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All In Good Taste is a podcast about the craft, culture, and people who make hospitality unforgettable. Hosted by Aidan Descourouez, it’s real conversation, the late nights, the early mornings, and the stories that remind us why this industry matters.
Mid twenties, fresh out of college
Seth Bradley:Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Living block from Wrigley. The food scene and the bar scene,
Seth Bradley:our our friendship really blossomed up here in Chicago. My mind is off in a million different places. Okay. I'm inspired a lot, but I need a little wrangling in, and so that's where he comes in.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And really, it came down to just wanting to feed friends. He takes care of
Seth Bradley:me in a sense. He's my therapist.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Even cooking at home after coming from these day jobs was
Seth Bradley:a great creative outlet for us. The way you engage with people, building a rapport, you get a feel really quickly that transfers immediately to hospitality. When we're a little more vulnerable, it breaks down the caterer client. Once we arrived on-site, it just had this aura of we're cooking for friends.
Ryan Van Voorhis:We've traveled across the country and cooked in about 30 different states for clients from dinner guests to former presidents.
Aidan Descourouez:We're getting in mid forties.
Seth Bradley:We're trying to figure out what it means for us in the next decade and what our presentation is. Don't get into food. No. No. If you're passionate about it, it's about putting time every single day.
Ryan Van Voorhis:We have salmon to break down after this, but I think, you know, oh, you just show up and cook at my house. People have no idea what goes into on the prep side.
Aidan Descourouez:Some businesses start with a plan. Others start with two best friends, a shared love of food, and a name that raises a few questions before the first course even hits the table. Today's guests are Ryan and Seth, the founders of Nude Dude Food, a brand name that may sound like a dress code, but is really about food that's honest, stripped down, and full of personality. After nearly thirty years of friendship, they've built a private dining company rooted in creativity, health, hospitality, and the belief that food can be both fun and deeply personable. This is the story of how friendship became a business and how that business became a part of people's lives.
Aidan Descourouez:Ryan, Seth, welcome to All In Good Taste.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Hey. Thank you.
Aidan Descourouez:Thank you so much for having me in your kitchen, in your space. Let's just start off and tell me where we are right now.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Sure. Yeah. So we are in The Hatchery, a commissary kitchen space on East Garfield Park in Chicago. Okay. It's full of different private chefs, catering companies, food products, but it's a great production center for us knowing that a lot of our business is in people's homes and corporate events and things like that.
Aidan Descourouez:Wonderful. I think you shared with me you've been here for three years? Ish. Correct.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Three years. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. About three.
Aidan Descourouez:Well, we're hanging out in the kitchen. We have some things going on in the background. I don't know. Maybe some food will fly in. Who knows?
Aidan Descourouez:We'll just gonna have a good time as everything's kinda prepping around us. You might get a shishito. Yeah. Hey. You know, I would love a little shishito flying through the frame.
Aidan Descourouez:And we are in an active kitchen. I'm actually prepping for a couple of catering deliveries that are happening right after this, and I think we're gonna go along on the journey with one of those drop offs. So that's gonna be kind of fun. I think we're gonna roll the clock back now. And whoever wants to jump in, I kinda wanna ask, what did it first look like when you first met?
Aidan Descourouez:Because I know this friendship has been around for thirty years. Can you give me the very baseline and how you guys met, what that looks like?
Seth Bradley:I had known of him. I knew who he was by name, but
Aidan Descourouez:we Okay.
Seth Bradley:Really hadn't talked before we met and drivers at junior year of high school. Okay. And specifically in behind the wheel. So is
Aidan Descourouez:Who is the better driver?
Ryan Van Voorhis:It depends. Yeah. It depends. Safer.
Aidan Descourouez:Safer. Safer.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Passive. Better, you know, depends. City driving. You know? We too.
Seth Bradley:We had a third guy in the car that really didn't know how to drive, so we kinda bonded in the back seat. Okay. Over fear of our lives that it cut short. Heard. If this other guy hit something.
Seth Bradley:So, yeah, after that, kind of became fast friends, and here we are almost thirty years later.
Aidan Descourouez:That's incredible. You know, there's there's something to be said about long term friendships. Right? It is so important and impressive, and especially when you're building something long term. And I know there was also a bit of time that we'll circle back to where you both went off on your own journeys.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. But I wanna kinda start at the very beginning of this business. I believe you were both roommates in 2008. Correct? Can you tell me a little bit about
Ryan Van Voorhis:Well, after undergrad, we moved to Chicago Okay. And kinda reunited, and lived in or in Wrigleyville first. So that was a journey being in, like, mid twenties, fresh out of college Yeah. Living, you know, a block from Wrigley. But just the the food scene and the bar scene and and then as roommates, our our friendship really blossomed up here in Chicago.
Aidan Descourouez:Gotcha. When did you start experimenting with, like, cooking? Because, like we said, I know that wasn't your original path. So what
Seth Bradley:We'd always cooked at home. So even when we first moved in together, it was casually Okay. Cooking weeknight dinners. But I would say in the first couple of years of living together is when it really started to take a turn towards just cooking a lot more, experimenting a lot more different things, getting new ingredients from the farmer's market. So it was really in the first couple years of living together.
Seth Bradley:By 2010, 2011, I think we were cooking pretty consistently together.
Aidan Descourouez:And I noticed you mentioned experimenting. What was the first dish item thing that you started playing around with that really started to get you passionate about this?
Ryan Van Voorhis:I think for us, honestly, like the sourdough. I mean, that's kind of what spurred the business or to take some of the cooking a little more seriously. My brother got us the the Tartine baking book. He's, like, a peel and, some of those basic, you know, first ingredients. And we developed a starter and made our first loaf of bread, which looked awful.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Really that process of taking something as simple as flour, water, salt, and then and working with your hands and working together and making this product was really, I think, what spurred, you know, the passion within us to take this out to the public in some way.
