In this episode, chef Andy Schultz, owner of Four Chefs Catering LLC, a company offering event catering, meal delivery, in home intimate dining services and cooking classes, stops by to talk about food as medicine and a tool for stress relief.
In this episode, chef Andy Schultz, owner of Four Chefs Catering LLC, a company offering event catering, meal delivery, in home intimate dining services and cooking classes, stops by to talk about food as medicine and a tool for stress relief.
You're listening to less stress in life, with hosts, Debra Timmerman and Barb Fletcher, we believe life with less stress and more energy is possible with the right tools, strategies and knowledge. So we bring your real conversations around the stress of relationships, money, and the daily hassles of life with guests that will inspire, challenge, entertain and motivate you to take action.
Barb Fletcher:Welcome everyone today to our podcast. Today, our guest is Chef Andy Schulte, owner of Four Chefs Catering, LLC, a company offering event catering meal delivers in home intimate dining services, and cooking classes. Welcome, Andy.
Andy Schultz:Thank you.
Barb Fletcher:Can you share a little bit about your culinary background?
Andy Schultz:Yes. So I am at Grand Rapids Community College graduate, alum of 2009. I started right after high school. So I graduated high school and I was the youngest ciulinarian to go through the class at the time. I got my degree and then from there, I went out to Hawaii. I did an internship out in Hawaii for four months, and after my internship completed it, and then I had to come back two culinary school to finish two more classes. I finished up those two classes and then move back out to Hawaii, and worked out there for a year and a half. I had an opportunity to work for TS Corporations. They're out of Hawaii and California, and when I was out there, they opened up a new restaurant. So I had a chance to be the dining room chef. So I was in charge of daily specials, cutting fish, teaching my line cokss of how to run a kitchen, how to coordinate and get the food out on time to the guests. We served about 500 customers a night that was from four 4pm to 9pm. It was a great experience for me. Then after that I moved out to Colorado Springs, Colorado, I worked at Center for Creative Leadership. It's a leadership program that had CEOs and executives from all over the world, come and take this leadership class, and I had an opportunity to cook breakfast and lunch for them. And then from there, back to Michigan. And I was the Executive Chef at Aquinas College for five years, I was in charge of weddings, VIP events, the board meals, anything food related on campus, I was in charge of. And then after that went to Pine Rest Mental Health Hospital for three and a half years. And I was executive chef there, I had an opportunity to have dietary restrictions from all the patients, we served anyone from five years old to 95 years old. So again, a lot of experience in the industry. And then from there, I opened up Four Chef's Catering.
Deb Timmerman:There really are four chefs,
Andy Schultz:There are really four chefs!
Deb Timmerman:the pandemic really allowed you to take this new adventure, a relatively new adventure, right? And really good and, and home meal delivery.
Andy Schultz:Yep. So it made everybody feel safe. When we opened up the business, we brought the meals to the customers and they got to enjoy their fresh cook restaurant style food right in their own home. So we have a set menu on our website that you can there's a drop down box, you choose the menu items that you would like, we prepare it and 48 hours, we drop it off to your home. And then it's in a microwavable container. It's a one single food item that is low calorie and fresh products all in that box.
Deb Timmerman:So, I think the interesting thing about the pandemic was that people who didn't cook, were really struggling to figure out, now that restaurants were closed, how they were going to feed their families something other than boxed macaroni and cheese and hotdogs.
Andy Schultz:Yes, that's true.
Deb Timmerman:So why is food such an important part of our culture in an important part of managing stress?
Andy Schultz:Food is important. I feel like it's a medicine to the body. No one really talks about fresh, produce fresh vegetables, fresh fruit. I feel like if you get that fresh product in your body, it helps with stress, it helps with anxiety. You feel good about yourself. And if you take out the gluten, the dairy and the soy, that causes inflammation in your body, And with the fresh product coming in to your home, you just feel so much better about yourself and you feel energized. You have more energy to do whatever tasks you may need to do throughout the day.
Deb Timmerman:Barb, do you ever noticed when your diet isn't so good that it's harder to manage as you go?
Barb Fletcher:Oh, for sure. You know, in our home If we we happen to allow a few sweets to make their way in, the fruit in the fridge may stay there as opposed to those sugary treats that we happen to grab for first. And, you know, we're quite comfortable to sit on the couch as opposed to perhaps be as active as we might otherwise be.
Deb Timmerman:So Andy, one thing about Barb is she has a lettuce tower in her house and she grows her own fresh veggies all through the year.
Andy Schultz:That is awesome. That is great. That's the best way to go. You know how it's grown. You know, what's how you're taking care of it, it's the best.
