—Drew Tait, Executive Chef, The Forest Country Club
Meet the Class of 2024: Drew Tait
- Age: 36
- Executive Chef
- The Forest Country Club (Fort Myers, Fla.)
Drew Tait is passionate about maintaining exemplary standards while developing his culinary team for the future. With 17 years of executive chef experience under his belt, he believes he has a responsibility to guide the next generation of club chefs.
Club + Resort Chef (C+RC): How do you feel about being recognized as one of C+RC's 40 Under 40 honorees, and what significance does this achievement hold for you?
Drew Tait (DT): After 17 years as an executive chef, being honored as a nominee for the 40 Under 40 list is a great feeling. It aligns with my personal beliefs that as chefs age and grow, they should transition to passing their experiences to the younger generations following them. Using your own life experiences to mentor and guide younger culinarians is a responsibility that all chefs must embrace and a passion I developed later in my career. Being nominated is a fantastic way to recognize chefs who have accomplished a lot before becoming 40 years old. It means a great deal to me that I have been nominated, and it would be even more amazing to be recognized by my peers as one of C+RC’s 40 Under 40 chefs!
C+RC: What advice would you offer young chefs aiming to excel in the club and resort culinary industry?
DT: Be a sponge to everything around you. Don't stop learning. Set long-term and short-term goals that keep you progressing. Get into a salary position with management responsibilities as quickly as you can. It might be a pay cut to start, but you will have stability and can grow faster to a higher salary in the future.
C+RC: Can you share a personal challenge you've faced in your career and explain how it has shaped you as a chef?
DT: The personal challenge that set me on a different path in our business started with pasta. If it weren't for pasta or the fact that I didn't know how to cook pasta properly once in my life, there is a good chance I would not be a chef today. I had been cooking at a restaurant for about a year when I decided to spend my last two years of high school in a culinary program. I cooked pasta one day at school and completely ruined it. I used too little water and not enough salt, overcooked it, and oiled it afterward. Chef Jack Elias asked at standup, "Who made this pasta?" I proudly said, "Me, Chef!" He proceeded to rip my dish to shreds, with everyone watching. They could see my blood begin to boil.
I was offended, pissed off, and I was leaving. I went and got my knives, threw my apron on the table, and headed for the door. As my hand turned the handle to leave, Chef said, "Are you going to run away from everything for the rest of your life?" I stopped, turned around, and followed him into his office. We continued to argue about pasta and my poor cooking techniques. At the end of the conversation, he asked me to do something that changed my life. He said, "Drew, I want you to go home tonight and read about how to cook pasta. I don't want you to just read about it in one cookbook (this was before recipes were all over the internet); I want you to read about it in fifteen different cookbooks and then come back to tell me what you've learned. If I don't tell you five other things those books didn't teach you, you can leave." That night, I learned so many things about pasta: why you need to use a specific ratio of water to pasta, why we season the water, why you don't oil the pasta after it's cooked, and why there are so many pasta shapes. The next day, I arrived at school, walked up to my chef, and told him what I had learned. He then told me ten different things I didn't find in the books that blew me away. This spark launched me into an odyssey of learning and professional cooking that changed my life in many ways.
C+RC: What are your future goals and your plan to achieve them?
DT: I am continuing to be an executive chef with plans to progress to more challenging and prestigious clubs. My next career move would be to gain additional experience in platinum or DCA-level clubs with larger memberships and additional outlets.
C+RC: What inspired your career in the club and resort sector?
DT: I worked in resorts and hotels for seven years. I had some great learning experiences but could not find a good work-life balance. Coming to clubs allowed me to obtain a positive balance in my life, mentor team members, and adequately grow my teams. Focusing on quality and member satisfaction is the best thing about cooking in the club environment.