Aidan Descourouez:I I have to ask, does that starter still exist by Slim Taste?
Seth Bradley:It does. Wow.
Ryan Van Voorhis:It's it's in the fridge.
Aidan Descourouez:Wow. It's in the fridge. Maybe you'll have to show me to that later. I definitely have to
Seth Bradley:take out and feed it today. Oh, experience it. Great. Yeah. It's about 12 years old now.
Seth Bradley:It does not have a name. Okay. Much to some people's chagrin. Why add the name starter? We just haven't.
Seth Bradley:But, yeah, it's still the same one that we created over a decade ago.
Aidan Descourouez:Okay. Fair enough. And I I know this also kind of kicked off starting at dinner parties. Right?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:Can you tell me what those early dinner parties started to look like? What that kind of felt like the first time you're walking into the space and being like, okay. We're gonna start cooking for other people outside of just ourselves.
Seth Bradley:The first ones were in our home. So we would always have friends over, family over, weeknight dinner. So it was very casual. That turned into a little bit larger backyard barbecues of sorts. Yeah.
Seth Bradley:We do a fish fry. We roasted a whole pig. And we're just kinda figuring it out on a fly. But once we were doing those bigger party sixty, eighty peak goals Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:That's big party to be doing it and and not actually be, like, a formally trained
Seth Bradley:Oh, yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. That's impressive. Okay.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Well We learned we learned so much. We learned so much doing those, and really, it came down to just wanting to feed friends and entertain. And our backgrounds, again, are in culinary, so it was just very natural for us to be the place where people would come and hang out and have a good meal, and we were just kinda ready with that. Yeah. Man.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah.
Seth Bradley:And This one's outside the house, really. My our my cousin hired us for dinner, so it was a good way to introduce, like, multi course dining to us outside of our home. And another friend of ours, I think, had us down. We're from Central Illinois originally. We did a dinner down there for a friend of ours.
Seth Bradley:So it was just kind of friends and still outside the home that was kind of our next step in getting out Okay.
Aidan Descourouez:Into the real world. Really started to spark it a little bit here for you. Yeah. And then and I know we've mentioned a few times here now that you had different starts. So I wanna jump into that a little bit here.
Aidan Descourouez:So, Seth, I believe before we talked, you shared with me that your background is music and performance. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Seth Bradley:I, just had a knack for wanting to be on stage. I can remember from from a young age, and so, I was in choir, drama, and vocational, lead club in college. Kinda took a hiatus from it for a few years, but, my boss and my real job at the board of trade when I moved up here was a longtime musician and, essentially got me into songwriting and playing again. And I started a singer songwriter project, basically just writing and performing songs at open mic nights Okay. Dating all the way back to 2005, I think.
Seth Bradley:And that's kind of where why Music Career launched, around Chicago. Yeah. So had been for the next twelve to thirteen years.
Aidan Descourouez:Okay. What do you think the music industry has taught you about hospitality and service?
Seth Bradley:A lot of things are kind of interconnected. Just the the way you engage with people, building a record, being attentive to people's needs and their wants and what they like and they don't like. You get a feel really quickly for the energy in the room and just feeding in and feeding off that, I think, and that transfers immediately to hospitality. So Gotcha. A nice little segue.
Seth Bradley:But I'd say learning how to just be in front of and around people Yeah. In a way that is fun and entertaining, that's what it really taught.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. And then I know as creatives, typically need an additional outlet. So did food become that for you as you slowly stepped away from music, or is music gonna make a reappearance in your life here too?
Seth Bradley:Maybe at some point, I have a lot of work to do vocally on rehabbing my voice actually.
Aidan Descourouez:You don't offer karaoke services with New Dude Food? Is that not an add on we can do? Or Maybe in the future. Maybe in the future. Okay.
Seth Bradley:My first client that hires us for that. But, no, not yet. But, yeah, I I'd like to get it back as a passion of mine. Really, music started to become more of a job for me while cooking was kind of more the artistic got me. So that kind of was a natural transition over the last kind of four or five years of my music career.
Seth Bradley:Gotcha. I just noticed we were cooking more. A lot of my thought process and and mental energy was more focused on food. Yeah. And so we just found ourselves spending more time in the kitchen and and devoting more time into those things.
Seth Bradley:It kind of was a natural transition over the last few years of my history.
Ryan Van Voorhis:But then that trend the music to food happened, like, very quickly for you. Your last show Yeah. Was at House of Blues, I think, for Saint Patty's Day. And we had to kind of launch the brand by then. And then very quickly, it turned into like full time culinary.
Aidan Descourouez:Hey, we're doing it. That's great, though.
Seth Bradley:Very quick
Aidan Descourouez:transition. Mean, love a little speedy transition. And now jumping over to you, Ryan, I kind of want to talk about your background. Correct me if I'm wrong, social work, child welfare? What kind of brought you into that Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:I mean, I grew up also in Central Illinois. My dad was a longtime fireman and just grew up just being around that environment where he was always working, always helping people.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Obviously, in that setting when he wasn't working, was a carpenter and did all these odd jobs. I just really attached to that, just working with my hands and being active. And I wanted to do something helping people in that way, and it just kind of went more of a social work therapy route. So I moved up to Chicago here for grad school. I was looking to do maybe more something in like medical social work or something in hospitals, but just found this knack for this child welfare agency that I got hired in.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And next thing you know, I was there for about twelve years doing child abuse and neglect cases, foster care, going to court and advocating for families and trying to keep families intact, put services in place to try to keep them healthy. And then I ended my career at the juvenile jail working with the inmates and juveniles there for Cook County, doing service providing and trying to link them with things in the community upon their release. So really low stress.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. Sounds very low stress.
