EP 98: A Legacy of Taste: Executive Chef Christophe's Chronicles with Daniel Boulud and his Las Vegas Adventures.

Host Michael Dugan: 0:53

I want to welcome everyone back to our show Voice4Chefs. I especially wanna welcome Chef Steven. He's a Michelin-trained chef, our co-host, and an entrepreneur. And we have a very exciting guest for you today. Christophe Domergue is a classically trained chef, French chef, with a career spanning Michelin-level kitchens in Europe and premier hospitality destinations in the US. He trained in Saint-Tropez in a two-star Michelin environment before advancing to New York's iconic Le Cirque, and later served as executive chef at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. He's also an advocate for mental health, financial literacy, and sustainable careers in the culinary industry. Christophe, welcome to the show.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 1:42

having me. Thank you, guys.

Host Michael Dugan: 1:46

We're very excited that you're here, and maybe we could start out with take us back to your childhood, like early learnings around cooking what did it look like in your family having a meal?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 2:00

Yes. So I think the reason why I became a chef, and I didn't know why, I think on every Wednesdays and Saturdays we had those lunches with my grandparents, and those lunches, was a minimum of two, three hours with my cousin. And then the Christmas meal was a family event. Could take up to five, six hours just for having lunch. My mother was cooking every single day. And for some reason, and I'm only child, on Saturday she was cooking all day, and then Sunday lunch for some reason it was the big meal of the week. And so those memories and because of that, I think by the age of eight, nine years old, I told my parents that I wanted to become a chef.

Host Michael Dugan: 2:52

Wow.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 2:53

From there, I never deviated from there. So I went to school and then like midways to high school, and then I went to a culinary school for three years in the south of France in Bergerac school, and then I never deviated. So even my mind never crossed ever to not become a chef. So I think this is the background of it because food, my uncle, aunt used to cook all the time. I'm from a a small city in the south of France of 20,000 people in between Bordeaux and Toulouse southwest of France. And food, wine was part of our culture.

Host Michael Dugan: 3:37

I

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 3:37

But you don't realize it later in life that I was surrounded with food and wine And then once you go elsewhere and then people know you from Bordeaux and Toulouse region, it's "Oh my God, Bordeaux, the wines, the thing," and you don't really get it. It's… Yeah. And the other funny

Co-Host Steven Leung: 3:54

normal thing, right?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 3:56

The crazy thing in Bergerac Culinary School, we had a castle in the middle of the school, so all the kitchens were inside the castle,

Host Michael Dugan: 4:05

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 4:05

Above the castle it was the restaurant rooms. So yeah, it's the traditional culinary experience where the first year you become-- a professional waiter and a chef in the same time. And year two, you decide where you wanna go. So I wanted to become a chef, so year two and three is towards the culinary and pastry. We used to have a castle in the middle of the school and things we didn't even realize later in life say, "Oh yeah, I went to school." But the castle was in the school and it was like,

Host Michael Dugan: 4:36

I love it. I visited in southern France, we went to Béziers. What an amazing vacation. And I won't get into it too deep, but we went to Carcassonne, which is a

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 4:45

Oh yeah,

Host Michael Dugan: 4:46

I met this amazing chocolatier at a chocolate shop and took a picture with him, and I was so honored, to meet him and see these chocolate sculptures. And the passion that the French have for food is unreal, but I'm jealous. I'm very jealous that you have that passion, and Steven has that passion. And in, your cultures. I learned it myself, right? It's so special, and it's amazing that you knew that was the path that you wanted to take

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 5:12

I have a quick story for you. So the first time I took my wife to France, and my wife, she's born and raised in Iowa,

Host Michael Dugan: 5:20

Oh, wow.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 5:22

her family is from Germany, so she's second generation of Germans. So we go to France, and so we go to my uncle and aunt. It is 11 o'clock in the morning, and then we start with a little aperitif, and then we left 3 o'clock in the morning the following day. We spent over 14 hours on the table. So we went from lunch into a break at the table to dinner to after dinner, and we left at 3 o'clock in the morning because Heidi couldn't take it anymore.

