore some cliffs, maybe hike around Grandfather Mountain or Looking Glass Mountain and take a drive down to Lake Lure, or the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Anthony Bourdain,

Ricardo Carrasco, Tori Frasher, Santiago Vargas, Ben’s Friends Hope, Pasta and Prana, Mother Ocean Seafood Market, Sage and Spice Catering, Mikasa Criolla Catering, Your Farms, Your Table. Sam Diminich, Roots Catering, The Argot Room, Devil’s Foot Beverage Company/The Mule, Jargon Restaurant, Gigpro, Asheville Food and Beverage United, The Robinson Pub/High Vista Events, The Blackbird restaurant, Steve Goff, Brian and Laura Smith, Ashleigh Shanti & crew, Top of the Monk, Ryan Kline, Huli Sue’s, Botanist and Barrel, Milkfish NOLA, Marc Jacksina.

Instagram: @allpaulie & @paulieboy_enterprises

Linkedin: Paulieboy Enterprises/Chef Paul Cressend

Facebook: Paul G Cressend & Paulieboy Enterprises

Image Credits
Paulieboy Enterprises/Chef Paul Cressend