Ryan Van Voorhis:But no. I really just really loved, I guess, the service part of that, trying to do things to help others, you know, enrich their lives. And especially the children and kids, you know, they didn't get to choose to be born into these situations or whatnot. And so it really empowered me to try to do what I can to help their Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:I mean, to me, it sounds like, you know, you were providing service in one way and now you're providing service to people in another. Right. So it sounds like a natural link and a natural connection. Can you share with how did that work influence the way that you care for guests today? When did you realize that feeding people can be another form of therapy or taking care I of
Ryan Van Voorhis:think first off, for us, cooking at home after coming from these day jobs was a great
Seth Bradley:creative outlet for us.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Again, we could kind of dive into the meals we were cooking, even if it was just for us or roommates, and really kind of decompress and talk about the day or he was coming off the road and we could be able to like kind of set that aside and really focus on the food. But I think naturally then when hosting, like Seth said, hosting dinner parties or backyard barbecues, passion again is just people and making sure everyone's comfortable and has what they need. And so I think for us, really was very natural, not only being longtime friends, but how we operated in the kitchen. You know, I was very focused on the flow and the look and the aesthetic and making sure everything was neat and tidy and that guest experience was really up to par, while Seth could really focus on, you know, not only executing the food, but then also being that front man Yeah. Being in front of cameras.
Ryan Van Voorhis:I never was one to, like, seek it out and move Well,
Aidan Descourouez:we got you in front camera of now. So
Ryan Van Voorhis:Now we've been doing it so long, I'm much more comfortable. But, like, that's where we really were compatible. Yeah. In the kitchen, we could be operating and doing a multi course dinner, and they're just it was very smooth. So it happened very naturally.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And then being in homes and Airbnbs and especially in Chicago, there's lot of open concepts. And so we were vulnerable and in front of everything. Guests could see all the prep and all the executing, and it just was very natural and something that we it fed both of our passions, being able to entertain and provide a service.
Aidan Descourouez:For sure. Now for both of you, do you see both of your past careers, like, popping up, like, in each other? Like, you notice things from him. You notice things from him. Like, can you share a little bit about that where they pop up in a daily basis?
Seth Bradley:He is kind of he takes care of me in a sense. He's my therapist, not technically.
Aidan Descourouez:Not legally.
Seth Bradley:Not So just his selflessness pops up to
Aidan Descourouez:the business day to day.
Seth Bradley:Just him be helpful with with everybody. You know? Kinda has that caretaker aspect that's evident every single day. That's where it really pops up and what I see for him day to day.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. And and likewise, just being around Seth and learning from him on the culinary side and now being, you know, full blown caterers.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:My confidence as as a leader or even in the kitchen. So I do a lot more cooking than I've ever done now. Gotcha. Help manage the team, which kinda goes back to my career as a social worker or helping run an agency and having people under me and being able to not only be in tune with the hospitality part of it as a client perspective, but then also being in tune with our staff and what they need and how to make sure we're serving them best so that attributes to the food we put out and the services as well.
Aidan Descourouez:Absolutely. And now we're going to pull it back a little bit to that first dinner that you did. I want to hear about that first paid event. What was that first menu for? I believe it was your cousin?
Seth Bradley:Correct? I think we talked about this kind of pre interview. I know we did a garlic scape soup. Yes. And I'm blanking on what else we did for that dinner.
Ryan Van Voorhis:We did something like bonito. We did multiple things, and they had kinda like a chef's table counter, which was really fun. So again, we're plating right in front of the guests and talking
Seth Bradley:throughout the
Aidan Descourouez:interact with people.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Right? Yeah. But there was there was some comfort there because we knew them a little bit. So again, it wasn't I don't remember any hiccups or anything that was any big oopsies or any problems with actual
Aidan Descourouez:We'll get to those ones later at this start.
Seth Bradley:For sure. But honestly, it
Ryan Van Voorhis:just felt very natural to us and reaffirmed that we're down the right path that really lit the fire in us. You know?
Aidan Descourouez:Okay. And and if correct me if I'm wrong as well. I believe when we were first talking, you were sharing that, like, the business started picking up a little bit via Instagram DMs. Right? That was, like, kind of the start through friends, through family, through Instagram.
Aidan Descourouez:Can you tell me when that started to pick up? How that even became a thing? What kind of piqued that interest there?
Seth Bradley:Really, our our first post, I think, on our on the business account was May 2016. Okay. And we kind of build it as, hey. We're two best friends from high school that love to cook locally sourced seasonal food.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah.
Seth Bradley:And within two to three weeks, we were starting to get in a few DMs and started to get a little interest in the business. And it blossomed from there. I mean, within a few months, we were insistently getting business. So within, I guess, nine months time by March 2017, it was busy enough to really kinda warrant our full time attention.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. Definitely And you stepped away from the full time jobs. So I
Seth Bradley:invested. Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:And That's awesome to see that fraction though.
Ryan Van Voorhis:From the day job to, like, do these travel events or cook. And so it was like, alright. I think if we, like it's time to, like, jump all in and just go. Because, again, by then And you were
Aidan Descourouez:both prepping at home. Right?
Ryan Van Voorhis:At this time. Right? Yeah. Doing things out of the house. Again, there was a lot of gray area at that time, you know, going into people's homes.
Seth Bradley:Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:There's not not a lot of regulations or things. For us, it was a good, like, launching point. And it helped that, again, with with the brand name in the those early years and early posts Yeah. We were like, you know, we needed, you know, attention grabbing. The name was ambiguous and thought provoking enough that we did, like, shirtless posting and had, like, some ambiguous kinda sexy posts and and jargon long before TikTok.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And now I think over everything is, like, over sexualized. Yeah. So Yeah. Those two things just being personalities with a with a good image and then that food kind of spoke for itself. Just all those things kind of fell in place and that kind of skyrocketed.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. Well, let's talk about the name.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Sure.