Host Michael Dugan: 5:53

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 5:55

That was a real introduction to the French culture. But for me, it was something normal. And so you eat, you talk, and then the plates are going on and off, and then at one point the table is empty, and then the plates are coming back

Host Michael Dugan: 6:11

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 6:12

And then it's just going. It just doesn't stop.

Host Michael Dugan: 6:15

Christophe I might have shared this with Chef Steven before and maybe our listeners around the world, but I got married in Southern Italy because my wife is Scandinavian, but she believes that she's Italian in another life. It's just her passion, she studied the culture, spent a lot of time there. We got married in Gravina, in Puglia, five hours south of Rome. You have to take a bus to get there. We stayed overnight in a cave restaurant hotel overlooking the city that literally we could see the church where we were gonna get married, and we had to walk across a ravine to go to get married. But we ate and drank for five hours in this cave restaurant hotel at our wedding. And we only had a few people from the town come, and it was the most magical experience. So when you talk about these long dinners and these long connections, it's amazing. Everyone should do that, I think,

Co-Host Steven Leung: 7:05

That's definitely the culture. At least once per weekend, right?

Host Michael Dugan: 7:09

Oh, yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 7:11

Yeah. My uncle and aunt, they used to do that every weekend with friends and when I say they, they used to stay at the table until 6 o'clock the following morning. It was a normal thing, like… And what's funny I realized those moments once my wife was with me, and then we had those conversation. I could not define why I wanted to become a chef until I was talking with Heidi and realizing that I was surrounding with food and food, those family moments Around the table brought us together. And and I thought, and I realized maybe that was the reason why I wanted to become a chef. But I never really thought about it until, Later in life.

Host Michael Dugan: 7:55

yeah.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 7:57

and then you appreciate it after. So the lesson to that is cherish the current moment, right?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 8:03

Yeah,

Host Michael Dugan: 8:04

As a family for us, as the Dugans, Irish Dugans we did gather together. I live on the West Coast. Most of my family's on the East Coast. My grandmother had a cottage in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on the Atlantic Ocean. So we would all gather together, and we would have lobster bakes. That would be our gathering, and they would be long dinners and amazing experiences, and the clam bakes and things like that. But other than that was pretty much what we did. What about you, Chef Stephen? I know you, you're very connected to food and family.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 8:31

Yeah. I just recently told someone about, my culture for food is that when you greet someone maybe in Hong Kong or in China you don't say hello, right? You ask them, "Have you eaten yet?"

Host Michael Dugan: 8:43

Oh my gosh.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 8:44

Yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 8:45

I love it.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 8:46

Really, "Have you eaten yet?" That's a sense of, caring for someone greeting, so that's definitely deep in, in the culture,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 8:55

That's the best way to connect with people as well. Sit down at the table, have a glass of wine at the beginning or whatever you drink and then have those social moments before, before your lunch or your dinner or your break or whatever. And then after that, it's just create that Symphony,

Co-Host Steven Leung: 9:13

yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 9:14

So having been an executive chef in Las Vegas in some of the top hotel restaurants, casinos, who have you met? And can you tell us about a dinner that you had where you sat down with somebody and had an amazing conversation?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 9:31

Just because when I moved to Las Vegas I realized that. I was an executive chef, but for a restaurant. I realized you could become an assistant executive chef and an executive chef for the property and be involved in every aspect of the food and beverage for the hotel, not only one, but everything. So that changed my perception of it, I got very attracted to the financial part of the business So I deviated. I changed my path at that moment. I say, "That's what I wanna do." And then my best conversation was not with a chef, was with one of our president. His name was Gerry Tuthill. So Gerry was the president at the time for Paris and the Rio, and then became the president for Harrah's, Flamingo, the Linq, and Cromwell. He was the most inspiring manager in Las Vegas for me, where we not only was impressed about my passion for food, He took me to the next level when it comes to managing people and managing the business and have a better understanding of the financial operations and at grooming people. He was a very poised, a very smart man. Very smart. I was looking up to him, and he was very supportive to me. So of course, when you have that relationship with someone who believes in you and then makes everything way easier into your career. And then now he retired. He's in San Francisco. He's living the good life, but we still in touch. We still in touch just because the impact he had on my career in the city of Las Vegas.

