So You Want To Be A Chef? Billy Bowyer
“There he was, lying on the floor, not breathing, turning blue. Bryan, my best friend in the entire world, looked as if he were going to die. He was fighting to stay alive, fighting to breathe, fighting for his life. All I could think about while I watch Bryan lie there was that it was my fault. Yes! It was my fault! He was about to die…all because he chose to eat my spaghetti sauce.” This is the opening line from a speech Billy delivered in 2017. Billy Bowyer loves to tell his story of becoming a chef to inspire others to want to pursue their passions in life. He read an article early on in his career by Dr. Dennis Waitley entitled, “Pursue your passions and the money will follow.” This convinced him if he gave everything and sold out to become a chef eventually, he would make it, and that he did! Fast forward 32 years after he started his career, Billy has accrued several accolades. He appeared regularly on a local TV station performing cooking shows for over a decade, authored a cookbook, won several state and national awards, graduated with honors in culinary and catering, and taught cooking classes for 2 colleges. While these are “okay” accomplishments in his words, he feels the crowning achievement to his success is the homeless feeding ministry he started in 2002 which is still active today. “Chef Billy”, as many know him, started his career in 1988 as a dishwasher making $3.35 per hour. He jokingly explains why he chose his path to becoming a chef. “Before cooking for Bryan and his family I had been working in the restaurant business for a little over a year now learning how a kitchen runs, so they assumed I could cook. And by learning how a kitchen runs, I really mean I was a dishwasher. I quickly realized this was not the career path for me. Did I want to become a chef, why? The chef doesn’t do one thing…wash dishes. My friends and family thought I wanted to be where the action was, the excitement, learn to create dishes; NOPE…I just didn’t want to wash dishes anymore.”
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