Aidan Descourouez:So New Dude Food. Can you give me the where it came from, where it started? Let's start there. Yeah.
Seth Bradley:Yeah. We had always been sourcing locally, going to specifically Green City Market.
Aidan Descourouez:Okay.
Seth Bradley:That's where we source a lot of our produce, interacting with the farmers and the feed immunity, taking home ingredients that were new and exciting to us. So there is always this base level of nude ingredients where
Aidan Descourouez:we're
Seth Bradley:buying processed food, we're exploring locally sourced seasonal thin essentially. So that's the the basic concept behind the nude. Gotcha. Now in creative brand discussions, a few people have kinda tell Taste or Grondin with selling the sex a bit. Yeah.
Seth Bradley:Yeah. Fun. Yeah. As long as it's done in a way that we felt comfortable with. Yeah.
Seth Bradley:So living up to that in our first pose, we did pose without shirts on. We had aprons on. Yeah. And that was kind of our presentation that we decided I to run
Aidan Descourouez:mean, I think
Seth Bradley:And to see what happened. And it very quickly caught on. Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:I mean, that's how I remember. I remembered I mean, this will be right prior to COVID. I remember this is when I was over at at the Hawks Den still at that point in time. And I remember having probably one of the two of you, if not the both of you, running in with some pizzas in your aprons.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Oh, sure.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. Yeah. Which is a great marketing ploy
Ryan Van Voorhis:in the It just became like a talking point too. People saw it on Instagram or saw us out in public at events. It just elicited conversation and it really just felt natural to talk about healthy eating habits and food. So it just was a fun way to launch the brand. Know, if we went no one knew us either personally from the culinary world, it didn't make sense to do, you know, Seth and Ryan or, like, our use our names.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. And so yeah. Looking back, we're happy we went that route.
Aidan Descourouez:What do people usually assume about the business before they get to know you guys?
Seth Bradley:Well, know, there's always a question is, you know, full meaty Sure.
Aidan Descourouez:Personality. What's included? What's not included? Yeah. For sure.
Seth Bradley:Is it more of a show or a culinary experience? Well, it's definitely more of a culinary experience. Of course, we're interactive on-site. Yeah. We like to get guests involved in whatever way they want.
Seth Bradley:But Yeah. Yeah, people can assume it might be something else besides what it is. I'm sure. At the end of the day, a really kick ass, fun culinary experience cooked with love and passion.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And we've seen that now over the years as we've been doing it, whether it's a bachelorette party, a wedding party, whether we have our shirts on or chef coats, like once they've gone through an experience or a meal, then it all kind of clicks.
Seth Bradley:It clicks.
Ryan Van Voorhis:It's like, wow, this is better pasta than X, Y, and Z or wherever. They see that the passion is there throughout the whole process. It's not just a gimmick or being shirtless just trying to get attention
Seth Bradley:It's really to the
Ryan Van Voorhis:about connecting with those guests and then us being adaptable to whatever that client is, whether it's a wedding party or a bachelorette party or we cooked a seventieth birthday party over the weekend. So that translates to any any dinner guests we have.
Seth Bradley:Really became a similar vulnerability. Yeah. So when when we're a little more vulnerable, it breaks down the caterer client.
Aidan Descourouez:Oh, for sure.
Seth Bradley:It really just once we arrived on-site, it it just had this aura of we're cooking for friends. It had that same feeling going back to before the business of hosting people in our home. And interestingly enough, you had the presentation of the brand and the name kept that feeling going when we started doing dinners in other people's homes. Gotcha.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And there's a comfort level of hosting in your own home or having a chef come in and like, you can host, we'll do everything, we'll clean, we'll serve. It takes some of that anxiety away from the host that like, you know, they're not going out to a restaurant, making sure that everyone's dietary concerns are, you know, accounted for. It really, really felt natural for us every time going to summer's homes.
Seth Bradley:Would you say, you
Aidan Descourouez:know, in in both ways, because I'm sure it has. Has it, you know, opened doors and closed doors for you? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Opened a lot more than closed. Honestly, I can think of maybe one or two. There was actually a TV appearance we were supposed to do in conjunction with a pasta brand that we were gonna be the chefs. Kinda last minute, they pulled out, like, oh, like, we're not in line with the brand. Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:We tried to do a a charity donation, and they really kind of were, like, not
Aidan Descourouez:Not sure.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Okay. But on that be that being said, it's opened far more many doors, and it's look. It's 2026. You know? Nothing about the name is is, you know, that outlandish.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Exactly. What you
Aidan Descourouez:expect Not over.
Seth Bradley:What we do.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. So on that end, you know, we've traveled, you know, across the country and cooked in about 30 different states for clients from, you know, from dinner guests to former presidents to all these things in between that, again, I think if we didn't go this route of the name, we would
Aidan Descourouez:just That's true.
Ryan Van Voorhis:This other midline caterer. So we're really happy that, again, that got us this far. And
Aidan Descourouez:how has both of your relationship with the name kind of changed over time?
Seth Bradley:I think now that we're getting in, you
Aidan Descourouez:know, mid forties is approaching,
Seth Bradley:we're we're trying to figure out what it means for
Aidan Descourouez:us in the next decade Okay.
Seth Bradley:And what our presentation is. I think we definitely wanna kinda hone in on that locally sourced, new element to the food. Yeah. We do a lot more things with chef coats on now, which is fine. Not that I not that I dislike, because I get shirtless.
Seth Bradley:But, you know, the longer we've been in business and the more business that we get with chef coats on, yeah, the more we thought about, you know, kind of cleaning up the brand a little bit to make it a little more corporate friendly, I think, are the big questions for us. Yeah. But still keeping it fun, keeping those same kind of core competencies we've always had with the branded business Yeah. Going forward, just, yeah, maybe cleaning up the next decade. I don't wanna say cleaning
Aidan Descourouez:it up. Yeah. But it's not dirty. No. No.
