Feb. 14, 2024
Chef Daryl Shular's Recipe for Success and Nurturing the Next Generation
There’s something powerful about a story rooted in purpose, passion, and giving back—and Chef Daryl Shular’s journey is exactly that. In this conversation, I connect with Chef Shular, a certified master chef and visionary leader in the culinary world, to talk about what it truly means to succeed and bring others along with you.
We dive into his path from early inspiration in the kitchen to becoming the first African American certified master chef, and how that achievement shaped his mission to mentor and uplift the next generation. From launching the Shular Institute to creating initiatives like Hospitality Forward and 100 Chefs of Tomorrow, this conversation is all about impact, resilience, and building something bigger than yourself.
Episode Highlights
[01:22] - I connect with Chef Daryl Shular and we begin with how his passion for cooking first started
[01:47] - The influence of his mother and how giving back shaped his purpose
[04:26] - Becoming the first African American certified master chef and what it means beyond the title
[06:11] - The mission behind Hospitality Forward and creating opportunities for underserved youth
[07:60] - The vision behind 100 Chefs of Tomorrow and removing financial barriers in culinary education
[10:31] - Advice for getting started in the culinary world without formal training
[13:03] - How recognition and awards reflect persistence and staying committed to your craft
[15:33] - The role of resilience, diversity, and becoming a true global citizen
[18:41] - How global experiences like the Culinary Olympics shaped his perspective
[20:50] - What it’s really like competing at the highest level in the culinary world
[24:56] - A defining moment of failure that reshaped his mindset and growth
[27:19] - Why creativity in the kitchen is always evolving and never finished
[30:55] - Balancing tradition with innovation through his “80/20” philosophy
[33:14] - What’s next: expansion, a new cookbook, and continued impact
[35:16] - Where to follow his journey and support his mission
Links & Resources
- Shular Institute: https://shularinstitute.com
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Website: https://AmeliaOld.com
If this conversation inspired you to pursue your passion or pour into someone else’s journey, take that step. And if you enjoyed listening, be sure to follow, rate, share, and leave a review—it helps these stories continue to reach and impact others.
Chapters
00:00 - Chef Darrell Schueller
06:06 - Hospitality and Chefs of Tomorrow
13:29 - Resilience, Diversity, and Global Citizenship
18:20 - Culinary Olympics' Influence on Cooking Approach
30:44 - Tradition and Innovation in Kitchen
36:32 - Importance of Giving and Supporting Others
Transcript
WEBVTT
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Welcome to Voices of Inspiration.
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Today, I'm honored to have Chef Darrell Schueller with us, a culinary trailblazer and the visionary behind the Schueller Institute.
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As an award-winning certified master chef, his impact on the culinary world is profound.
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In our conversation, he shares his journey from his early days in the industry to the founding of the Schueller Institute.
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Through initiatives like Hospitality Forward and 100 Chefs of Tomorrow, Chef Schueller is ensuring that aspiring chefs have access to quality education.
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Chef Schueller's philosophy blends tradition with innovation, emphasizing the importance of classic techniques alongside new flavors.
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Join us as we explore his story, filled with resilience, diversity and a global perspective.
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Everyone has a story to tell.
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We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories.
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My name is Amelia Ove and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration.
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Join me as I share stories of friends, family and strangers, for my everyday life and travels.
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You will laugh, possibly cry or walk away, feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs.
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Everyone has a story to tell.
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What's yours?
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Thank you so much for joining me today.
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I know you have a really busy schedule and I appreciate you just taking time to meet with me and to share your story.
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All that you are doing in the culinary world in the Atlanta area and beyond is really amazing and I really want to just start from the beginning.
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What initially sparked your passion for culinary arts?
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Well, first, thank you for this opportunity and platform.
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It's truly an honor.
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Well, I have to say that it really began at home.
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The love of food really began with watching my mother how she would cook and she was an absolutely amazing cook I would call her a chef and she was actually professionally trained.
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Just how she just took things that she knew and things that was affordable to her and making it absolutely, just incredible.
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And she had a heart of giving.
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So I think that's where the love of giving to others come from.
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I just saw how she would work in the citrus industry and it was a seasonal job and she would take what little she had and go buy and cook on the weekends and she'll feed pretty much everyone on the street, taking packages of food to all the neighbors, and we would pack food and put it in the backseat of the car and drive to church on Sunday.
