Some of Us Are Wired to Build a Clock and Not Watch It Tick
In 2016 I was living what most people in this industry would call a dream. Sole chef on a 100-foot luxury motor yacht, somewhere in the Turks and Caicos, doing work I loved in a place most people only see in photographs. But getting there required a pivot I did not see coming.
The way I ended up on that boat goes back further than 2016. Five years before that I was on a ferry headed to the Bahamas with some friends when I struck up a conversation with a stranger at the next table. Rum and Coke, easy conversation, no agenda. He turned out to be a captain heading to pick up a boat. We exchanged information before we docked. He told me to reach out next time I was in Florida. I told him to call me if he ever needed a chef on the water.
Five years later I was preparing to go out on the road as tour chef with a major recording artist. That world was something I knew well. And then it fell through. That same evening, sitting with the question of where the pivot was going to take me, a message came through from the captain. He was asking if I knew anyone who wanted to cook in the Bahamas for a few months. My hand went up immediately. That job was the 100-foot yacht. That pivot changed the direction of everything.
It was on that boat, in the Turks and Caicos, that one of the owners mentioned they were opening a restaurant in Key West and would love for me to come take a look. Before I could say anything the captain interrupted. He looked at the owner and said Chef is not ready for all that, he has more that he is still trying to do. The owner paused. He looked at me. Tapped his chin, thought for a moment, then smiled and said he had me figured out. I asked him to tell me more. He looked at me again, let it sit for a second, and said: you are the type of guy that likes to build a clock but not watch it tick.
I did not fully understand it at the time. But I have spent years since then watching it prove itself true.
I like to figure out how to make the crabcake. I do not want to stand there and make 300 more. I like to build the catering system, design the flow, solve the problem, get it running cleanly. The drive has never been to abandon what I built or to move on before it is done. It has always been about feeding the part of me that needs to create, to problem solve, to follow what fills my cup and keeps me sharp. That is not restlessness. That is knowing how you are wired and having the clarity to honor it.
The culinary consulting work I do now out of Marin County is built on exactly that. Helping restaurant owners, catering operators, and hospitality professionals across the Bay Area and beyond build stronger systems, cleaner operations, and programs that actually hold up. I get to bring 25 years of experience into rooms where it can do the most good and move on to the next challenge when the work is done. That is the clock I am currently building.
Some of you reading this will know exactly what I am talking about. For those who do not, I still appreciate you being here and letting me share it.
The conversation is open.
Reach out directly at reino@cruzexperience.com.
Let’s build something unforgettable.