Ryan Van Voorhis:But I because, again, as we get older in the brand and then then we get more notoriety and expand, it's bigger than Seth and I. It's Saturday as Seth and I now is growing. We have a full production team. Yeah. We have female chefs, male chefs.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And by being able to separate a little bit from just strictly these like shirtless events, opens up a lot more doors and availability to do multiple events. We were in Lake Geneva three or four times last weekend. We're in Michigan this coming weekend. By having a little diversity and ability to kind of navigate through, you know, the differences of the brand, even though it's the same name at the moment, allows us to do a lot more and serve a lot more people,
Aidan Descourouez:which is what really What you wanna do. Yeah. Absolutely. Millions of people use Bilt every day to earn rewards in their housing and in their neighborhoods. But now it extends to your restaurant.
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Aidan Descourouez:Make every guest feel like a regular and keep them coming back. Built Hospitality is available now for restaurants everywhere. Learn more at builtdining.com/taste. Can you share with me how both of your working styles differ?
Seth Bradley:Yeah. Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. That was a serious look.
Seth Bradley:I would say, more of the creative. My mind is off in a million different places. Okay. And I'm inspired a lot, but I need a little wrangling in. And so that's where he comes in to wrangle in.
Seth Bradley:He's definitely more organizationally focused, and I'm more creative out there.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. That's it.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And I would I would agree with that too. I think Seth, again, that that front man lead singer, he's the leader of this this group and runs with a lot of the admin, and he's the first person the client hears from or sees. And so he is kind of forever in that role, which I don't want, again, don't to be in. So I, as support, I'm happy to be more in the kitchen or be able to like give him good support and know that he can trust that we're gonna put out the product and get this this meal out knowing that, you know, he's established this relationship with corporate clients or in home clients.
Aidan Descourouez:For sure.
Ryan Van Voorhis:So that even if I'm going to an event that he's not out or we send a team out that he's not personally at, he's kind of got that foundation and set the expectation for the client that, Hey, I'm gonna send this team out. This is what you're gonna expect. So he's very much in that role, which I appreciate as well.
Aidan Descourouez:What's hardest the part about building a business with your best friend?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Communication. I think as we get busier and we're juggling more things, we have this corporate brand, we have the private chefing, we're at the farmer's market doing sourdough pizza. Just keeping all the information and all the things straight is the hardest part. Because again, we all have different roles and things that we're really good at, but sometimes we just have to remember like, hey, like, fill each other in on what's going on just so again because it's, again, it's bigger than just us. There's a team.
Ryan Van Voorhis:There's a lot of people that are relying on us. I think that's been the biggest factor as we grow is just to continue to communicate and try to be on the same page and also be okay if we're not. Sometimes we differ and we have different backgrounds and want different things. I think that helps, like Seth said, the creative process, seeing the other person. Then at the end of the day, we're still best friends.
Ryan Van Voorhis:We're gonna be best friends forever, much to our girlfriend chagrins that, you know, they know with Yes. One comes the
Seth Bradley:Yes.
Ryan Van Voorhis:But I think at the end of the day, it's different than just having a business partner not a best friend. Know, you have that comfort. We know you can speak your mind and say what you're feeling and still be supportive at the end of the day.
Aidan Descourouez:How do you I mean, just because I've seen it, right, from multiple companies that have multiple founders, right? How do you both I mean, maybe it's helpful that you have known each other for so long. How do you actively manage those sorts of disagreements? What advice would you give to other founders who might find themselves in similar predicaments? That's what
Seth Bradley:I mean. And honestly, as we've gotten busier this last two, that's been a big kind of challenge
Ryan Van Voorhis:for
Seth Bradley:us, it's really approaching it with an open mind
Ryan Van Voorhis:Okay.
Seth Bradley:And just listening to the other person or just being it's really being over minded and not neither of our opinions is exactly right all the time, but it has we've never has validity to any cat with thinking or feeling, and it's it's really, approaching it with an open mind, I think, is
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah.
Seth Bradley:The biggest thing for us. But, yeah, it has been the challenge as things have gotten busier. There's more to think about it, and it, we're in the process of still dividing up our rules in a little better than they even are now and just having everything run a little more efficient. It's it's a daily process and a daily workshop
Aidan Descourouez:Oh, yeah.
Seth Bradley:To to get through.
Aidan Descourouez:Always learning. Right?
Seth Bradley:Yeah. Really trying to think through those things every day and trying to just do it better in the next step.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. And as we grow too, leaning on our strengths, like things that I know Seth excels at, like growing with it, I trust you and vice versa, things that I have opinions on, whether it be organization or like some team things, like trust in each other that like our best interest in the business is no matter what where we're coming from. It's never out of anything other than like compassion and love for the brand and wanting to excel.
Aidan Descourouez:Want to turn the gaze just a little bit here and I want to ask you actually a couple of questions, Ryan specifically. When we first talked, we kind of talked about the health journey that you've been on and how, you know, New Dude food has impacted the neck. Can you share a little bit about that if you're open to that?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Absolutely. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, gastrointestinal disease when I was in high school, right around when I met Seth. So it's something I will have forever and have dealt with over the years. He's seen me through some surgeries and recoveries. Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And then on the flip side, through the culinary side, just really being more in tune with my body and what I need to heal and be healthy, not only for myself, but then just the general public. Just healthy eating habits and trying to source things locally that are better for your body for nutrition wise and digestion. So there's always an educational piece in our dinners that we do, you know, talking about the farms where we're sourcing things from, talking to the guests on how we prep, you know, the things and what products we use, don't use. There's no, you know, fad diet or anything. Know, just like, you know, eat real food and use minimal ingredients and treat them with respect and be nude in a way.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. So it's a very natural transition. And so that part of me will always be a part of the business and myself. And I've done a lot of community work. I volunteered at summer camps for kids through the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation and been a mentor for kids.