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So that's really where the passion began for me.
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But the idea of turning that into a profession didn't start until I came to Atlanta back in 1992.
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And I saw a commercial for a local culinary school and it was something about that experience of watching that chef come out of the kitchen and in the commercial, everyone stood up and started clapping for him.
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And then I was like that's what I want to do and actually called the school and enrolled.
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And at that time culinary schools were just few, far in between, so I didn't have anything to compare to.
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But I went through, graduated from that program and actually started to teach at that same program 10 years later.
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So that's where everything began and that's what it led into my actual professional career.
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What was your favorite thing that your mom cooked?
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Oh, my God, so many memories.
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That's a good question.
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I always say you know she would make great one pot stews and me and my brother always ask one of you making ox tells.
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And you know we didn't know ox tail was a cultural thing, you know, but it was something that we just love the first and show make it with some rice and that rich broth and her greens.
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And you know southern food was part of our tradition, what we ate.
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But she was a great baker as well.
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She would make absolutely incredible like coconut cake or different pies, or she made this famous pecan candy that she's really known for.
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There's a lot of things I can say that bring back good memories of her.
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You are the first African American certified master chef.
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What does this accomplishment mean to you personally and how has it influenced your approach to mentorship?
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Well, being the first African American to obtain the title of certified master chef, that's for me, was just a goal that I had for myself.
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It wasn't that, you know, I was, you know, a champion trying to be the first.
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It was just, I just wanted to be a master chef and I knew that there was a lot of chefs out there and the word master just thrown out quite a bit and it doesn't say that people haven't mastered the art of cooking.
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But then it's debatable Right, are you really a master to craft?
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So when I found out that there was an actual certified master chef exam a level, the highest level that you can get as a person, of chef, individual chef I said that's what I wanted to do and I learned that right out of high school.
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And so pursuing those goals you know, being on the Olympic team as a platform to become a master chef, and then taking that 130 hour cooking exam over eight days and pass it in the California, that whole entire process really shaped the second phase of my career.
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But to your question, what it does for the youth and people around me is that we obtain those things so that we can give it to others.
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And if you look at my career, there was always influences from other people like inspirations, and then there was always a flood of people that come behind me that I gave to, and so I just love the idea of just obtaining knowledge and obtaining skills to give to others.
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And it's not really about me even though I get a lot of recognition and a lot of praise it's really about me obtaining as much as I possibly can so I can help as many people as I possibly can.
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I really love that.
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That's really great.
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Can you talk a little bit about hospitality Ford?
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So Hospitality 4 is the Schueger Institute's 5013C nonprofit arm.
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It is designed to really go after those who are really looking at hospitality as a life-changing opportunity.
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They probably haven't even decided whether or not this is going to be a professional goal of theirs, but an opportunity for them to see, behind the hidden curtain, what can be for them in hospitality.
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So Hospitality 4, we work with different organizations.
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We work with youth kids that are in high school, kids who are marginalized, kids who parents probably been incarcerated.
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We want to make sure that they have a new look on life and see themselves as future global citizens.
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So we work with different organizations to provide a pathway for them to learn.
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So, whether it's through donations, in-kind donations, equipment, things that we can help drive the mission.
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Because when you think about launching a restaurant is daunting all on its own, launching a culinary school 10 times is daunting, is that?
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And it's a challenge for us, and I actually self-funded this whole entire project.
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So, as much work as we have done and accomplished, there's so much more to be done and without the help of the hospitality community or people who believe in these type of missions, we're not going to get far down the street.
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We need that fuel.
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So hospitality for just a platform for us to continue our mission to allow students to learn and without having to put that tax so that that financial burden on them while they're learning.
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Now you have a new initiative 100 Chefs of Tomorrow, right and that is set to provide tuition-free access to the Schuler Institute.
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What inspired you to create that program and what impact do you hope it will have on aspiring chefs?
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Well, me and my business partner came up with 100 Future Chefs initiative because, you know, in this day and age, you know the workforce is suffering, especially on the hospitality side, and we have to go back to the drawing board, almost to kind of repaint the picture of hospitality and being a hospitality professional.