Host Michael Dugan: 11:20

Yeah. I feel like Chef Stephen, you have a burning question. You're leaning in, you're glowing. So is there anything you wanna add to that?

Co-Host Steven Leung: 11:27

I think it's a fate too because chefs learn how to, be creative, like an artist, how you compose different taste, texture. But we never learn about the economics. Just like Chef Christophe just mentioned, he had a a mentor in a career to show you into a different, aspect of the whole thing, I think I had the same moment as well. My mentor once told me, "No matter how creative you are, no matter how good you're cooking, if you cannot deliver the numbers, anything.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 12:00

Doesn't matter.

Host Michael Dugan: 12:01

Wow. And that goes along with why did mental health and financial literacy become such a central mission for you? It seems like a personal mission.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 12:10

Yeah. So just to get back a little bit, going back to Steven. Those days in Vegas, and not only in Vegas If you wanna be a very good chef, you cannot be just culinary-oriented because this will not cut it anymore. You need to be a great manager. You need to be able to manage people. You need to be, you need to know about your financials and you need to know about your P&L. You need to know about the all operations in and out. Being a chef, being a great cook is not good enough anymore. You need to be well with well diverse and your mindset needs to be pretty open those days because if your mindset is short and then you are not going anywhere. Doesn't matter how talented you are not going nowhere.

Host Michael Dugan: 13:00

Very good advice. So what was it for you-- You talked about the early years, but was there a pivotal moment when you knew that you were all in to be a chef? You just knew that this is it. And you talked about your younger years, but as you were growing up, was there a place that… Was it-- I know that you were in Saint-Tropez and you worked at two-star Michelin restaurant. Was it that period in time or was it before that?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 13:29

It was before. It was from the get-go.

Host Michael Dugan: 13:31

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 13:31

I never had any doubts from day one, from the day I started culinary school, and then not even once in my life I thought, yeah, maybe it was the wrong career. It's just I kept going and then so I was in culinary school. I went to Switzerland. Switzerland I went to France at Saint-Tropez. I was in Lausanne in Switzerland. I went to Saint-Tropez. I came back to Switzerland in Geneva at the Richmond Hotel. It was a one-star Michelin restaurant. And then I went to Cannes. Cannes was a two-star Michelin La Palme d'Or before, before I came to before I came to New York City. And, the reason why I ended up at Le Cirque in New York in 1992 is because our executive chef at the Richmond Hotel in Geneva went to culinary school with Daniel Boulud in New York.

Host Michael Dugan: 14:23

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 14:25

They were buddies, and then with a friend of mine say, "Yeah, we wanna go to the US." And the guy say, "Oh, I know someone in the US." He say, "Oh, it's Daniel Boulud." We had no idea who was Daniel.

Host Michael Dugan: 14:37

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 14:38

So he connected us, and then one day I was working. I was at, in Cannes at the Martinez Hotel, and then in the kitchen at the time we don't have, we didn't have a cell, okay? So I get a private phone call in the kitchen, and then it was Daniel Boulud on the phone and he

Host Michael Dugan: 14:54

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 14:56

says, "Hey, Christophe." I say, "Where are you?" I say, "I'm at Martinez Hotel." He say, "Okay, so in six months I have an opening to for you to come in New York City. Is you still interested?" And I say, "Oh man, of course I'm interested." And then that was it. then in March 1992, I was in New York City, and then I never left.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 15:18

Yeah, chef I remember you told me the story that when, Daniel Boulud was even famous and then his first cookbook, I think you guys were helping him every

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 15:26

Yeah.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 15:27

and that was quite an

Host Michael Dugan: 15:28

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 15:30

So

Co-Host Steven Leung: 15:31

tell, us a Little bit about

Host Michael Dugan: 15:32

us. Tell us,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 15:33

so Daniel, before he put out his first cookbook he did it during his time at Le Cirque. So we had to do some extra work for photo shoot and stuff in the restaurants, in the banquet rooms. I have some amazing pictures of that too. They, I think they're in the first book that have those specific pictures and then some of us used to go to his house and then on Sundays, but it was the only day off we had, and then do a few practice for him. And then all the photo shoots were done inside Le Cirque in New York. And then pretty much when the book was done it was his last hurrah at Le Cirque. And so of course he resigned, he left, and then that was it. But I didn't know before I came to New York City how big Le Cirque was, and it was in the top 20 restaurants in the world

Host Michael Dugan: 16:27

Oh, that's

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 16:27

in the early '90s.

