When Jeffrey Floyd graduated from Park Hill High School 11 years ago, he decided to take a couple years off. The goal, he says: "figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life."
That sounds like an excuse for screwing around, but Floyd was serious, trying out several different jobs -- including as a phone operator for a home security system, manual laborer for a lawn service, and even as a salesman for Victoria's Secret -- until he stumbled into the restaurant business.Since February, 29-year-old Floyd has been the sous chef for the Terrace Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center Hotel. It is, he insists, his dream job; he'd wanted to work at the hotel since he was a kid.
"When I was growing up, the premier restaurants in Kansas City were Skies and the Peppercorn Duck Club," Floyd says. He admits, though, that his desire to actually work in restaurants came much later.
By his own admission, Floyd -- a rugby player at Park Hill -- wasn't one of those Kansas City kids knocking around the family kitchen turning out moist layer cakes and beef bourguignonne. His father, Michael Floyd, was the cook in the family. After coming home from his shift as a foreman for a sheet metal factory, Michael Floyd rolled up his sleeves and prepared the evening meal for his five kids. "He was a really excellent home cook," Floyd says. "His created his own version of paella, spaghetti and meatballs. We ate really well."
Floyd was too active as a young man to spend much time in the kitchen. But at age 16, a friend was playing around with a BB gun and accidently shot Floyd in the face; he lost his right eye. The replacement is so natural-looking that it's hard to tell it isn't his own, but Floyd likes disarming strangers by admitting that he's "the only one-eyed chef in the city."
To get that title, though, Floyd had to finally complete his two-year search to find himself. When he decided he wanted to go to culinary school, his family encouraged the idea, even though no one in in the Floyd family had ever worked in a restaurant. He was accepted at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in Arizona and moved west. "It was an excellent, hands-on program," Floyd says.
He stayed in Arizona for seven years; after graduating he completed a three-year apprenticeship at the Marriott Camelback Inn resort in Scottsdale and at the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Inn. But Floyd missed his family and friends and moved back to Kansas City several years ago. "I knew I wanted to work at the Hyatt, so I applied there and while waiting for something to open up there I took other jobs, including the executive chef position at the Houlihan's in Olathe."
When Hyatt executive chef Frank Majowicz hired Floyd for the sous chef position in February, the younger chef knew he was up for the challenge of The Terrace, the Hyatt's breakfast-and-lunch venue, which also operates the hotel's room service. "It can be incredibly busy, depending on the occupancy of the hotel," Floyd says. "Last weekend we did 400 covers just during the breakfast shift."
But Floyd loves the pace and challenge of hotel dining. "Frank Majowicz has been a great mentor," he says. "He gave me a lot of creative freedom in helping to design the current Terrace menu."
When Floyd isn't cooking for hotel patrons, he often cooks for his girlfriend at home, although he admits a weakness for the fried chicken at Stroud's. (His favorite restaurant in the metro is Le Fou Frog, in the River Market.)
Floyd admits that his youthful appearance can sometimes lead customers -- and even other chefs -- to believe he's years younger than his actual age. But at nearly 30, Floyd can wax philosophically about all that: "I look back at myself during my younger years and think, man, I've come a long way."
Just wait.
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Jeff, its so nice to hear that your doing great. I'm glad everything is well for you. Keep it up and don't forget about us small dogs in the big dog house. I might jut come out to visit your spot one day. Keep it up.
Toni B Gordillo
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