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And back in the day we should pride ourselves off of working 80 hours a week, 100 hours a week, and then, as you get older, you realize that was a dumb decision, because now you got health to deal with, you got your body to deal with and you got life to live.
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So what we're trying to do now is paint the picture of there can be balance in your life and you can also be a hospitality professional.
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So with this 100 Chefs initiative is that we're going out and we're working with our corporate partners and our future donors to help provide a network of opportunities through merit-based grants, scholarships, funds, so that these kids can go through the hospitality program, get a high-level education, true hands-on experience in real-world settings, and then not have to worry about the burden of paying it back.
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And for me, that's just where my heart is, it's just where I believe that we should be taking hospitality education to.
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Not that we don't want the kids not to have skin in the game, but we want to make sure that they understand that they don't have to worry about or stress paying the bill.
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We already understand that a lot of businesses fall because of financial reasons or whatever, so we don't want that burden to be passed on to these kids.
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So that's the reason why we came up with the 100 Chefs initiative.
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We are challenging other companies to be a part of this initiative.
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I've already committed over $100,000 of my own personal money to make sure that this education is given to these young men and women and give them opportunities.
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So it's a challenge to the community to join forces with us, join forces with me and help get these kids through the finish line without the burden of how do they pay it back?
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That's so important because oftentimes these kids do, once they graduate college or whatever program that they're in, that they're not set up for success, because then they're left with this big bill, and we see that in a lot of different industries.
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So I think that's really important.
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How do you believe that the financial barriers that impact the culinary industry, what steps do you think that someone can do to overcome those?
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You know, if they don't have a scholarship, if they don't have these programs, what are some of the things where they can follow their dreams?
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What are some of the steps that you recommend?
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Right, so that's a good question.
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So for those who are looking at hospitality education or some type of continuing development programs as an obstacle because they think that there's an astronomical feat to pay to get into those programs, there's different ways that you can get into the hospitality industry.
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You know, find a local shelf at one of your favorite restaurants or someone that you know that's in the hospitality industry and they're doing that type of work that is interesting to you, whether it's bacon and pastry, whether it's catering or whatever.
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You know.
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Go to them, send them an email, reach out to them and ask hey, I'm a young man, a woman and I would love to shadow you.
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Do a couple of hours on the weekends.
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You know it's not interfering with your school life, but you know they will open up their doors.
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One thing about the hospitality industry regardless of what you see out there, you know the temperament, you know the hardness that we have, but we are giving in our nature, because that's the only reason why we get out the bed in the morning is because we love giving to people.
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We love giving our work, we love giving our time.
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And so somebody young come to us and say hey, I want to learn from you.
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Nine times out of 10, that shelf or that manager, whoever it may be, will say, yes, you know what?
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Let me train you, let me work with you.
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So there's a lot of different ways that you can get into the industry without having to worry about paying the fee For me.
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That's the reason why I wanted to create the Schuler Institute, because they need a combination of some formal training and education and also, at the same time, real world experience, and we give both of those in a very unique setting.
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But we also want them to be able to go through the program without the worry of that barrier.
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Right, how do I get into it without having to worry about the money?
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Money is always the determining factor for a lot of our success.
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So we believe that, together with the corporate role coming together for one initial cause, that we can allow students to get that education without having to worry about the financial burden of it.
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That's great advice.
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I firmly believe in hands-on experience, so I definitely agree with that and appreciate that.
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You have been honored with some really amazing awards and accolades and I know that you said that that's not what you do it for, but I mean it's super impressive and it includes being inducted into the African American Hall of Fame in Savannah and the Smithsonian African American Museum.
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How have those recognitions influenced your mission in the culinary world?
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Well, I think those are just the results of being committed to what you do, and I think that's an example that we want to share with young men and women.
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Like for me, I've been doing one thing since I was 17, 18 years old and I never deviated from this path that I've been on.
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And those are just rewards, those are just badges that just show like, hey, if you stay at it, you can.
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You know you stay committed to it.
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This is what can happen for you as well.
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There's nothing special about me.
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You know.
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I didn't go to a harbor or anything like that.
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I was just a determined young man who wanted to one prove a lot to myself, but also prove a lot to those people who voted me less likely to succeed.
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And so, because of that, I know there's a lot of men and women out there who's feeling the same thing that I felt back when I was a young kid.