Host Michael Dugan: 16:29

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 16:29

Sirio Maccioni was the owner. And after Daniel left to start his own empire. We kept in touch. Sometimes I can send him every six months or even once a year a message on Instagram, and he replies. And I know he's got millions of people, followers and stuff like that. Because I was the last French guy he brought in at Le Cirque in New York, so that created that little

Host Michael Dugan: 16:53

bond. that's beautiful.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 16:54

Yeah. Because when he fe- when he left to open his own place,

Host Michael Dugan: 16:59

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 16:59

he wanted to take me with him. But because my visa was attached with Le Cirque, I stay at Le Cirque, I couldn't leave.

Host Michael Dugan: 17:07

Oh,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 17:07

But it was not a bad thing because Daniel, Sylvain Portay from Alain Ducasse in Hotel de Paris in Monaco became our executive chef. So we went from Daniel Boulud to a three-star Michelin chef. And then this is when Alain Ducasse used to come every quarter to do those lunches Ducasse and Le Cirque. And then I had to be in New York City to see guys like the man, I forgot. The Pope or the French kitchen Paul Bocuse and all those guys, a bunch of three-star Michelin chefs that I knew only through the books or the media, and then they were just walking by

Host Michael Dugan: 17:47

oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 17:48

like it was a normal day. And we used to do events with those guys. And then it just that was the beginning. That trigger, that was the turning point of my career. So to answer your questions, I was not, The turning point of my career was New York City where that, that sealed the deal.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 19:06

You're like I'm Very good at this."

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 19:08

yeah. And then I didn't wanna leave the US, and I did not. And then that's it. Yeah, that was the turning point of my life and my career.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 19:18

I heard, And after that, I think, Chef, you were close friends as well with a chef that works for Alain Ducasse. He's the corporate fine dining main guy, right?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 19:28

Sylvain was the executive chef at Le Cirque, and then after four or five years, he left, and then he went to the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. He was the executive chef there. And then he became the corporate executive chef for Alain Ducasse. When the what was the name the restaurant at Mandala Bay? And it was Mix. right? Mix restaurants. Sylvain used to go there. He did the opening for Alain Ducasse, and then he was in charge of all the Alain Ducasse restaurants in the US.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 19:57

But the reason I want to bring it up is because Chef told us, you guys have to be, very conscious of your economics during COVID, he was up there as the corporate chef of Alain Ducasse, meaning, every executive chef under Alain Ducasse has to go through him. But because of COVID, there's no more fine dining,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 20:17

Yeah.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 20:18

and then he lost his job, and it was sad that he had to keep his insurance, and then he worked to cook at a school. From a fine dining corporate executive level to cooking at a school just to keep the insurance.

Host Michael Dugan: 20:36

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 20:38

He's just-- COVID changed a lot of things, but the guy was, he was a three-star Michelin chef. He was 26 years old. you're a corporate guy for a big guy, but things change, and then his life changed. Now he's back to South of France He's, fully retired, and he's a happy man. Networking, it's a big thing where you need to make sure you keep contact with those guys for all along your way of your career. You need to keep touch with those guys because it's very important. But now the financial piece where financial education through your career, it's, it's very important. And people, chefs, they're so focused on their careers, Executing and be chefs and those days it just, it doesn't cut it, man. You cannot be, you cannot be 50, 60 years old and Still working in a kitchen and you have nothing to show for. Absolutely nothing to show for. And to me it's complete insanity, but that's the world of today. And my breakthrough was when I was at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. So now we're in 1997, 1998, 1999. So we got introduced to a 401K. And in the US they started like in 1988, something like that. It was a young thing, okay? 401k's were new, then they used to give us financial classes every six months at the Broadmoor, okay? that changed my… I was 30 years old, so I started my first 401k and then starting to read about 401k, follow a little bit of CNBCs and then switching the books between culinary books and financial books to be more educated in that matter.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 22:25

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 22:29

But now corporation, they do absolutely nothing for you beside using your knowledge beside burn you to the ground and then when you completely burn and then they swap you for a younger guy that they're gonna do exactly the same thing with.

