Richard Anderson, 39

No college, no culinary school, no formal training at all — no problem for Richard Anderson. He started his restaurant industry journey as a dishwasher at age 14 and worked his way up to the peak of his profession, becoming culinary director of Tampa-based Oxford Commons Hospitality Co.’s seven brands: Oxford Exchange, The Library, Predalina, The Stovall House, SH19, Casa Cami at Current Hotel and Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

Anderson attributes a great deal of success to his mentor, Brian Kenney, a restaurateur who hired him to wash dishes at Kenney’s restaurant, The Cabana, in Hobe Sound, between West Palm Beach and Stuart. Before long, Anderson had taken on a much wider range of responsibilities. 

Photo by Mark Wemple

“Some nights I was the prep cook, line cook, sous chef, trash man … and the joke maker,” he recalls. “Having a laugh in the middle of it all was just as important as anything else.”

Often, Anderson adds, it was just Kenney and him working at the small eatery. He worked there until he was 22, learning innumerable valuable lessons. The first came when he was new at the job and was tasked with closing the kitchen before going home for the night. 

“Sweep, mop, wipe, you know,” Anderson says, recalling Kenney made a point of asking him to thoroughly clean under areas that were not in public view, such as under the counters and kitchen appliances. Kenney told him he’d get paid when he finished. 

“So, I did my job,” Anderson says. “I went to him and said I was done. He says, ‘You sure? You got under the counter?’ I said, ‘Yep, I got it all.’ He goes, ‘OK, let me check.’ He grabbed the broom, and he reached under the counter in a very specific spot and swept out a $100 bill. He says, ‘Well, if you’d swept thoroughly, this would’ve been yours.’ He put it in his pocket and walked away. That’s a good lesson — if you're asked to do a job, do it the whole way.” 

Another task was what Anderson describes as “jumpy jumpy” — “literally being asked to jump on the garbage in the dumpster if it was overflowing and we had a few days to go before pickup,” he says, adding that was one of many “gut check” moments during his career. 

And those checks carry over to today. Says Anderson: “I won’t hire an executive chef who’s not willing to get their hands dirty.”