Meet Daniel Florence | Airline Pilot & Private Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Florence and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, how do you think about risk?
In my previous career as a military aviator, and current full time career as an airline pilot, I am well versed in risk management and risk mitigation concepts. A popular saying goes, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”. As pilots, we operate in a non-stop cycle of risk management procedures and techniques. Are the risks we take worth the rewards we receive at the end of the flight? With new or evolving information throughout the flight, we must continually re-evaluate the risk versus reward picture. In military flying, by the nature of the mission, we had to accept a lot of inherent risk in our operations–even in the training environment. Commercial and civil aviation still has inherent risks, but isn’t the same as military flying risks. There are certain risks and procedures we accepted in the military that would be outright illegal under the Federal Aviation Administration on an airliner today. Hopefully that is obvious to most, but rest assured, commercial aviation is extremely safe. The only mission we have as pilots is Safety. That’s it. Of course we want to be on time. And of course we want to get the customers and ourselves to our destinations or connections. But safety is always part of our professional mindset and is the only driver for going or staying.

So, what does this have to do with my cooking? My years of risk management experience were put to the test in 2020 when the airlines were in danger of bankruptcy and/or furloughing thousands of employees. My seniority number at my company was not good enough for me to have a favorable outcome due to the pandemic. I knew I would be furloughed. I was preparing myself to be absent of this job for a decade. I had to make a decision and determine what life would look like void of my first passion of flying. My only other passion besides flying was cooking. My company was offering pilots to take up to six months of paid leave to not fly. On one hand, I could keep flying for my company and try and make as much money as I could until they would finally let me go. The other option was to take six months of paid leave and pursue my other dream–becoming a chef. Weighing the pro’s and con’s of each decision, I decided to jump into the food industry at 39 years old and start at the bottom of the restaurant chain of command. The low pay was offset by the partial pay check I was still getting from my airline. This is the only reason I was able to survive and provide for my family, keeping us in our house and not having to make drastic changes to our lifestyle. The decision to leave on short term paid leave was a tough and risky one–possibly one of the hardest decisions of my life. And as such, the company did end up cutting my short term paid leave early and pursued furlough options with me. Yet, I often wonder what my life would look like now had I just stayed the course at my airline instead of cooking in restaurants. I have no regrets and I am positive that my choice to leave when I did was absolutely necessary for me to grow and learn in the professional food industry. The lessons learned, skills attained, confidence gained, friends made, and scratches that were itched, could have never happened had I not weighed the risks versus the rewards at that important crossroad in 2020. I definitely would not have the confidence and skills today to run my private chef services operation had I stayed on the less risky, more lucrative, and comfortable path.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I specialize in Private Chef Services which means I can encompass a wide spectrum of services to fit client’s food needs. The basic service I provide is cooking on site for a client’s event. Some events I’ve done are weddings, baby showers, birthdays, and holiday parties. These events can be multi-course plated, buffet/family style, or hors d’oeuvres/small plates. I start with a menu/event consultation. I then spend time revising the menus for approval, sourcing the food, and planning the logistics for the event. The next phases are preparing, setting up, executing, and tearing down/cleaning up. Typically I cook at the client’s house or their Airbnb/VRBO rental. Another service I provide is actually staying at the client’s house/rental for their vacation or event. For example, the first wedding I did, Drew Archer and I were invited to stay with the family all weekend. It was an amazing home and we both got our own rooms. By the end of the weekend, we were basically part of their family. Besides the food that bonded us, we got to spend time with the family after hours or between meals. It was a really special weekend that I will remember for the rest of my life. Otherwise, I can cook for any event no matter where the client is located. I am willing to travel and would love to get into the vacation rental space where I’d go with the clients for the entire trip and handle everything food related. Another goal of mine is the back country camping space. I am comfortable being outdoors and have some training as a former Special Operations pilot that could serve me well. The idea is, the client sets up a base camp and that is where my kitchen is staged. When the client(s) gets back from their outdoor activities, I am there with the fire and a nice classy meal ready for them to eat out in the wilderness. Likewise, once the campers get up in the morning, the fire is rolling with family style breakfast skillets and coffee etc.

My tag line is, “It takes a lot more than just fancy cooking” which is a play on a quote from the movie Top Gun. Maverick hits on Charlie and she responds with, “It takes a lot more than just fancy flying”. Cooking, while important, is just one aspect of the job. I’m proud of my ability to create relationships out of my work events and love connecting with people. I think I am pretty good at reading the room and the party to know if I can let my guard down and be a part of the fun, or if I am to be a fly on the wall and just get the work done. I also pride myself in my planning skills and attention to detail. Engrained in me from being a military pilot for Special Operators, these skills have paid dividends in the Private Chef world. I am excited about future challenges and more clients. I like a good challenge and like to test my improvisation and adaptation skills along with learning new dishes and techniques.