Host Michael Dugan: 22:48

Yes.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 22:49

But there is no conversation about that.

Host Michael Dugan: 22:52

You gotta look out for yourself. That's the best takeaway. But also, you have to invest early and young, and put away money and not spend it all paycheck to paycheck. That's the takeaway I'm getting from you, because I remember being in the restaurant business, and I was working paycheck to paycheck, and I was spending a little extra money. And to be honest, we didn't have a 401k that time. So I think it's a really good message for people to start saving right away.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 23:17

I think

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 23:18

I was talking to the chefs like Steven and all the chefs who we had and I was telling them about the 401k to follow up with. When we used to have emails from HR regarding the 401k, I wanted to make sure I reach out to them and say, "We need to pay attention to that because that's very important." But nobody does it. Nobody does it. You have those useless classes that they have to go through every year who takes one or two days to do and then but nothing about financial classes and even worse. So now you pretty much you can get hired and then you go automatically into a 401k, Okay? But the crazy thing about it, most of the people, they don't even know they have a 401k.

Host Michael Dugan: 24:02

So they're not matching. They're not matching.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 24:05

They don't even know that they take their money away from their paychecks. They don't even know how to read a pay stub,

Host Michael Dugan: 24:12

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 24:13

And they don't even know that they have to log in into the computer to their 401Ks, and they don't even know that they can change, The allocations on the 401k. They know absolutely nothing. So the money is taken away every two weeks from their paychecks. They have no idea for why And never receive a class or any information about it.

Host Michael Dugan: 24:35

Hopefully people that are listening now will think about it. If you're not involved in it, get involved. Connect with your HR, find out how you can work with your company to leverage a 401k. Because a lot of companies have matching, and you should max out the matching that your company has no matter what. That's a must because they're giving you free money,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 24:56

Yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 24:56

If you are not doing that you're losing out. And most companies now do that. So make sure that at least you're doing matching. If you can contribute more than the matching, then I would do that as well. But that's a really good message, Christophe.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 25:12

Corporations like MGM and Caesars Entertainment are-- they should have at least one hour a year of financial class for those guys or just Your core people show them a pay stub and just break down the pay stub. This is this for that, FICA is for that, this is for that. If you see a line says 401k and contribution, so you know that we take money from the top of your paychecks and then gives you a little break at the end of the year, but it goes somewhere and you can grow that money. It doesn't have to be complicated. It needs to be one hour and then maybe once every six months, but mandatory at least once a year. Give them the basics knowledge because they know absolutely nothing about nothing.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 25:59

Yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 26:00

I agree. So as we move on, let's talk about the financial crisis a little bit. Let's talk about the pandemic. How did that affect you and your staff? I started this podcast to honor chefs right at the pandemic. I wanted them to have a chance to share their craft, their voice, their message. But to me, if we look back, how did you cope with that? How did you survive that?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 26:25

You didn't have any choices. So we did reopen and I was by myself.

Host Michael Dugan: 26:30

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 26:31

I was the only guy, the first one who came back from food and beverage.

Host Michael Dugan: 26:34

Wow.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 26:35

Only thing that, that hurt him from the pandemic is when he found out the hotel has no power during the pandemic, and then all the wine cellar that kept all the expensive wine turned into vinegar.

Host Michael Dugan: 26:46

Oh my gosh.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 26:48

was not…

Host Michael Dugan: 26:48

oh, that's devastating.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 26:50

Because we were closed for so long,

Host Michael Dugan: 26:52

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 26:53

They let go after four weeks into the pandemic, they let go the guys from the engineering departments. So when I came back all the freezers crashed down. So for example, you go to the freezer in a bake shop and you-- It was 120 degrees and you had all the ice cream, the cheesecakes base and stuff like that. You had black mold everywhere, bubbling everywhere, and then I had nobody to call. I could spend half a day just to clean a freezer by myself.

Host Michael Dugan: 27:21

Oh my gosh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 27:23

And then we brought back chefs one after the other slowly. But for me, the pandemic, that killed the rest of my career. Because inflation was out of control for a period of time, we had to change menu prices every two weeks because we could not keep up with the inflation. And then the labor issues at the time everybody wanted more money That killed my career. So the fire and the passion I used to have So before the COVID our business was never easy, okay?