Ryan Van Voorhis:It's just, it's all been kind of cyclical that social worker side and now the culinary side and my personal health journey has all been wrapped together. And Seth and my support team has been with me through all of that. And it's been a great experience.
Aidan Descourouez:Could you give the audience any recommendations on how we should be looking out for general gut health and things of that nature?
Ryan Van Voorhis:You're wondering, it's different for everyone. I think some things that, again, we talk about is, yeah, just eating more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, specifically that are available at your local farmer's market. That's gonna just support the local economy and all these things, you know exactly where it's coming from. You know what, you know, no pesticides, organic food. And then really from a cooking standpoint, using simple techniques like roasting things or making purees or just finding ways to still get those nutrients, using some techniques to cook those that are easier for your body to digest.
Seth Bradley:Okay.
Ryan Van Voorhis:You know, I don't eat a lot of like raw vegetables, things that are hard, nuts, things that are hard for me to eat. I think the general public, if they're having some GI issues related to some of those things, at
Aidan Descourouez:Start looking at those foods.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Food log, a diary to be able to track what you're eating and what's giving you some symptoms. Yeah, just paying a little more attention.
Seth Bradley:Card, man.
Aidan Descourouez:Okay. I want to ask both of you, what is I I guess we've talked about no pesticides pulling from that and all that, but what does healthy food actually mean? I know it's a very blanket statement. What does healthy food actually mean? Because, I mean, I feel like I've been told tons of things are healthy, then, you know, a year later, they're like, yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:It's actually killing you. So, like Yeah. What is healthy food?
Seth Bradley:So I
Aidan Descourouez:you know? I'm not gonna hold you on the record for anything.
Seth Bradley:I don't know where my expertise lies in this, but just the more we found with things, of course, it goes back to Yeah. Supporting local food systems. It's healthier not only for you because the food is generally more nutrient dense, it's healthier for the food system and economy as a whole. That's okay.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Specifically at the farmers market, us being able to handpick ingredients and know exactly where it's coming from and talking to the farmers, whether Northwest meat or whatever, you know, I think that is something that we can with confidence say like, we've been touched this ingredient from the start to the finish. Know? For sure.
Seth Bradley:I think a big thing, especially for gut health, fermented or partially fermented foods, I'd say are definitely very healthful now. Yeah. Sourdough bread. Bread gets a bad rap because you look at a store bought loaf of bread and you have thirty, forty ingredients.
Aidan Descourouez:And you can't pronounce any of those? Yeah.
Seth Bradley:So really you mean water, flour and salt and a sourdough starter. It's pre digested. It's easier to digest. Like bread is not unhealthy if you get have good quality ingredients going into it. So there's yeah.
Seth Bradley:The the whole fermentation thing I I think is big and does play a role of gut health and Okay. Being overall healthy, quote unquote. Yeah. And real ingredients. Who knows what ultra processed stuff is doing?
Seth Bradley:Obviously, a lot of it is for profit and is really for a big company's bottom line, and that's never in Oh, good. Best interest. So it's finding ways to stay out of that system, I think, for healthier food people in general, not only for your own health, but the the health of the economy and the economy as well.
Aidan Descourouez:Well, thank you for sharing that with us. Now I kinda wanna jump into some questions about experiences and journeys that you've dealt with, you know, in these different sorts of catering events because, you know, cooking at somebody's home, there has to be things that pop up that you're unexpected. You've prepped food, you've brought everything with you, and you get there and you find out you have some dietary restrictions or allergies. How are you fixing that on the fly?
Seth Bradley:It's, really listening to what it is and then finding out what we brought along.
Aidan Descourouez:We usually have enough ingredients to make a substitution where needed or We're not raiding the guest's fridge seeing if we have something.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Mean, that's happened. I mean, if you do we need a nag on the fly or some butter or some oil or something, for sure we have. But I think, you know, that's a part of being adaptable and Yeah. Different than a restaurant kitchen where we don't have a pantry at our disposal or or or refrigerators. And so we'll travel as much as we have.
Ryan Van Voorhis:But again, we're very veggie focused in general, especially in the summer months with the market. Trying to be adaptable and try to accommodate every guest even if it's the last minute. And then we've done things where, oh, I don't eat lobster, I'm vegetarian. Then they see the dish and they're like, oh, okay, I want that.
Seth Bradley:I'm gonna have it.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Then like, okay, well then, what do I know? What am I So it's always just that's one of the most challenging, but also like fun things. It's like, you gotta figure it out. Going to someone's home and they have no cooking equipment, or it's at Airbnbs and there's one pot, and like, how are we gonna do this? And we've been better on our side to bring our own equipment, ask better questions upfront, but we've been to numerous events where, you know, we're creaking out an amenities floor of a building and the oven has never been turned on.
Ryan Van Voorhis:They don't work.
Aidan Descourouez:That's actually what I wanna jump into is is that we talked about this a little bit before. And I'm gonna let you kind of recap and share the whole thing here. But you were telling me that you were doing a eightieth birthday party. Right? And was an eightieth birthday.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. You went to a space, and it was either no oven or the oven didn't work, you had to bring the food up and down how many floors?
Seth Bradley:Yeah. It was a 50 story high rise in River North. Okay. The amenity floor was near the top, and the oven had not been turned on ever. Yeah.
Seth Bradley:And so it had plastic on it. And taking the plastic off, found out it did not turn on at all, And her unit was about 35 floors below Okay. Her apartment unit. So and that was a party of about 40 or 50 people. So we're talking, you know, we had catering trays
Aidan Descourouez:Oh, yeah. Hotel pieces. Do you even fit that into a parcel of it?
