How Built 75$ Million Restaurant Empire

 culture is a fundamental part of building a bridge between us and them, 

Whatever it is between us and them.  I have been an immigrant six times in many different countries.  I always feel comfortable when I am in a kitchen.  I worked in a three star Michelin restaurant.  in france the chef told me very basically jeff you can never own a restaurant there is no black owned restaurant that has the ambition for you to have my name is jeff marcus samuelson and i am the founder and co-founder of the marty group  samson and also red rooster red rooster has become one of the most famous restaurants in new york city a vision about bringing people together by opening red roost in 2010 was huge, not only for me but also for the people who  Affected here in this community, Harlem has an incredible experience of excellence and storytelling when it comes to art, music writing and the food being there.  

I wanted to do something that would combine everything we want to share and pass on the history of harlem from your community to the world. The ants industry is one of the most incredible industries in the world because it is about working together and overcoming and we are in a  moment right now with Covid where we're really challenged, but I've seen some of the best during this time as well.  

I work in all of us i might be the only swedish you know i was born in ethiopia but i grew up in sweden [music] we ate fish probably four or five days a week and i grew up very close to my family obviously but also my grandmother my grandmother was really  the house cook, we didn't like mom's dinner, we rode our bikes to grandma's house, where we not only ate well, but we also had to cook everything from the apple that has fallen and turned into jam  apple until always herring and pickle.  or fish to smoke and when you are a teenager and you start having those weekend jobs and things like that I always worked in restaurants or anything in the hospitality industry without knowing that grandma had trained us in this field I learned a lot 

About social skills my  soci all abilities being in the restaurant navigating in the kitchen was a place where i always felt at home, whether i worked in japan, france, switzerland or here in america, i always feel comfortable when i am in a kitchen,  it wasn't done, it's all about understanding correct flavors we can all taste the same things actually salty bittersweet bitter heat and um it's probably the one that comes near last to us in terms of understanding that everyone can taste this so the way that  you build as a chef you do it through fragrance you do it through aesthetics and you do it through textures and it is about reinventing and dreaming this, but also about joining all the threads  To make a dish that smells good I worked in a three star Michelin restaurant in France and the chef told me Basically, as a chef, you can never own a restaurant, there is no black restaurant that has the ambition that you have, it does not exist,  not in France, not in Europe, anywhere as hard as that maybe it sounded like he gave me a clear choice that was not fair, but somehow he was stating a fact being black life is extremely tough choices that

 You propose  doing is never easy so for me it gave me clarity I have to go to America now it's not that I've seen it in America, but I know there was black excellence maya angelou I knew about oprah I knew a prince you know how those things there are black excellence  I always believed in myself and I always nurtured a lot of confidence my parents and I thought I could go, so I did I got a job and really grew thanks to the first job I had here in the restaurant and the success I got. 

 We were three stars from the New York Times and he showed me that I could Belong that everything I practiced since I was came out of my grandmother's kitchen at a very young age, now I can put it into practice and hitting the main stage in Manhattan was something that  it gave me a huge amount of confidence but also seeing a past that i can own a restaurant i can add value i can create this dream so i started writing it one day i want to own my restaurant and i moved to harlem and started studying  the community and many people guided me what harlem really meant not just as a name actually as a neighborhood and with all that study that took seven years we opened for southern food to come north, that's what we celebrate here, part of  This has to do with a great migration, one of these most incredible events in 

American history, where we get so much jazz music, so we know that the fact that six  millions of people moved from south to north also changed the way we eat the other side of the menu is also through the lens of an immigrant The right wing Harlem has so many different pockets depending on what history Italian Harlem Jewish Holland Puerto Rican Spanish Harlem the  waves of immigrants who come to harlem like me and my family are from ethiopia we are from sweden so this mix between african and american harlem that is really trad based on migration, the food that was brought from the super north south and then mixed with  the harlem immigrant and that's it through comfort food this is redwood food now 

I came to this country with 300 and it took 25 years to build this and 10 days to break it down.  There are 180 people who networked rooster 180 people serving 4000 clients a week and also jobs that have health care and job creation in the middle class every day.  You're nervous, is this going to work?  That is actually the status very often as an immigrant. 

 You just came to a place where you bet everything on this idea and you work so hard to make it work.  I share that story with a lot of people in this country, when something like lust happens, it's like all that sense of security is taken away from me and it becomes really twisted and scary and I also have to admit that I have been extremely privileged and fortunate to be able to overcome this.  and it wouldn't.  't be p It is possible with a lot of help from the community as well, I mean the restaurant community, since we knew it previously covered, it will take five and six years to rebuild, there is no other way to look at it, but I cannot put my head in  my arena for five six years we have to work we are grateful for the loans and opportunities that the local government and the federal government gave to the restaurants it was very difficult to get them to the black and brown communities it cost them more to get those loans are you making a boom  ? 

 On March 16 we closed our restaurant in a traditional setting and became a community kitchen and served more than 250,000 meals for the community for those most in need for lifeguards and we partnered with jose andres and the world center kitchen my staff came with gloves  broke down and began serving others it would have been easier for most people to just sit down.  We came to work every day.  We show up every day to serve our community. 

 The word that restaurants need to restore as a chef as a community.  eader I have a role it is not a passive role I have an active role be passionate about your field about the vertical you choose because if you are going to be passionate and open to learning, you will never be out of work