Host Michael Dugan: 27:56

Yeah, I know.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 27:57

It was never easy. After COVID just killed the passion I had. That was the beginning of the end for me. I went through, brought back the people all the chefs we had, do the best out of it before the closure of the Tropicana. When they announced the closure of the Tropicana, I knew that was gonna be that was gonna be the end of the road. I was thinking, "Okay, that's my opportunity to cut the cord because I don't feel it anymore." Everything is complete nonsense. Managing, it-- there is no fun out of it, okay? it, was absolutely no fun at all. And then that was the end of it. So we did the closure. I took my severance package, a week later, I was 56 years old, and I cut the cord Look at my wife, we talked and say, "Okay, I'm done." And then that was the beginning. I retired 56 years old. Now I'm 58.

Host Michael Dugan: 28:55

Yeah,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 28:56

have no reason to stay. This is why you need to spend at least 25% of your time around your personal financials, your wife alone, and the kids. And then when you have the opportunity to get out, just get out. You cannot be a chef when you're 60 years old and be in a kitchen. You just cannot do that. That's my message. And I know of some of my chefs who like, "Hey, chef, I love what I do, and I'm gonna die in a kitchen." And I'm like, "Okay, die in a kitchen, man." If this is what you want, and then that's okay Because they don't wanna be home and they, that's all they care about is cooking. And then so everybody sees 12 o'clock at his door. That's a French thing. That's what we say. Everybody sees 12 o'clock on his own door.

Host Michael Dugan: 29:44

Oh my gosh. That's the goodbye, huh? Oh,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 29:49

Everybody does his own thing because what I do is not for everybody, okay? Not everybody can retire at 56 and say, "What do I do now?" I knew what I was gonna do, and that works for me.

Host Michael Dugan: 30:01

So as the reward of retirement, did you travel at all after you retired?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 30:06

Yeah, I was traveling while I was working regardless. So of course I increased my traveling because my daughter, she's in Hawaii. So the first year at, as I went to Hawaii four times and I go to France and I went to Sardinia and Corsica

Host Michael Dugan: 30:21

I honeymooned in Sardinia. That is the most beautiful place on the planet.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 30:26

It's special. We came back from Hawaii again three weeks ago and then we go to France because my dad is in France.

Host Michael Dugan: 30:33

Okay.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 30:34

We have more little trips with my wife go to Arizona, go to Monument Valley, go to Utah because we hikes and stuff like that. So yeah, but I cook seven days a week, and then I have my family, I have my son here, my father-in-law. So I cook for them every Tuesdays and every Sunday. And then so we have those I kept those family traditions that French culture, European culture with the kids where family time around the table is very important. And so they carry that with them. They're able to cook and cook for other people.

Host Michael Dugan: 31:12

Oh, I love it. What are your favorite dishes to cook? What's one of your signatures?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 31:16

Don't have any- anything specific really.

Host Michael Dugan: 31:18

Most chefs are like that. love it.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 31:20

Yeah, you don't have anything but one items, one thing I love is duck.

Host Michael Dugan: 31:25

Duck,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 31:26

okay. Getting your… Beside Chef Steven you have to go to the international market and buy frozen ducks and stuff like that. So the duck breast, I love the duck breast or leg, the duck leg confit. Because those are big things in the southwest of France. Southwest of France produce 90% of the foie gras in France. In my little town, my town is 20,000 people. There is a town where maybe there, there is 250 people. They have the foie gras museum,

Co-Host Steven Leung: 31:58

Oh.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 32:00

The guy who created the Musée Grévin in Paris.