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And so you know, by having that determination and having goals that you want to work towards, regardless how crazy they are right you think about all of those awards and accolades that I've got always came when I accomplished something that people said I couldn't accomplish.
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The first was like hey, he can't make the Olympic team.
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Well, guess what?
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I did make the Olympic team.
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And here comes some more reward with that.
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And then it was like they would never allow an African-American field certified master chef, which to me was absolutely BS.
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And I say you know what?
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I'm going to prove these people wrong.
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So I studied, I became a true student of my craft.
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I worked, I left myself open to feedback from all different types of people and not just, you know, in my own community, but you know people with different backgrounds and letting that soak in and develop myself to be a master chef, I went and I passed the master chef exam.
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So all of these awards and all this recognition that you see, is not that I happen to be a great personality on TV or I happen to luck up and win some type of lottery.
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All of that is a reward for being persistent during the good and bad times to this cause of being the professional chef.
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But the secret part of that recipe is that I've always gave every step of the way.
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I never went on this road and made it about Darryl Shuler.
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I always made it about other people, and I think that's the piece that we forget about.
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Is cannot be about you.
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It has to be about others, and if you put others in front of you, you'll always be in the spotlight.
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I love that.
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You know you've talked about this a little bit, but how does your commitment to resilience and diversity play a role in shaping these young people that you're working with?
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Well, that's a great question, because why you have to be persistent and resilient?
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Because there's going to be so many things in life that's going to be there to slow you down, Whether it's through the hands of people or just life in general.
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These are tests that's there to keep you from getting to where you want to be in life, and, whether you're a spiritual person or not, you still have to face those obstacles.
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And for me, I just knew the higher I went, the thinner the atmosphere is right, the harder it is to breathe.
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The likelihood of something happening.
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The farther the fall, the harder the fall.
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Not too many people are there.
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You know it's like you know, climbing Mount Everest.
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You know you get there as a goal, but look at all the danger that comes along with it.
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And I think if you are shooting for the stars, you have to understand that you have to accept the good and you also have to accept the bad.
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And so, with me, I found that I've developed all the tools to protect myself by working with multicultural people.
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And the reason why I say that is because I have something to fall back on and something don't work out for me.
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Right, I'm not a one dimensional shelf.
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I understand the business piece.
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I know how to communicate with people.
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I know how to work with people.
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I know how to get in the kitchen and grind it out if I need to.
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I can wash dishes if I have to.
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I'm really really well rounded, and I think we have to understand that you have to polish the ball all the way around, and so, with that, I would tell young men and women to be a true global citizen.
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Learn the stories of everyone around you, Because in order for you to master the art of cooking, whether it's any type of cultural cuisine, you'll never really master it without understanding the cultural aspects behind it, the stories of the people, the reason why they do things, and here's the reason you know why it's not really authentic.
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If you did it that way, and I think if you open yourself up to be a true sponge, you can still shoot for the stars and not have to worry about an offset moment, because you have the tools to still land on your feet and get back up there again.
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So I know that's a long way around with that question, but I just feel passionate about that because I've always faced resistance and it doesn't come in a traditional setting right.
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Most people look at a black chef and think racism was just hitting you in the face like you know when or whatever.
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And that's not really the case, I think, in life.
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I think if you present yourself in a very professional manner, you carry yourself with a certain sense of pride and dignity.
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People want to gravitate to you and it's people from all over the world and different cultures want to gravitate to you.
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So that's where I'm at with the development of our students is making them true global citizens, so they can go anywhere in this world and they should be able to flourish.
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You mentioned it before the Culinary Olympics and you participated also in the Culinary World Cup.
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How has the exposure to these different cultures influenced your approach to cooking?
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You mentioned some of this on teaching, but what about creating your various dishes?
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Well for myself.
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Having that global experience is really important For me.
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I just I wanted to travel to where I wanted to get out of Central Florida.
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I wanted to just travel as many countries as I possibly can, and it was a good combination of travel, cooking and sports, and I love sports.
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I love the competitive nature, I love the camaraderie of working on the team, really focusing on one common goal and everybody pushing in that same direction.
00:19:08.776 --> 00:19:24.420
So that whole entire experience was not just me exposing myself to the different types of cooking around the world, but it gave me an opportunity to learn, you know, that there are some similarities in everything that we do, specifically when it comes to cooking.
