Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chef Lucy Sunflower . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Chef Lucy, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
In any food and beverage career facing burn out is inevitable. Often we are the silent force with a smiling face. For a Chef, we deal with an abnormal amount of stress. And owning the business triples that stress. Crunching numbers, managing marketing, staff/employees, menus and inventory…that can trickle down and splinter into so many things. And to the average person it may stop at the end of a service. But the truth is, we are there cleaning and making sure everything is good to do it all again.
That cycle of micromanaging, overthinking, and holding oneself to the highest standards produces an unreal amount of responsibility. It’s easy to be consumed by thoughts of the kitchen.
Personally, it’s even easier to fill your time with how to improve it all, the “I should’ves” at night can keep you awake.
We do so much work, that’s essentially over in a few minutes. But for those few minutes it’s the highest satisfaction you can experience. Hungry people fed, is a high I can never explain to other people.
I don’t try and avoid burn out. Some of us are just built to “go” until we crash. What I do is try and make sure my landing is soft lol.
To overcome burn out, I make sure to have a wellness and mental health checklist. My friends and family do an amazing job checking in daily. And even when I don’t respond they keep me connected to what’s going on with them. That always makes me feel like I’m not forgotten in the real world, outside of work.
I also make it my mission to find activities that aren’t food related. I’ve found things that exercise my mind, body and spirit.
I’ve found cupping, chakra tuning, yoga, hiking and a lot of biohacking things that keep me personally from feeling so much built up stress.
I also make sure I enjoy food for the sake of enjoying food, the way customers do. Living in vegas there’s always a new restaurant or food experience to go to. And it’s so nice to be able to appreciate my fellow food and beverage industry folks.
If I only ever wake up and catch a sunrise, I’m a able to overcome the burnout. Taking time to appreciate every minute I’m not cooking is a gift and necessary evil.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m always known for colorful, flavorful vegan food. And I’ve always made teas and spices, professionally. Recently I’ve stepped back from that and committed myself to Sports Nutrition Coaching. It’s allowed me to step head first into something I’ve always enjoyed: fitness and athletics. I get to spend a lot of hours in the gym, studying and researching different hydration strategies and recovery techniques.
I’m always so surprised to see how far food can reach people. And I’m so excited to continue my Sports Nutrition journey.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
3 skills that have been most impactful to me with my journey: -understanding that a “no” isn’t rejection, you may just not meet the requirements. And also understanding that being eager to meet everyone’s requirements may hinder you more than helping
-always be more specific. Streamline every idea.
-you’ll always need more money. Whatever you think your budget is, try to plan to double that. Or at the very least, understand there’s always costs you can’t prepare for.
Early in the journey the worst thing you’re thinking about is “no one showing up”. Marketing constantly, insurance, team building for employees those are all equally as important factors in your plan. It’s ok to have the grand idea, but don’t lose sight on the very fine details.
The best advice I can give for people early in their journey is: keep ask sense of humor and learn to breathe deep.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
I love creative clients. I like the weirdos or the picky eaters. I like the late night gym folks and the ones who have extreme training environments. The clients who want to go hiking at sunrise to see what foods absorb better at high altitudes. I love those people.
It’s a certain energy I get from working with them. I feel like they fuel me.
They inspire me.
The picky eaters for me are easy, I usually connect foods with nostalgic memories or happy thoughts. I don’t like forcing foods anyway, so at least the picky eaters are always honest.
My ideal client is someone who handles all situations with a sense of humor and dedication.
Contact Info:
- Website: Lostvegastea.com
- Instagram: @cheffeedmeflowers
- Youtube: @airfriedanime
