Full name: Patrick Drake
Role: Head Chef and Co-Founder
DOB: Bros was the soundtrack to my childhood
Birthplace: England
Twitter Handle: @patrickdrake
Website: www.hellofresh.co.uk
Fun Fact: “When I go out friends carry ginger nut biscuits with them to feed me as I get hungry very quickly and usually disappear to find food.”
So how did you end up with your own cooking show? And what’s it like producing one? Suppose I wanted to start my own (I don’t, since I gotta ‘face for radio!’) – how would that work?
When I was a lawyer I loved teaching people how to cook. I figured a fun way to teach a lot of people would be to have a TV show (I had a lot of time for daydreaming whilst reviewing contracts!). I wrote at the top of a piece of paper that I wanted to spend the rest of my life working with food and that by a certain date I would have my own show. Underneath I wrote the 8 things I would need to do to get there. And then I just got on with it. In secret.
I started working in the fine dining kitchen of my law firm during my lunchtimes without any of my colleagues knowing. In the evening I would get a taxi across London and change from pinstripes to chef whites. At weekends I would spend my time in a basement kitchen taking pin bones out of fish (whilst my friends messaged me asking why I wasn’t on the lash with them in the park). Eventually enough was enough – I quit to go after cooking full time and launched myself into learning techniques and creating a Youtube channel to practice being on camera. It sounds fun, but to be honest it wasn’t the easiest path to take.
An 80% pay-cut coupled with a fairly crazy ambition meant there were the occasional moments of OMG-what-the-hell-am-I-doing. But I kept on practicing, working in kitchens and meeting as many people in the food, television and print media industries. One day I received an email and the title was “Do you want to be in a TV show?…” and then everything changed. You can see the full story in the trailer to the TV show www.kylieandpatrick.com/trailer
You’re an ex city lawyer (and finance too?), right? Did you find yourself thinking about transitioning to a career in food from the beginning or was dissatisfaction gradual?
It’s funny – I moved house 6 months ago and found an old note pad from university 12 years ago. In the note pad was a message from a friend saying “don’t forget us when you are a tv chef”. I was blown away. I hadn’t dreamed up this crazy ambition while I was a lawyer, I’d been thinking about it all along. The trouble is, you come out of university and all your friends are getting themselves (so-called) high power jobs, wearing pin-stripe suits and having “meetings” (a vague word which always sounds more impressive than it really is), so you get sucked in too.
I knew the moment I stepped into my law firm that I didn’t want to be there, but it took me a few years to remember what it was I really loved. And to make the decision to go after it.
What do you learn from working in the city anyway? Is there much carryover?
Stamina.
What was it like working at The Fat Duck in Bray? Did you learn anything from the experience?
The Fat Duck was a dream. One night I’d worked my way into the afterparty for the GQ awards and I saw Heston there. I waited for my moment and jumped in front of him. I’d just written an online article about him the day before and he was curious to hear what I’d said.
I kept my elevator pitch brief but ended up saying “If I could come and peel potatoes at The Fat Duck it would be the greatest honour of my life.” He obviously took pity on such a modest ambition and the next thing I knew I was hanging out in the kitchens learning from the best chefs in the world!
The place is just as you’d imagine – the real Willy Wonka’s factory. I’ve never seen such a well oiled machine in my life – everything is scrupulously organised and the chefs were so generous and patient with their time. It’s an experience I will never forget.
So, Hello Fresh… how did you end up setting up what is now the UK’s largest recipe box service in what is a relatively competitive field? Could you tell us where the original idea came from and how you built it up to where it is today? What was the venture capital part like?
HelloFresh is an online recipe box delivery service. Customers order online and we send them recipes together with a chilled box of the exact fresh ingredients they need to cook those recipes ar home. We were the first people in the UK to do what we do. Back in 2012 a group of friends discussed the idea and 2 weeks later we were packing bags of ingredients in my living room. We’d seen similar concepts working abroad and tweaked them for the UK market. As we proved the concept we were able to secure more funding and now I’m happy to say we’ll deliver millions of my meals all across the UK this year!
How do you find and do business with suppliers? How did you manage to get them to create smaller packaging for your recipes?