Barb Fletcher:There's nothing better than taking a colander and a paring knife and, and carving it up and then putting it on the plate. We had plateful lettuce last night for supper, we added a few tomatoes and cucumbers and some little bit of chicken. But yeah, that's where it came from. And and you're right, that in itself for us, was our pandemic, I guess pivot as it related to food, and that was a game changer for us. What happened with the tower is it's it sits in the kitchen, and so we might have in the past been more inclined to walk in pantry and grab some pasta or some rice or some potatoes. Now, when we look at the tower, and the lettuce is overgrowing, and we know that there's only one solution to that, it's to put it on your plate where nudge for us to eat even healthier.
Andy Schultz:That is awesome.
Deb Timmerman:Andy, what's all the rage now about clean eating and locally sourced produce? Why, we need that for our body?
Andy Schultz:I feel like you need that for your body because it gives you the nutrients that you need fresh produce, like the lettuce, the leafy greens, brussel sprouts, radishes, onions, garlic, there's so many health benefits to all that food. You put that in your body, and it just helps reduce the inflammation that you may get from just anything in life. I mean, going outside the air is polluted, or if you have if you put the sugary foods in your body, it breaks down your immune system and people get more sick. So speaking of sweets, I have a vegan dessert that I use, and we use sunflower butter, so there's no nuts that go into it. It's a seed, and we use coconut oil, which is a health benefit. And then we use cocoa. Cocoa is good for you. It has vitamin K in there for you, qnd then a little bit of vanilla and fresh crack salt. And that's your sweet. That's your quench I would say if you need that sugary treat.
Deb Timmerman:Andy and I belong to the same business group. And he happened to bring us treats to our breakfast meeting a couple of weeks ago and they were delicious. And you really couldn't tell the difference between that that was not a sugary piece of candy, that it was something that was good for you. It was it was just really good. So good.
Andy Schultz:Thank you. I appreciate it.
Deb Timmerman:You went gluten free at some point and are you vegan also?,
Andy Schultz:I'm not totally vegan. I do eat a little bit of chicken. Um, there's a new term a new trend out there. It's called veggie centric. So what that means is you want the center of the plate to be vegetables. Before you they say to get four ounces of protein of like your chicken, beef, pork, your starch, four ounces, your veggies, two ounces. Well, veggie centric, takes that a little bit of starch and more vegetables and makes that the center plate and a little bit of protein. So two ounces of protein of like your chicken breasts or your beef or pork. And I went more veg-centric five years ago, gluten free, dairy free, egg free. I noticed a lot of inflammation in my body. I was puffy. I just talked to a colleague of what she did to what helped her so I took that and I actually lost 20 pounds in five years and I feel amazing. I have more energy, I can think more clearly. and, I just more alert in life. I'm a strong believer of veggie centric or going gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free.
Deb Timmerman:So many allergies. I struggle with food allergies, and I've shared this on the podcast before. And we just did a CSA this year where we pick up our farm share of fresh produce every Wednesday and eat lots more. Even though we didn't have that many grains or sweets in our diet, I still feel a lot better eating more vegetables. I feel less foggy, less bloated, just what you're saying. And the thing that I have a problem with is chemicals. So my body doesn't process the chemicals that are on the food. If we don't stay organic, or we don't know where food's coming from, and we're eating a lot of pesticides, I'll get really achy joints. And it'll be like the lights are on nobody's home, because can't think and it doesn't matter how much I practice stress relief tools during that time. It's like my body's working overtime to process that out, and I just feel like I'm in a fog or a fuzz.
Andy Schultz:Yeah, I could see that.
Deb Timmerman:With your meal drop off service that you're doing. What are you finding? How are people using that? To reduce stress? So for some people, cooking is a stress reliever. Like for me, I love to cook and I know Bart loves to bake. For other people, they hate grocery shopping. They absolutely hate cooking, or maybe they don't know how to cook. What have you found it since the pandemic? What's the shift? Are we leaning more toward home cooked meals again, or getting a delivery service? And how is that different from say, the box stuff that you get in the mail that you have to still prepare?
Andy Schultz:Great question. Thank you, Deb. Yeah, I'm seeing a switch now that people want that home cooked meal or that home cooked feeling. But a lot of people are stressed at work.
