We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Doug Settle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Doug below.
Doug, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I believe my work ethic stems from many places and people in life. My dad always pushed me to do the things in life that I enjoy doing, while also maintaining an understanding that some work just has to be done. I think that stemmed from a life long career in agriculture for him, where the farm never sleeps. His parents also had a heavy influence coming from not a career in agriculture, but a culture of agriculture. It’s a way of life for them and the time they grew up in, not always a choice, however I doubt they’d choose it any other way. My grandmother used to always say, “a farmers work is never done”. I suppose that applies to being a chef as well, especially a chef on a farm.
My mothers parents also weighed heavy on this, her dad being the first in the family to go to college, he really made a life for himself and his career, came a long way that is. Even though he had a very successful career, was active in church and maintained a beautiful home, he always had an abundance of time for the family. I always admired that work ethic.
I’d say last but not least my ethic comes from being in love with what I do. I always want to push the boundaries and grow, both for myself and the people I lead. I could never do what I do without a strong team, so I have to be strong for them as well.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
First and foremost I’d say I’m a chef. I’m in love with food and everything surrounding it! I always want to learn more about the ingredients, where they come from, what makes them special, how they’re grown, raised or produced. When a farmer, rancher or producer is excited about something they’ve poured their heart into I feed into that energy, I can’t wait to showcase it and tell their story on a menu or to intrigued guests.
My day job is a small but special part of what I do. I work on a farm running the culinary department where I basically get to spend my days talking to farmers and then sharing that knowledge and passion with my staff and guests.
In my spare time I’m an entrepreneur with my fiancé. We’re in the start-up phases of a business that allows us to do what we love most, create and cook! We’re hosting pop-up dinners in our backyard in Oceanside and at partner farms under the brand Hearth & Harvest, where we focus on sustainable and local produce, meats, and seafoods as well as natural/local wine and cider. All of this from the perspective of a seasoned chef and nutritionist. We live and breathe these ethos in our lives and this is a channel in which we can share this passion with others! We’re currently just getting started but this is something that can bloom into a full events space. We aim to bring people together. Around the food and fire as well as creating community around their local farmers! This is the old way of the food industry, we’re just leading people to know their food. Where it comes from, what’s in it, why it’s raised and grown the way it is. The way our grandparents grew up
To further the Hearth & Harvest brand, we’re adding another layer. Home & Harvest. With Home and Harvest we’ll take what you may have experienced at our event and bring it into your home! As a chef and nutritionist, teaching is in our blood, so we’ve created a container in which we can do just that. When you sign up you’ll find a plethora of healthy, seasonal recipes designed for flavor and approachability. As well as, seasonal produce guides, equipment recommendations, cooking tutorials and more! The same way we want to connect people around our table, we want you to be able to do the same around your table! Food brings everyone together, it always has. However it can be a bit intimidating with all the greenwashing and food blogs out there. Home and Harvest takes some of the stress out with the advice of two food professionals at your fingertips.
The best way to find both of these brands in on instagram @hearthandharvestsd, @homeandharvest and chefdougsettle.com
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’d say finding or falling in love with what you do and the people you do that with is the most important thing you can do. We’ve all heard that “if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life”. I’m not sure how much I buy into that. After a 16 hour day, I definitely wake up felling like I worked, but it’s the love that gets me out of bed to do it all again the next day.
The side of it that people leave out is loving the people you do it with. That could be coworkers, a boss, customer, client, guest, whoever. I love bringing people together and teaching them about what I love to do. The look on a guest’s face when I share my passion, or the excitement when I get to teach a young cook something new. That’s just as important as the actual work itself.
I’d say discipline is a third factor. I can’t pinpoint exactly where my drive and discipline came from, as aforementioned, it’s probably a multitude of things. But this, some would call it, “obsessive” drive to be better and being disciplined enough to carry through with it, has gotten me through the times when I may not have exactly loved what I was doing. There’s good parts and tough parts of every job, do the tough parts and the good parts are even more rewarding.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
Good to Great by James C. Collins has deeply influenced my path as a leader. The basic premise of the book is that nothing is more important in a business than its people. Take care of the people and they will take care of the business, it’s a simple but hard to implement philosophy. It’s difficult to lean into and trust your staff when the numbers are tight, but if you’ve done your job and hired the right people, put them in the right seats and empowered, trusted and given them the proper tools, they’ll will almost always do the right thing.
Contact Info:
- Website: chefdougsettle.com
- Instagram: @dig.dougs.eats
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/doug-settle
- Other: business instagrams: @hearthandharvestsd @homeandharvestsd
Image Credits
Jordan King-Allen