Ha! This was tricky. Imagine calling up the people who supply meat to all the top London restaurants and asking them if they’ll completely change their operations to individually repack single breasts of chicken for us. We got used to the sound of the phone being put down. But a few suppliers took a chance on this optimistic bunch of dreamers and we grew from their. I love karma. One of those suppliers ended up buying a Jaguar a year later with the money he made from our account.
What’s the best response you have had from a customer?
Every day we get the most heartfelt, personal email from customers who aren’t just enjoying the food, but telling us that we’re actually changing their lives. There is one email though which gets me every time. It was a customer who said that before HelloFresh she was actually depressed and felt useless to her family. She started cooking our meals and it gave her a sense of fulfilment, it improved her health and her whole family started eating together and re-connecting again.
What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the world of Patrick?
Wow – it’s varied! A typical day would involve writing, cooking and photographing recipes for HelloFresh (I had to teach myself to become the photographer at the start as we didn’t have any money for photos – now I’m obsessed with photography!), speaking with the press about the progress of the company, doing talks to young kids at The Princes Trust and working on producing and hosting new TV shows. I don’t get a lot of time off – but to be honest I just love what I do so it’s difficult to let go and unwind!
What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?
It has to be my resignation from the law firm. I told the senior partner I was resigning. He said “what are you going to do – go to another law firm?” I said “Not exactly. I’ve just sent you an email with a Youtube link.” It was a video of me trying out for a cooking show in a studio in Los Angeles (a secret trip from 3 months previous). I will never forget the look on his face.
Where do you get your ideas?
Anywhere I can find them! I’ve created around 600 recipes for HelloFresh now but my greatest source of inspiration is travel. I love the Far East and I’ve been fortunate to live in places as diverse as Japan, Italy, Hong Kong and France. I love nothing more than touching down in a new city, completely by-passing all the expensive, ‘scene-y’ restaurants and going to eat in the tucked away little ‘hole-in-the-wall’ places with the locals.
What are your most and least favourite foods to cook with?
I just love simple, home-cooked food. Nothing pretentious. No fancy drizzles. No towers of blah blah blah. The food that nourishes you and leaves you with a smile on your face.
And to eat?
Basically anything that my co-host/girlfriend Kylie cooks. Nobody cooks Italian food like her.
I assume you’re aware there’s an American TV character with the same name as you…?
Don’t talk to me about that guy. He’s been messing with my SEO for years.
What’s your culinary philosophy, summed up in a sentence?
Keep it simple.
What advice would you give to aspiring food entrepreneurs who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?
Make a plan. Write it down. Work relentlessly. And never listen to the naysayers.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing instead?
The thought never occurred to me.
If you could cook anything for anyone, anywhere you chose – who would you pick, where would you do it and what would you cook for them?
I’d cook a rib-eye for Arnold Schwarzenegger in LA. [Ed: *slow clap*]
What’s your ultimate aim and goal for your career? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon…
To inspire people to see that living a life less ordinary is not the stuff of fantasy. That dreams are the beginnings of all of the best things in life. And to go into space.
Where next for you?
In January 2015 I will launch my online cooking school The 60 Second Chef, The World’s Fastest Cooking Course. www.the60secondchef.com
And we always ask a few ridiculous questions…
You’ve been appointed head chef in Mordor and the orks want you to make a three course meal for the Dark Lord Sauron. There are no budgetary or culinary limitations, what do you cook?
Starter: Prawn Cocktail
Main Course: Cheese Fondue
Pudding: Arctic Roll
If, for some reason, you were forced to turn your business into a travel agency, what would you call it, what types of holidays and locations would you specialise in and what would your game plan be?
If you need brand consultancy for new business idea you’ll need to book an appointment. [Ed: erm]
If you had to get into a no holds barred, 20 round fist fight with any fictional character, who would you square off against?
Pinocchio
At what point do hand grenades become a necessity?
3a.m. when you’ve lost your house keys
Image Credits
Simon Jessop, Copyright Simon Jessop/Hello Fresh
Marie-Lou Avery, Copyright Hello Fresh
Unknown, Copyright Patrick Drake