And when they get home at 6:30. At night, that's the last thing they want to worry about is a home cooked meal for their family. So this is a great opportunity for them to plan ahead and have a meal plan already done. So when I have the delivery to their home, they can just come home from work, have their family of four, whatever the family size is, put them meals in the microwave, and have a home cooked meal in two minutes. It's fresh, it's locally sourced, and it's restaurant quality food. I feel like that's a new thing that's coming this way, and it's different from like a HelloFresh, because they don't have to cook that meal. With those meals, there's only a two day lead time realistically, if they have the fresh produce, depending on when it is delivered to their home and how it's packed. Because if it's not packed cool and in a ice pack cooler properly, you can loose quality of the food that way. But what the meal service that we offer, it's in a container that's cool properly, on ice in a cooler packed container, and it's delivered right to their home, and they just put it in the frigerator. And there's less stress, less hassle.
Deb Timmerman:You are in the West Michigan area and you serve that West Michigan area, our podcast airs all over the country and in Canada. So for those people who are thinking about looking for a service like yours, if they're not here in West Michigan, how do they find somebody that they can trust, that's competent, that has the same kind of thoughts and feelings that you have about food being medicine and watching for allergies? That can't be easy. There are I think you said today when we were talking, 100 chefs just in our local area that do what you do.
Andy Schultz:Yeah, that is true. There's about 100 chefs in that area that do the In Home Services and everything like that, if we're out of state who's listening, I recommend getting close to a culinary school if there's a culinary school nearby, or if there's a local restaurant that is your favorite just go out and ask make a connection that way or get into a local community that asks that question go on Facebook or if you have LinkedIn or Instagram or anything like that, just go out and ask the question and see what kind of results you get. There might be someone like me and that state or in that area that is looking to do something like that.
Barb Fletcher:I think it's an interesting time that we have right now in that with the pandemic at least in the in the area I live in people because they're not spending in other places are perhaps a little more open, to paying for food delivered in the way that you prepare the Andy and I think that that's an exciting time. Having grown up on a farm, there wasn't always a whole lot of value placed on the effort that farmers and people who were actually nurturing that food. So I think there's been a shift, a value shift perhaps, in how this all It's going to shake out. Yeah, for sure.
Deb Timmerman:You know, it's interesting since I've been picking up our CSA share. So we went, I always frequented the farmers markets. And I had been buying from this one lady for a couple years, and my husband thought that we wouldn't be able to use the produce that we got. But this year, we decided to do it more so because for a while, things were a little bit scarce in our area, finding organic produce. And it feels as if the food that I pick up from her and her husband tastes better. So I started to see pictures of them planting seeds. And it's like the love feeling, because you know, they're working hard. And they're like, they have pickups between, like noon and one. And there's a second pick up during the day. But there's lots of community people there that are also picking up and it's become a way to get to know my neighbors, and kind of a fun thing. And I think that's what the one thing that food does is it connects cultures, and it connects us to each other so that I mean, there's commonality and breaking bread together. You're what what a cool way conversation and all the other things that come with sharing that meal. Obviously, running a catering business is it's a lot. What do you do for your stress relief practice? Can you share your favorite with our listeners?
Andy Schultz:Yeah, there's my favorite stress relief is working out. So that's another strong belief. For me. It's just, I get out and walk every night. So I go out for a 45 minute walk, come back and do some lightweight push ups, sit ups use my body strength and everything like that as my stress relief.
Deb Timmerman:That's awesome. Physical activity is always left to the end. And sometimes it doesn't happen.
Andy Schultz:Correct.
Barb Fletcher:Yeah. It's It is so so important. And I liken what happens to us throughout the day is you know, we push that stress down and, and the exercise is actually a way for us to release all that may have been bottled up and actually be able to start with a clean slate the following day.
Deb Timmerman:Andy if our listeners want to touch base with you in West Michigan, where to find you.
Andy Schultz:You can find us on Facebook at Four Chefs Catering LLC. And then you can reach us at 616-893-2734. Or you can email us at forfourchefs@gmail.com. And then I have a Facebook page as well, Andy Schultz.
Deb Timmerman:I'll also link the podcast to your website and some of the photography that Andy posts on Facebook. It's just beautiful. Like he had a salad up there yesterday. That was stunning. And I think what you mentioned to me this morning at our networking event was people eat with their eyes first.
Andy Schultz:They do. Yes, I'm a strong believer of that. So if the food looks good, it has to taste good. So you're eating with your eyes. That's what they taught us in culinary school. Eat with your eyes, your first impression is very key.
Deb Timmerman:Well, we are so glad you can hop on with us today and share a little bit about food being medicine. We hope to talk to you again sometime. So thanks a lot.
Andy Schultz:Thank you. I appreciate the time
Barb Fletcher:Ta-Ta!
Deb Timmerman:Less stress in life is possible. If you're new to this kind of thinking and would like to explore what's possible for you. We'd love to connect. You can reach us through our website at lessstressinlife.com. That's less stress in life.com