Exploring Life & Business with Chad Hellem of Chad The Food Dude LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chad Hellem.

Hi Chad, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started in foodservice and hospitality when I was in middle school – my dad owned a barbecue catering company as a side project my mom called his ‘midlife crisis’, but it sparked a fire within me. I’d spend my weekends rubbing butts, slicing briskets, smoking wings, and pulling up to different places to set up shop and make people happy. Taught me early on that ‘Hellem = Hospitality’. Fast forward to college. I went to UGA and earned two degrees – BBA in Supply Chain Management and a BA for Spanish, where I met my wife and had many more food and service opportunities. I was a kitchen manager in a sorority house for a few years, I was the event planner and tailgate chairman for my tenure in my fraternity, and this year will be my thirteenth consecutive year smoking a full 120+ pound pig for our alumni tailgate! (2014-2026)
While still in school, I had the opportunity to do some summer programs to further my love and desire to be involved in food and hospitality. I spent the summer of 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a study abroad program. In addition to my film studies class, I also did a work based learning opportunity (una pasantía) where I had the chance to work in a parrilla steakhouse, my first real restaurant experience. Live flames, very rapid fire Spanish with a unique and specific accent, and worked my way into my now-permanent knife callous on day one cubing up meat for empanadas. I was hooked. The following summer, 2018, I moved to Phoenix, Arizona for three months to do a restaurant management internship with Hillstone (Houston’s parent company for my ATL people) and spent every waking moment either in the restaurant or studying for their weekly ‘tests’. I worked from the host stand to bartender to server and then every kitchen position – 5am opening bakery shifts to 1am kitchen manager closer shifts, then some weeks in a suit working the dining room as a manager running voids and comps. I learned a LOT about the business of running a restaurant and how to hold your team to militant standards. Back to school for one final semester. Graduated in December 2018, then began working at Local Three in January of 2019. This was immensely impactful for my growth. My first day there, I sat in on a preshift meeting and listened to them discussing the meats and cheeses on the charcuterie board that day. Then, the salinity and brine profile of that day’s oysters and where they came from. Finally, the seasonal special they were running. Everything I’d learned about Hillstone’s specs and standards and requirements for everything across the country to be exactly the same (which they do really really well) got thrown out the window because at L3, we cook for this exact moment in time, not what the immutable menu demands. I had to make components of dishes on the fly which really helped me learn. Emulsification, knife work, searing fish and protein, ticket management, communication, and how to work as a team to achieve a goal while pushing through service. I worked through every position in that kitchen in my few years there. All very necessary. I was their lead offsite chef because I could both cook the food AND talk with the guests we were serving. Arrive early, prep the food, load the equipment, set up the event, serve the food, break down, come back and put it all away. That helped set the stage for beginning my own private chef business. We weathered the storm of Covid interrupting everything. All the systems, the inventory, our staff got thrown off but we pivoted quickly and made it through. Used our front of house to answer phones and our catering vans to drop off the food to keep us in the back cooking. It was beautiful and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the way Ryan Chris and Todd jumped to it to keep us going. Thanksgiving of 2020, while we were churning out pies, casseroles, and potatoes inside, I smoked 300 turkeys by myself in the back of the restaurant with two smokers, two reefer trucks, a golf cart, and a walkie talkie. 150 hours in two weeks. It was insane yet also a ton of fun. But it was then that I realized that nobody was going to work for me as hard as I was working for them. So I had a hard but honest conversation with them about helping get through the end of the year and holiday rush, but that I was going to leave and start my own thing in the new year. Leaving on a respectful note was the best thing possible because since then I’ve been able to go back and assist with various big events around town, repeated trips to East Lake for the Fedex Cup, Augusta for the Masters, and everywhere in between. They help me and I help them which is great.
But January of 2021 I began my own company, Chad The Food Dude, LLC. I had a friend I’ve known since elementary school help design my logo, I made business cards, got insurance, opened a business bank account, and began to cook for friends and family.
Growth since then has been entirely organic. No marketing other than these cool hats we made. Doing a 10 person dinner for one couple I know leads to a few of the other guests wanting me for their own events. Guests at a private dinner often ask if we can cater for their office buildings which in turn has people attending corporate events asking if we can do private dinners. It snowballs from there.