Host Michael Dugan: 32:03

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 32:05

Created a foie gras museum in a farm. So you can go there and the museum is in the farm and 3,000 years of foie gras history from the Egyptians to today.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 32:18

Wow.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 32:19

Then of course they have the retail store, and then of course they have gooses and ducks running all over the place. So you can go also see the process of overfeeding the ducks and then after that, the killing and then removing the parts and the breakdown, and you can go to the store and…

Co-Host Steven Leung: 32:36

Any activist that goes there? No, you guys kill them before they get there.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 32:42

And then, yeah. And then they do those those on weekends, they do those little lunches or little dinner. For €25 you have the three-course meal with foie gras and the wine is included. I mean

Co-Host Steven Leung: 32:55

yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 32:56

It's just

Co-Host Steven Leung: 32:56

Just in-indulging. Yeah. with good wine and Good bread

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 33:02

the middle of nowhere

Co-Host Steven Leung: 33:03

Yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 33:04

That's awesome. Yeah. So as we wrap up, what was it like working with Chef Stephen? 'Cause he speaks very highly of you,

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 33:12

Yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 33:13

I'd love to understand. He is got these incredible philosophies about leadership and treating people with respect, and I believe that comes from within, but it also comes from the environment that you are working from.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 33:27

I knew Steven was, he was not your typical Asian chef, okay? He was he was a-- the big thing with Asian chefs is the health departments usually they are not very good at it. Steven was very good at it. He was very good at maintaining the kitchen and training his staff not only he was good with Asian food, and when I say Asian food, it can be Japanese Chinese. he was very open-minded with Asian food, any type of Asian food. But also he knew a lot about French food, European food, American food. He was super diverse. His knowledge was very wide culinary-wise. I knew he was already a special chef, but I knew also he was not gonna spend his life in a kitchen either.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 34:13

Yeah

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 34:14

He was gonna become one of those yeah, chef entrepreneurs and do those podcasts and do those different things than to be stuck in a restaurant or into a hotel. So we knew that was a route already In his head he was taking, and then that's what he's doing. So in that manner, he was very different to any other chefs I ever met because his vision was already very different.

Host Michael Dugan: 34:43

That's fantastic. So as we wrap up, is there any final message that you wanna share with our audience around the world?

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 34:49

The only thing, and I'm gonna get back to it, is just you need to take care of your family and your friends. You need to do your research like you do for any of your recipes. You need to incorporate your financial knowledge into your life. Just a paycheck will not cut it. You need to understand, you need to invest in real estates in digital money or in the stock market, regardless if you don't like it or not, because you will not make it with a paycheck. It doesn't even matter. and make $200,000 a year it doesn't matter.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 35:24

You spend more.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 35:25

It's not gonna cut it.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 35:26

Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 35:27

And then, yeah, be close with your family. Make sure you include them and share. those things with your wife and kids and, or parents. Communicating is very important. And that create that balance in life. So that's what you need to create. You need to create that balance. that's the message of the day.

Host Michael Dugan: 35:46

Wonderful.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 35:46

That's beautiful because I remember having coffee with Chef and a few other chefs like every day in the afternoon, and then I would pick up these mentalities from Chef Christophe and then, there's no over-motivation talk. It's just straight to the point. And, it's just, real life examples and yeah we picked up a lot of les- lessons and messages from Chef Christophe. Definitely, yeah.

Host Michael Dugan: 36:09

I love it. I love it. Chef Steven, any key takeaways today? Anything that resonated with you?

Co-Host Steven Leung: 36:15

I, I think because now, like what Chef Christophe said about the financial part, I feel like, Chef, if you ever consider about being a consultant on the for Chef, like financial consultant for chefs. It's just for fun, with this community and stuff. I think the main thing is a lot of people can get, really benefited from this. It's very valuable because just like how Chef Christophe says, they don't even know how to break down the paycheck.

Host Michael Dugan: 36:39

Right.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 36:41

401k is part of the tax or something, right? And I think that's the financial part is a good takeaway. Second part is to, have a vision because right now with technology, everything's changing. You have to think about how you position yourself 10 years later. And if there's another pandemic, what can you do? What's your backup plan that's my biggest takeaway and I think just, open your eyes to the world and plan, I think, from working with Chef Christophe, he's always like a good planner, with every year, the next year's budget already done, half year before.

Host Michael Dugan: 37:12

Beautifully said.

Co-Host Steven Leung: 37:13

good. It was a nice conversation, Chef. Yeah.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 37:15

Oh, thank you guys. I'm glad we did it.

Host Michael Dugan: 37:18

Me too. And thank you so much for being a guest on our show.

Executive Chef Christophe Doumergue: 37:21

absolutely.