Today we’d like to introduce you to Max Mentzer.
Hi Chef Max, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hey everyone! I’m Chef Max and I’ll be giving you some information on who I am, what I do, and the why behind it all! I’m going to begin at the very beginning of my life, which is in reference to where I am now from what happened then.
So, I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic (T1D) when I was 14 months old. This is incredibly rare at such a young age. At the hospital, I was running a 17k blood glucose level signifying I was diabetic. A normal range is 70 to 120. Back then, we didn’t quite understand why I had T1D at that age until improved studies were done finding the relevance of the enterovirus in diabetics. The enterovirus is normally carried by the mother and attacks the fetus during the pregnancy term. I’m certain this was the case in my diagnosis, but what does this have to do with what I do now?
Well, I’ve never known a day where I didn’t have to watch what I ate, account for the carbohydrates or sugars in food, or physically take care of myself. This is where fitness and nutrition really began to make a stance in my life. I tried multiple diets including lowering calories, reverse dieting, high protein, paleo, intermittent fasting, carb cycling, etc. I always found myself binging or yoyo dieting from going too low for too long and never realizing how important fat was in energy.
I did intermittent fasting carb cycling and loved it. I got down to 8% body fat, looked shredded on the outside, but felt terrible on the inside. I went to get blood work done and found my hormones were all sorts of out of whack and I was allergic to several things and one being deathly allergic to yeast. This forced me to change it up and at this point I nixed carbs, anything that used yeast, and went keto for therapeutic reasons for my diabetes and allergies.
During this time, I had already made a drastic career shift at 23 years old where I was touring nationally as a heavy metal drummer and jazz drummer to now entering the culinary world. I made this shift after developing tetanus one evening and slipping on an icy step and scraping my hand on a rusty iron fence. It was superficial, but the next day I could barley move my arms and they were massively swollen. I almost walked it off but thank god my doctor noticed and gave me the booster. It hurt my hand and after a few months of struggling behind the kit I gave it up to go to culinary school.
I went to the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, a top-5 culinary school in the nation. My first job was at the Broadmoor, a 5-star and 5-diamond resort. There’s only 6 or 7 in the world and this is where I learned how to operate in a kitchen as a professional. I left that and took a sous position at another resort in town for about 2 years. Then, I moved back to Austin, where I worked at Barley Swine, a multiple Jame’s Beard nominated and nationally recognized restaurant. Then, I helped open Red Ash Italia as a chef, and I was there for 3.5 years until covid came around and put everyone on unemployment. This allowed me some time to cool off, destress, and rethink my life after the volatility of the kitchen life.
I launched my business Keto Chef Max LLC at the beginning of 2021, and everything just fell into my lap. I had already begun this business well before going legit on Instagram, but never thought I’d be making meal prep, catering, private dinners, cooking classes, and more a full-time effort.
Nowadays, I don’t really pigeonhole myself in the keto realm any longer and I can still do it, but CARBS! I ventured outside meal prep to private dinners, and it has exponentially taken off dramatically! I’m getting great feedback, big opportunities, working with others involved in this community, and helping others in their endeavors as well!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think if anyone has ever set foot in a kitchen, they understand the challenges and difficulties it brings. I learned that if you have an idea that does well take that as an opportunity for you get out and start your own business. You can’t let you dreams fade away, while you work for someone elses. At the beginning, you’ll have so much to learn. So, take every positive or negative remark as a learning experience and build from there. When you have a great understanding of your business and you’re making a name for yourself, keep going. Talk to as many people as you can, invest into your business, find new avenues where you could make money! There’s plenty for everyone! Also, be sure to have a great support group. I think it’s imperative for people to keep you on track so get a business coach, ask to help your friends cook for their gigs, see if they have it in them to join you as well, talk money, talk business, talk relations. All of these are needed for you to succeed!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I do a variety of things that include but not limited to meal prep, cooking classes, private dinners or events, catering, recipe development, restaurant consultations, food photography, and demonstrations on the business side of things. On the other side, I love to hike, camp, try new food and restaurants, play drums, go to concerts, drink a cocktail, and do rad thangs.
You could say I specialize in keto, but I wouldn’t want to pigeonhole myself and keep the creative juices of a chef and his food flowing and not have to try and reinvent the wheel on every little keto thing, lol. Generally, it is easy to interchange some items.
I have a huge focus on private events now and there’s high demand. I strictly do everything from scratch with a heavy focus on farm to table, small plate, locally sourced, and organic, chef-inspired, coursed out, private dinners. The events are fully branded meaning menu, menu design, food, plates, flatware, the farms, proteins, sommelier, mixologists, and services provided are all higher end experiences not common in Austin. I have a ton of pull in the industry and have great relationships with people I trust who understand what I deliver and how to overcommit and overdeliver.
What are your plans for the future?
I’m on the search for taking the private events into a larger scaled operation where I will need multiple servers, chefs, event planners or other managers. I’d like to own an R & D kitchen of my own catered specifically to these events with emphasis on 10+ courses, music, local and seasonal ingredient emphasis, passed app or apertifs at the start, cocktail wine and mocktail services and so much more included.
Currently, I’ve be helping Dan Castro with his Jollibee inspired popups and other events. I’ve also gotten to my foot in the door with some really cool opportunities for Formula 1, The Austin Artisan, Gather & Forge, and other big wigs in this area!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ketochefmax.com
- Instagram: Ketochefmax
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ketochefmax/
Image Credits
Atxsparkofcolor