In April of 2021, I met someone in charge of an Artist in Residence program for an apartment community. They offered me the opportunity to host events and cook for that community in exchange for free rent for my apartment. This was incredibly beneficial to building my network, my repertoire of cuisines and menu ideas, and my financial basis for taking further risks for my business. I stumbled across a wine shop down the street where I wound up working part time for the last 4 years, meeting industry professionals, wine makers, portfolio managers, and many international connections furthering another interest and love of mine – fine wine. I got to taste some of the best wines in the world to help refine my palate as a chef, and actually took some classes and tests to deepen my knowledge as a wine professional. I lived in that spot from September of 2021 to May of 2023 when I put all my belongings in storage and moved to Europe for three months with my girlfriend at the time. We spent a month in Spain with Barcelona as our home base, traveling to Valencia, Seville, Malaga, San Sebastián, and a few amazing towns along the north coast from Galicia to Bilbao. Then we went to Italy and lived in Rome for a month where their fantastic train system connected us to Bari, Sorrento/Amalfi, Florence, Bologna, Parma, Modena, and eventually we left via Milan. This took us into Nice, France where we rented a car and drove up through the Rhône Valley exploring the wine regions I’d studied – Châteauneuf du Pape, Cote Rotie, Hermitage, then fell in love with the city of Lyon before making it up to Burgundy, and finally ending in Champagne which is the perfect place to get down on a knee and propose to my fiancée! We visited so many vineyards, farms, home kitchens, small restaurants, and did many hands on cooking classes and experiences to absorb the culture on the very front lines. It completely changed my outlook on the world and my sense of purpose as a chef. We moved back home, lived in Smyrna for a bit, until we found a house in East Cobb that we bought in August of 2024 as business kept growing and growing. Right now we do private dinners, food pairings for wine tastings, residential community monthly events, corporate dinners, private chef services for vacations and business retreats, and everything in between. We try to fit into every aspect of our community and just this year alone have done multiple weddings, graduations, birthdays, and even a funeral. The most important thing to me as we grow is to maintain integrity and intentionality in the food we serve, the hospitality we provide, and the way we interact with everyone around us. Every step of the supply chain – from the people that provide the inputs like seeds and fertilizer, to those that grow our food, the people that transport and distribute those ingredients to us, the chefs that help us transform them into the final dish you see, to the people that serve the food and beverages we curate, all the way to the guests themselves. Every bit of that system is important to me and I want to do my best to honor and support all the people involved. Obviously this is a business and I’m an entrepreneur, but I know that I wouldn’t be where I’m able to be in this life if it weren’t for the people in every single link of that chain I just described. We’re expecting our first child in September, a daughter, and other than preparing to host some of the best tea parties this world has ever seen, I’m looking forward to the opportunity and challenge of continuing my career as an entrepreneur while I also try to figure out how to be a great dad. Any advice is welcome.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been relatively pretty smooth – not to say I haven’t had my share of bad days nor events where I’ve messed something up or learned from a mistake, but I’m very methodical with my planning so typically I overanalyze things and struggle more on the front end while planning the event and logistics. So, by the time I’m on site most things have been handled and the proverbial ‘fires’ have been put out. Also I’m very grateful to be facing the private sector and have really amazing clients so a lot of the variability and craziness that come with a restaurant facing the public can be mitigated. I always ask about allergies, timeframes, preferences, and anything that can make the event more smooth so the framework for success is there even before guests arrive.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Chad The Food Dude LLC?
We offer bespoke curated dining events centered around you! Whatever the occasion you’re celebrating, the food you most love, or the people you’re trying to connect with, we’re there to make it special and unique. Our goal is for you to feel like a guest within your own home. We come in, set up and serve our meal, pour wines we curate or from your own cellar, present and explain everything to welcome you to the table, and of course clean up to leave no trace when we depart, leaving you with nothing but memories and possibly some leftovers. The booking and menu development process is always fun and enjoyable, and you can hear many of my clients get more and more excited as the conversation continues. We have a great team and network of hospitality professionals like servers, sommeliers, and bartenders; as well as other professionals like DJs, musicians, artists, and more. Our goal is to make any and all ideas you may have part of an inimitable experience for you and your guests.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
As AI takes over just about everything else in this world, I can guarantee you nothing is going to change the passion and enjoyment I have as a hospitality professional. I’m only 30, but I’m very old school. I pick up the phone and call my clients to plan events, I journal with pen and paper daily, I bring a tangible shopping list to the market and love crossing things off, and most importantly I get to work with my own hands every day! Obviously there are great tools out there for people to utilize for meal prepping, tracking macros, planning their own parties, and getting creative outside their comfort zone. But for me, I will continue to study the successful chefs of the past – the Escoffier, Bocuse, and Robuchon guard; while respecting the greats of present – the Keller, Waters, Ramsays of the world and try to understand the nuances of who will take us into the future. For every Elena Arzak or E.J Lagasse taking the yoke from a very successful parent and transforming it to make it their own; there are people building dreams out of their own stories and resumés built on sweat and drive. I’m not sure yet where I’ll fit into this tapestry, still yet to plant my flag with a restaurant space of my own, but I’m grateful to share the industry with people I have such admiration for. Atlanta is an amazing place full of amazing chefs, steeped in culture and history, and the birthplace of an incredibly powerful movement like the Giving Kitchen. I’m very lucky to be a chef in Atlanta

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @chadthefooddude