Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food services but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Roberto Locatelli, Owner of The Chef Affairs, located in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
My "The Chef Affairs" team and I provide personal chef services at the client's home in Algarve, Portugal. We cook for any type of event across the entire Algarve: special family occasions, private dinner parties, birthday parties, hen do parties, wedding receptions, wedding anniversaries, corporate dinners, and daily private chef during holidays.
We have a solid base of foreign resident clients, but most of our clients are tourists from all over the world who come to the Algarve to spend their holidays. They rent villas and love to stay in the privacy of their home and enjoy the services of a private chef, avoiding the confusion of restaurants in the summer season.
Tell us about yourself
When I feel mentally tired, stressed, frustrated, or succumbed to a bad feeling, locking myself in the kitchen and cooking what I love is a spiritual exercise equal to meditation. Life took me in a different direction, I graduated in business administration, and for 20 years I worked in the industrial sector, but I have always been attracted by catering, and I have tried to make it my profession.
I am a self-taught man who managed to change his life with passion and very hard work when 18 years ago I moved to Portugal to open a wine bar & restaurant, which had great success until the financial crisis of 2008. I sold the restaurant and embarked on this new profession that I am very passionate about. It is very motivating; each service is a new challenge, there is no restaurant routine, meeting people from all over the world, living stories and experiences sufficient to be able to write a book and immensely enrich my life experience.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
The freedom to express my creativity and take on new challenges, bringing new motivations and seeing that the business success is consequent to my ideas and actions is a priceless feeling. Managing my own time is also a freedom that makes me feel privileged. Of course, all this has a cost: the risk of making a mistake is always present, it has happened, and it will probably happen again, but getting up and continuing to run is an incomparable feeling.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Responsibility for the people who work for me is a concern that sometimes weighs on me. I know that the consequences of my choices and actions affect not only my family but also those of my staff members. Their trust gives me the strength and courage not to stop. The success is also the way to repay them for their respect and trust.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- The profession you choose must be a passion, an ever-present motivation able to compensate for any difficulty.
- You always have to question yourself. Never feel like you've arrived; you can always improve and grow.
The moment you feel like you've arrived is the beginning of the decline - Have a light and flexible structure, good and motivated employees, and low fixed costs.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.thechefaffairs.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheChefAffairs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_chef_affairs/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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