Tom and Chef Mike sit down with Chef James Avery, a Jersey Shore native and Gordon Ramsay's former sous chef on Hell's Kitchen, for a conversation about what thirty years in the restaurant industry really looks like. James started as a pizza delivery boy on the Jersey Shore and worked his way through some of the most demanding kitchens in the country before building his own name in the culinary world. James gets real about the rising cost of food and labor, how it is impacting restaurants, and why educating consumers on those realities is more important than ever. He also gets into the art vs. business side of being a chef, why the business has to work before the creativity can flow, and the dark side of a culture that too often attracts and enables addiction. On top of that, James talks about the course he is building to mentor young chefs on life outside the kitchen, the power of networking and building community in the industry, and his takes on the most overrated and underrated dishes in food today. #GritWontQuit #ChefSeries #ChefJamesAvery #HellsKitchen #GordonRamsay #JerseyShore #RestaurantIndustry #ChefLife #Entrepreneurship #Podcast