Seth Bradley:You even fit a few of them Oh, yeah. Because you're able to swap out and rotate. So it's a combination of going down the elevator, putting a pan in the oven, getting it hot enough to swap out for another, going back upstairs for service, making sure everybody was taken care of. Alright. And it's kinda just going on the fly, and you deal with it as you deal with it, and you you make it work.
Seth Bradley:Whatever it takes. Yeah. I don't remember, you know honestly, after all that, I don't remember the execution of that being terribly difficult. I just kinda went with it, but that was it definitely was a wake up call when we arrived, and we're like, oh, shit. This is not gonna work as planned.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah. We made it work. So Hey. There you go. Well okay.
Aidan Descourouez:Well, thank you for sharing that there with me. I mean, it it sounds like quite a lift to myself. I also think we we briefly talked about a a steam oven. It's something that we that you might have gotten a while ago. Is this true?
Aidan Descourouez:Do I remember the story?
Seth Bradley:Well,
Ryan Van Voorhis:so yeah. Say the sourdough and during COVID, obviously, everyone had to pivot. We weren't in a professional kitchen at that time, but we were lucky enough to take over a closed kitchen in Fulton Market and to really run with the sourdough. We wanted to stay connected to the community. Nobody was going out to eat.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Nobody was going to anyone's home. So we kind of fell back on our roots, if you will, of the sourdough. So we invested some money and bought a French steam oven that literally was brought in pieces and left on a pallet in the middle of full market. We had no idea how we were gonna get it down into the kitchen space. We ended up finding some contractors down the street that we hired and I think probably fed lunch, they all walked over, helped us kind of Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Carry this oven down a couple flights of stairs. But I think it was a great learning experience for us, only as business partners, but then setting this oven up and trying to get this product out to the community. Yeah. You know, a a great learning experience, something we probably wouldn't, you know, invest that time and money in again. But we're happy that we did it, and we learned a lot from it.
Ryan Van Voorhis:So Okay. Go ahead.
Aidan Descourouez:What do you think the business looks like today, and what is currently the strongest?
Seth Bradley:Well, our corporate lunches, which you're looking at now, part of this process, that's our revenue leader at the moment. We still do a ton of in home private dinners Yeah. Which is one of our favorite things to do. And we're selling sourdough pizza at Green City Market. But I'd say corporate dining is is the leader in terms of revenue now, and we're looking to scale and expand on that part of the business even further.
Aidan Descourouez:I'm gonna look at these challenges you are facing as you're trying to grow right now.
Seth Bradley:Let's see. It's organization.
Aidan Descourouez:Okay.
Seth Bradley:Since there's three different parts of the business that have three different aspects and a slew of different things that need accounted for That's keeping all those things accurate and visible to multiple people across the team. I think it's it's an organizational challenge is the And big honestly, the owners, Ryan and I, we still need to get better about stepping away from certain spots and having other people handle things for us, which we've gotten better and we just had to as things have gotten busier, but notice it's still a process learning how to do that better. It's kind of a challenge for us some.
Aidan Descourouez:How do you bring new people into your company when it's really been based on friendship for so long?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Oh, I mean, I think that's that's the basis is, look, this is a very close knit business, and a lot of them a lot of us are friends, and we start as friends because we're such a personal brand that we need people that like we can vibe with and and to be in the kitchen in these hot summer days and like not be on each other's toes. And so I think someone that you can just naturally vibe with and spend time with, obviously, need we them to be able to cook and be able to do certain things. Yeah. But just someone generally that we align with and wanna be around is kinda where we start with them. So Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:And then a little bit of a different question just as a follow-up. Yeah. I believe you're a fully self funded business director.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. Completely. Up until this point, we have we got a couple grants during COVID and things like that. But, yeah, we've never taken on any investors, which is something maybe as we grow, we're looking into. But we have a lot of great friends and clients that have been with us from day one and repeat clients.
Ryan Van Voorhis:And they would probably be someone that would be more than willing to hopefully if we went down that route or needed some funds, that's who we would probably look to to go with. So yeah. Yeah. Because they've seen us they've seen us grow over the years. They're like family to us and vice versa.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. We cook some of their holiday Thanksgiving meals and Christmas every year. And so they they really value and trust what we're doing and they see the vision as well. So yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:What chapter would you describe do do do to be in?
Ryan Van Voorhis:And it
Aidan Descourouez:was a book.
Ryan Van Voorhis:I I think, like, part two of a three part series or a book. We've, you know, we started grassroots from home. Now we we had we got through COVID. Now we have this great production space, and now it's like, alright. Now we wanna run with it.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah. We've been growing financially every year and growing the team. So we've been in this really growth period for the last four or five years.
Aidan Descourouez:Gotcha.
Ryan Van Voorhis:So now it's like, alright. Now let's like really shoot for it and really go after what we want. Yeah. And it's exciting and scary, but this is this is why we do it. So yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:So you were just talking about future over there. Yeah. Do you see I mean, obviously, you started bringing in new teams. Do you eventually see, you know, additional divisions? You said you cooked in multiple states.
Aidan Descourouez:Do you look at maybe looking at other places in the Midwest, or do you think that future actual restaurants in the future for you, Keith?
Seth Bradley:We had a stint in Nashville for a while where we had a similar concept going on down there. Wasn't bad, but inevitably, it really took one of us being down there full time, which we couldn't do. So we flirted with that. Ben business around here just got increasingly busy. Yeah.
Seth Bradley:So I do think we'll continue to kinda grow each part of the business and maybe we'd separate those out a little more. Okay. But I don't see another city in the near future, potentially down the road, but it just seemed like it would be a lot of work that we weren't available to do. Yeah. We did have a business partner down in Nashville, but ultimately, things were just too busy up here for us to really spend time
Aidan Descourouez:Gotcha.
