#241 Marc Murphy – Becoming a Master Chef, Overcoming Dyslexia, and Team Building Philosophies

2:16 Moving Around the World

Marc lived in various countries growing up and throughout his adulthood, and he says the primary lesson that this taught him was to learn how to get along with people very quickly.

He explains how this has helped him within the restaurant industry and the many walks of life he interacts with in work.

“You become sort of a chameleon in being able to transform yourself into a different person. You’re still yourself but you definitely have to be able to endear yourself upon people very quickly lets say”

6:48 Interest In Becoming A Chef

Marc struggled throughout school and after he graduated he worked in New York as a handyman while living with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend. Feeling bad about not paying rent, Marc began to cook dinner for the three of them and had fun trying out new dishes.

“I don’t know if I was interested in cooking but I was interested in eating. I just loved to eat, I loved food.”

Marc went to cooking school for 3 months which planted the seed that he could build a career out of it.

12:09 Dyslexia & Insecurities

“I never had much confidence. Being dyslexic and nobody understanding dyslexia for me at that time in my life, because people didn’t understand it that well, I sort of credit dyslexia for getting me where I am because I was told I wasn’t smart so I always felt I had to work harder”

Marc tells the story of the first compliment he received during his first job in the kitchen and how his insecurity still lingers today despite his success.
“I kind of always feel like whatever I go into I kind of cross my fingers behind my back hoping it works”

Marc’s Advice:

“I always explain to people when they start a new job, if you don’t have butterflies in your stomach and you’re not nervous and you’re not really scared out of your mind going into a new job then you’re probably accepting the wrong job because it’s not pushing you hard enough”

18:00 Enjoying Life

Marc says that the past year with the global pandemic has given him time to reflect and think about the next chapter in his life.

“Part of me just doesn’t care and just says to myself, I want to have fun. We’re not here that long on this round marble wherever we are on Earth. We’re not here that long, we shouldn’t be miserable, we shouldn’t hate life, we should enjoy life”

20:34 Helping Others

Marc explains what his perfect world would be: having a job that you’re passionate about that also challenges you while also helping other people along the way.

“When you’re struggling and when you’re going through these emotions, you’re forging your character and I think that is something that is really big”

22:14 Supporting the Dyslexic Community

“Being on a show like Chopped and having a national stage of sorts, I’ve always found that whenever I mention my dyslexia on Chopped I get so much social media or emails from people saying they are so inspired”

Marc continues to help learning impared people through his partnership with the organization Braintrust Tutors.

“Young people with dyslexia have to understand that they probably are smarter than most people. It’s just that they live in a society that doesn’t gear education for them and the way they need to learn.”

28:00 Mentors & Teachers

During his younger years, Marc says that his grandfather had one of the biggest influences on him.

Throughout the many people that influenced Marc throughout his chef career, he says that the chef Sylvain Portay from his time working at Le Cirque in New York had a great impact on him.

“When he explained food the way he saw it, his philosophy was really eye opening to me and very accessible to me so he was a very big influence for me”

Marc’s Career Regret:

“My only regret in my cooking career is that maybe I became a chef too early”

Becoming a chef at the age of 26 caused Marc to dive into his career rather than spend more time absorbing other chef’s insights.

37:23 Immediate Gratification

Marc says that one of the main things he’s loved about the restaurant industry is the immediate gratification of watching customers enjoy his food.

“What I do, I can watch the people enjoy it at their table afterwards. You can see it in their face and it’s immediate gratification”

39:30 Opening Up Restaurants

Marc says that being a line cook is great preparation for being a restaurant owner because you’re doing so many different things at the same time. He explains how anything that goes wrong will be blamed on the restaurant owner and so training the people beneath you is incredibly important.

“It’s really about building a team that you trust and that you know will do what they need to do”

41:37 Talent Development

“I always used to say, especially for front of the house staff, let’s not hire people that know everything that they’re doing and that they’re perfect at what they’re doing, let’s hire people that are nice and then teach them how to do things because that’s one thing I can’t teach people is how to be nice”

Other traits that Marc focuses on when building his teams is loyalty, creative thinkers, and people that will speak up.

“I always tell people, you don’t work for me. We work together. That’s a very important difference”

46:00 Marc’s Strength

Marc says that his biggest strength right now is his experience.

“Clarity and sharing amongst ourselves, amongst our peers, we should all share and I think that’s something that I can do with people”

52:17 Marc’s Interview Choice

If Marc could spend an evening interviewing someone dead or alive, not a family member or friend, Marc would choose Winston Churchill.

“Having an oral history from someone who is actually sitting in front of you who’s had those experiences, there’s nothing better. That’s just delicious!”