In my 20s I couldn’t have cared less about cooking. But back to that year in 2012 where I was really struggling to stay mentally fit to fight in the military, cooking saved my career. I found it to be an amazingly therapeutic outlet. The reality was, when I was cooking, my brain was so engrossed in the task at hand, I couldn’t think about my issues with our military flying squadron or anything else. Nothing else mattered when I was cooking. I staged at Crust Artisan Bakery off and on for 3 years. My culminating event there was making a Margherita pizza for Emeril Lagasse’s wife who sometimes came to the restaurant. I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico after that. I soon attended a Five Mother Sauces class at Los Poblanos. The class was taught by the Executive Chef at the time, Jon Perno. His class further opened my world to new cooking techniques and took my food passions beyond what Crust offered. I met Chef Perno later at his Chef’s Table service one night, as a patron. During that dinner, he invited me to stage under him. Off and on for almost a year, I staged under Chefs Perno, Chris Bethoney, and Daniel Garcia. It was an amazing experience. Garcia and I became close friends and he, along with Drew Archer, invited me on separate occasions to help them cook for weddings they were cooking for over the years. Eventually, I became confident enough to go on my own and sell my own menus and services as ‘The Chef’. It’s been amazing!

I am excited about my continued journey of growth as a Private Chef. There is still much to learn, but one this is for sure, I am completely passionate about this work. Clients should know that when they hire me as their Chef, they will be hard pressed to find anyone nearly as dedicated and passionate as I am about serving them a meal to remember.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d be very excited to show them around my town. In no particular order, I’d take them to some of my favorite places for being outdoors, eating, and drinking.
-Jianna: sit at the indoor/outdoor bar and eat oysters, burrata, & gnocchi.
-Trappe Door: sit at the bar and eat moules and frites with all the aiolis.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
One of my best friends in the whole world, Jay Morgan, used to say, “If you see a turtle on a fence post, odds are it didn’t get there on its own.” The joke should be obvious but the idea is that in most circumstances we are never successful without help. This is especially true in military flight school. In my time in the cooking world, this is 100% a reality. I will try to list everyone that has given me serious support in my journey to become a legit chef and not just a really good home cook.

My first shoutout is to Fray Doyle. He is one of my best friends of over 20 years. He is the one that unknowingly opened my world to cooking when he invited me to a new restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida called Crust Artisan Bakery. It was 2012 and I was really struggling as a military pilot–we had lost some guys, had some cultural and leadership issues in our squadron, and there had been a couple aircraft mishaps that I was either close to or directly involved in. That night at Crust, I found myself zoned out, looking at the kitchen’s pizza oven and admiring the cook doing the work. Next thing I know, Fray and I were in the kitchen meeting the cook and the owner, Mark Fressel, and learning about the wood fired oven. It was then when Mark invited me to stage (or intern) at his restaurant. I staged there during my free time off and on for the next three years. It was an experience that had a life changing impact. Cooking started as a therapeutic outlet that turned into a hobby, that soon turned into a serious passion. Ten years later, in 2022, Fray took over as a military squadron commander. He had followed my Instagram account over the years as I became an avid home cook and watched as I also helped some private chefs cook at their various events. He hired me to cook for his 30 person party to celebrate his new command. The pictures from this dinner set off a chain of events that led to me becoming serious about having the confidence and skillset to advertise myself as a private chef under my company name “Frolic & Detour”.

I could talk for days about all my other shoutouts but odds are we don’t have time for that. So I will try to keep these next shoutouts succinct.
-Chef Daniel Garcia, friend and mentor–my go-to guy for learning all things food and how to cook for private events. He is an amazingly talented and affable Chef Consultant in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
-Chef Chris Bethoney, Executive Chef at Campo, Los Poblanos Historic Farm and Inn, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chris is a James Beard Award Regional Nominee, remarkable cook, chef, and absolutely a pleasure to know and stage under.
-Chef Mark Fressell, owner (deceased) of Crust Artisan Bakery. He was the first chef to invite me to stage and teach me how to cook. He changed my life. Rest easy, Mark, and thank you for what you did.
-Mr. & Mrs. Jon & KC Brown; quite possibly my biggest fans. If I had regular clients, it would be them. But besides that, they are really awesome and supportive friends. The very first wedding I did as The Chef, was for KC’s sister. The trust that Jon and KC have in me inspires me and keeps me going even when there are challenging nights or business is slow.
-Chef Drew Archer; he is one of my best friends in Greenville, SC. He is a culinary instructor and Private Chef. We’ve cooked together since 2020. He is my go-to local guy for food mentorship, food conversation, and beer drinking.
-Chef’s I’ve never met but inspire me: Thomas Keller & Gordon Ramsey, specifically due to their Master Class lessons, Francis Mallmann of Patagonia, Argentina due to his love of outdoor cooking, potatoes, and interesting techniques using fire and char.
-Books: Flavor Bible (Page & Dornenburg), Mallmann On Fire (Francis Mallmann), Kitchen Confidential (Anthony Bourdain), Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child).
-Movies/Shows: Burnt, The Bear, The Hundred Foot Journey, Beat Bobby Flay.

There are most likely plenty of people I’ve forgotten. Please forgive me!

Instagram: @frolic_n_detour

Image Credits
-Black and white: Sarah Marie Marko
-Plating: Christine L Coker
-Spritzing: Amelia Fletcher Photo
-Grill Fire: Brittani Piesch
-Blue Shirt: Brittani Piesch
-Flight Line Walking Out: U.S. Air Force