Seth Bradley:Going back and forth.
Aidan Descourouez:What about a full service restaurant? Would you consider something like that? Well, maybe I'm asking too many questions right now.
Seth Bradley:No. It's fine. That's your job. Right? It's kind of a pipe dream.
Seth Bradley:I I like some aspects or the romanticism of owning a restaurant like or the idea of it, but the reality of it I think is quite a bit different when you have all these things to do and margins to hit which are increasingly shrinking. Yep. So the reality of it, just don't know if it's realistic.
Aidan Descourouez:Okay. Would you describe the future success of Dude Food? What would it look like to you?
Ryan Van Voorhis:I think kind of what you're seeing here, we kind of joke about being like a twenty four hour kitchen. Obviously, none of us wanna be here twenty four hours a day. But I think having the ability to increase our corporate business, because if we have this beautiful space, there's room to grow. And I think just really just lean on those strengths and the team that we built and just kind of multiply, divide and conquer, and just keep going from there. I got you.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:Then lastly here, I'm gonna switch to our last segment, which we refer to as our tasting menu.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Okay.
Aidan Descourouez:I'm gonna give three of the questions to you, I'm gonna go find Seth and get him the other three questions.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Okay.
Aidan Descourouez:They're general hospitality focused ask questions,
Seth Bradley:so answer how you feel Sure. Feel. Okay.
Aidan Descourouez:What is the smallest gesture of hospitality that's had the largest impact?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Gosh. I think even just like a thank you or a genuine gratefulness after we've been in someone's home. Yeah. We clean up and reset, and they are just eternally grateful for the service that we provided and the service that we said we would provide. But I think just following through on what we did and said and leaving them with just that that good taste in their mouth that they want us back.
Ryan Van Voorhis:You know? That's there you go. There you go. That just happened. Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:What dish, drinker moment first made you fall in love with this industry?
Ryan Van Voorhis:Oh, man. The sourdough for sure. But I think really went to Oreo for one of our first year anniversaries as a brand. Seth and I went. And probably just the best tasting menu experience from again, from the moment we walked into that elevator and walked onto that dining room.
Aidan Descourouez:Yeah.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Every single person was in tune with us and knew exactly what to do. It never felt like stuffy or that people were like checking on us too often, it was just everyone had their job and they knew exactly what they needed to do. And it just felt very seamless. Then on top of that, then the food just like blew me away. Just that level of attention and organization into such a little bite of food, that was it.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Yeah.
Aidan Descourouez:One last question
Ryan Van Voorhis:Sure. For
Aidan Descourouez:What is the hardest part of the work that the guests never get to see?
Ryan Van Voorhis:I think this. Think it's just the the all the moving parts. I mean, making sure that all the ingredients are in the kitchen when we need to. Most days we're still picking up the proteins, and we have salmon to break down after this. But I think just people have no idea what goes into on the prep side.
Ryan Van Voorhis:Oh, you just show up and cook at my house, but there's many, many other things. Yeah, for sure.
Aidan Descourouez:And then I guess lastly, just for you to bug yourself. Yeah. Where can people find you, Ron?
Ryan Van Voorhis:The biggest thing is Instagram, social media, newdudefood. We're on Facebook. We're on TikTok. Not very active, but everything is at nude dude food. It's hard to forget.
Ryan Van Voorhis:People mix it up a lot, but nude dude food. But you can't miss us.
Aidan Descourouez:Think that spontaneity led to something unforgettable? That what?
Seth Bradley:The spontaneity. What about it?
Aidan Descourouez:Led to something unforgettable.
Seth Bradley:Led to something unforgettable.
Aidan Descourouez:I know. I'm hanging with the hard rock here. I'm getting it.
Seth Bradley:This is random. That's One of the guys in here, after an event in Indiana, we stopped at
Ryan Van Voorhis:the Hard Rock Casino on
Seth Bradley:the way back, and he lost all the money that I was paying him for that event. That was spontaneous. That was spontaneous. Had a lasting impact on his pocketbook. I don't know if that's relevant at all.
Seth Bradley:That works. That's literally the first thing that popped into my mind. My
Aidan Descourouez:next one, what does good taste mean to you?
Seth Bradley:Good taste. I think it means good tasting food. Right. So there's an element to having, yeah, good tasting, good quality food, and good taste is kind of the way it's being presented. Okay.
Seth Bradley:Tasteful, really keeping the guest in mind, and just being attentive to their needs, think is good takes. That all factors into the the experience and ultimately, I think makes the feed taste better at
Aidan Descourouez:the end anyway. So they're kinda all factors. Alright. One last question here for you.
Seth Bradley:Go
Aidan Descourouez:ahead. If you could leave our listeners and viewers with one lesson from your journey, what would it be? Do it.
Seth Bradley:Don't get into food. No. No. If you're passionate about it, just really it's about putting time every single day into that passion, whatever that means. As a small business owner, there's so many things to do each and every day, but it's finding time to keep plugging away at those things that are gonna basically make it easier to do what you're passionate about, whatever that means for the business.
Seth Bradley:So for us, there's there's accounting, there's ordering, there's all sorts of things, but it's it's getting through those things and and still trying to find time, and still being passionate about it. That makes sense.
Aidan Descourouez:And then very last thing, just to plug yourself, where can people find you?
Seth Bradley:Anything new dude food, newdudefood.com. Great. Instagram at new dude food, Facebook at new dude food. If you can remember new dude food We can find you. You can usually find us.
Seth Bradley:Well, cool.
Aidan Descourouez:But yeah. So much time. I really appreciate hanging out with you today.
Seth Bradley:Thank you. Awesome.