00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:26.997
So I just love the idea of travel.
00:19:27.529 --> 00:19:41.961
So when I was on the Olympic team, when you have to develop your skills and you have to develop your program, you have to do it in such a high level that you competed against 63 other countries and those shelves are competing against you and everybody's competing against each other.
00:19:41.961 --> 00:19:48.095
So you always got to push the envelope and refine your skills and not get complacent that you have something good.
00:19:48.095 --> 00:19:51.318
You know it's easy for you to say, wow, I think this is perfect.
00:19:51.318 --> 00:19:53.518
Let's stop you never stop.
00:19:53.518 --> 00:19:56.398
You always look at how we can make it even better.
00:19:56.990 --> 00:19:58.578
Perfection is always one step ahead.
00:19:58.578 --> 00:20:03.361
I don't think you ever reach perfection, because if you reach perfection I think you stop learning.
00:20:03.361 --> 00:20:20.140
So that's kind of like some of the things I've learned on those journeys with the Olympic team, representing the United States, with the ACF A lot of great master's shelves that became mentor and inspirations for me, a brotherhood that I created with my fellow colleagues who was on the team.
00:20:20.140 --> 00:20:28.460
We don't talk to each other every day, but when we do speak and when we do talk we pick up where we left off, and that type of relationship you can't put a price tag on.
00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:35.643
So for me it was just a great opportunity to just learn and it made me into the chef who I am today.
00:20:36.391 --> 00:20:40.320
What did a day look like in the culinary Olympics?
00:20:40.320 --> 00:20:44.438
I'm not as familiar with that, so is it a timed event?
00:20:44.438 --> 00:20:46.718
Do you all cook at the same time?
00:20:46.718 --> 00:20:49.297
What does an event look like with that?
00:20:50.211 --> 00:20:53.098
Well, the culinary Olympics is a process.
00:20:53.098 --> 00:20:54.221
It's a one-dope time.
00:20:54.221 --> 00:20:58.761
Yes, it's one event that's happening every four years.
00:20:58.761 --> 00:21:04.510
As a matter of fact, it's going on right now in Germany, with the US Olympic team over there competing.
00:21:04.510 --> 00:21:14.864
So we wish them all the best, but when I went in 2008, I was on the 2018, we actually started training in 2005.
00:21:14.864 --> 00:21:27.721
And what they do is, with the American Culinary Federation, they'll put out an announcement that they're going through the trial process and so all these shelves will submit applications like your competition resume, your work resume.
00:21:27.721 --> 00:21:34.835
Fill out an application, they'll send you an invite to come and compete and you'll do like a first phase competition.
00:21:34.835 --> 00:21:43.319
So it's more like the cold food your platters, your aspects, your garnishes, your pate, your terrines, all the intricate stuff to show your skill level.
00:21:43.319 --> 00:21:49.531
And if you score or you medal at a certain level, you get invited to what they call the finals.
00:21:49.531 --> 00:21:58.441
And the finals is where they will put you in the kitchen and you have X amount of hours to cook X amount of dishes for X amount of people, known as about for 10.
00:21:58.441 --> 00:22:12.380
And it's very stringent process because they want to see your capacity to cook on the pressure and your innovation and your thought and how you work with a combing, and so I was able to achieve that in 2005.
00:22:13.009 --> 00:22:22.517
And then for two years we train and we went to a few competitions leading up to the actual main competition, which was the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, germany.
00:22:22.517 --> 00:22:29.623
And you're traveling every other weekend with your job 40, 50, 60 hours a week that you work on your job.
00:22:29.623 --> 00:22:30.934
Then you got to train.
00:22:30.934 --> 00:22:38.479
You got to work on your platter, your component, your assignment on that team, and then come as a team and have like a mock practice session.
00:22:38.479 --> 00:22:46.098
So when you go to the Culinary Olympics there are so many different categories because there are so many skill sets associated with cooking.
00:22:46.098 --> 00:23:02.573
So you got your bacon and pastry, you got your centerpieces, you got your pettifourth finger food, you got restaurant platters and plated dishes, and then you have your show platters, which is kind of your elaborate garmanger techniques, cold food.
00:23:03.410 --> 00:23:06.558
There's so many different ways of showcasing skills in the kitchen.
00:23:06.558 --> 00:23:19.240
And then when you're on the national team, you actually go in the kitchen and you cook for about 50 people a four course meal and the judges judge any plate that they want to choose out of that 50 as your scoring plates.
00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:21.576
So it requires a lot of focus.
00:23:21.576 --> 00:23:27.275
It requires a lot of consistency and focus, and a lot of people can't do that.
00:23:27.275 --> 00:23:29.877
A lot of people can start off strong but they end up flat.
00:23:30.690 --> 00:23:53.150
And when you're part of the Olympic team, every dish, from the very first to the last, need to be gold medal standards, because you just never know, and that type of skill set and that type of focus and that innovation that goes along with creating a program that haven't been seen before, because you don't want to duplicate what another team has done and you want to bring something fresh and new because it's designed to push the industry forward.
00:23:53.150 --> 00:24:02.939
And so with that, with that type of skill set and that training, it allows you to constantly develop as a chef, and so that was the huge platform that I took to become a master chef.
00:24:04.142 --> 00:24:06.297
Wow, that sounds like a lot of pressure.
00:24:06.450 --> 00:24:26.519
I don't even like somebody coming in my kitchen when I cook, but you also got to think about we're cooking in different kitchens, and that's another thing that a lot of chefs suffer with is that we become complacent with our own and I have to have my own set of knives, I have to have my own set of kitchen tools.
00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:38.941
I can only adapt, I can only do well if I'm in my home kitchen my home kitchen or my own kitchen, whatever but can you take that level of excellence with you in any situation?
00:24:38.941 --> 00:24:40.494
And that's really the challenge.
00:24:41.973 --> 00:24:42.936
Yeah, I can see that.
00:24:42.936 --> 00:24:44.050
So can you.
00:24:44.050 --> 00:24:53.256
Aside from that, can you share a memorable moment, inspiring moment even from these experiences in your culinary journey?
00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:00.756
I'm going to give one that's not so pleasant and I'm going to tell you reason why.
00:25:00.756 --> 00:25:04.880
So when I was on the Olympic team in 2008,.
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:15.923
After you experienced success, you got to be careful, because when you're young and you're naive, you think that you've made it and you're good for life.
00:25:15.923 --> 00:25:24.099
Then what comes in is self-entitlement and you feel like I got it piece of cake.
00:25:24.099 --> 00:25:34.202
So, after coming back from a, from a successful 2008 run with lipid gold medals, we tried out again for 2012 team.
00:25:34.202 --> 00:25:36.029
You know I was working my job.
00:25:36.029 --> 00:25:40.123
I was, you know, my, my, my status rose even more.
00:25:40.123 --> 00:25:44.477
You know, really basket in the glory and Not really taking it serious.
00:25:44.877 --> 00:25:51.953
And so in 2012, I didn't do so well and that was a huge Awakening for me.
00:25:51.953 --> 00:25:58.509
It was one of the most miserable moments of my life because that self-entitlement is a killer.
00:25:58.509 --> 00:26:14.061
And so when people say, why don't you celebrate more shelf, well, you having the experience of downfall like I've had, you know, you having the experience that that self-inflicted wound, because you just feel like you just got it together and you don't have to push anymore.
00:26:14.061 --> 00:26:22.750
So I said to myself, no matter what kind of magazine I'm in or what feature I'm on, I'll Be grateful for it, but I'm not celebrating it.
00:26:22.750 --> 00:26:28.402
I never will not have that sense of urgency and that hunger ever again.
00:26:28.402 --> 00:26:37.003
So that story turned out to be a great story because it allowed me to stay consistent from that point on.
00:26:37.003 --> 00:26:49.170
So I was able still to go still to go back to the Olympics in 2012, but it also gave me that firing at determination to push it even farther, to make sure I met that platform, to become a master chef.
00:26:50.272 --> 00:27:01.757
Well, I think what's key in that story, too, is that you learned from it and you took those lessons to grow as an individual, because I think People don't always do that.
00:27:01.757 --> 00:27:09.040
I think we're all guilty of that at some point in our lives, and I think that that is the key part of that is that you took that and you grew from it.
00:27:09.040 --> 00:27:10.483
Yeah, that's really important.
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