Heroes in Business - Matt Jordan, Food Network Chef, National Executive Chef, Appeared 8x on National Cooking Shows mattjordantv.com

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Matt Jordan, Food Network Chef and seasoned competitor with 8 appearances on national cooking shows, is a nationally recognized Executive Chef known for his bold flavors and culinary innovation. He joins David Cogan, host of the Eliances Heroes Show and founder of the Eliances entrepreneur community, to share his journey through the world of competitive cooking and high-level cuisine. mattjordantv.com

Welcome back to alliances heroes. We're heroes in business aligned to be part of our super community and find out more about alliances visit www.alliances.com. That's right and welcome back to thank you so much for the feedback we continue to have on when I had an interview with the co-founder of Zillow.com and also the founder of E-Network. That's right, the E-Network. So make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com because as you know it is the only the only place where entrepreneurs align. Now many of you listening watching now may be getting hungry because I am definitely getting hungry now. Well,

guess what? You're going to be more hungry by the time this interview is over. That's right. Why? Because we have with us Matt Jordan. All right. He is not one not five, eight time competition show veteran, food network, guys, grocery games, food network star, favorites and cutthroat kitchen, national chef, and if that wasn't enough, multimillion dollar sales leader for the world's largest food and beverage company. You could reach them by going to matjordantv.com. And again, you'll see the link, you can go to alliances.com and be able to be able to find it and click to the link to reach them directly. All right, Matt, boy, you've done so much. I got to get right into it and stuff. Talk to us about eight time

competition show veteran in the Food Network. Like, how do you even become one less alone eight? Yeah, thanks for having me, David. And hey to everybody out there. So Food Network has been extremely generous to me over the years. And it really started when I was nine years old here locally in Arizona. I did all of the local TV segments

at all of the local stations. And fast forward to when I was in culinary school, I acted as my own agent and would call up the Food Network, do my research, ask the assistants to transfer me to so-and-so executive and I would leave and pitch voicemails where I would, you know, share who I was, potential show concepts. In addition, at culinary school, I went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. And up on the third floor level, we had a food safety

teacher that used to be a food stylist at the network. So I would march up to her desk, you know, uninvited, the poor, poor lady, you know, here comes this 18 year old kid just approaching her desk. But I had a reel of all of my video segments and I was able to pitch myself to her and one other faculty member that knew people at the Food Network and they were able to connect me. You know, as one of my good friends says, to make a long story long, after culinary school, the then GM of the Food Network called me and asked me to do Cutthroat Kitchen. And that was really my big break. I was probably 19 years old, 19, 20 years old.

And from there, the Food Network just kept having me back over the years. Talk to us about what it's like though being on TV, like the pressure of that and the bright lights, like even the lights affecting food. I don't know. You know, I'm not certainly not a chef, but it just seems like everything in the pressure of that. How do you like handle that internally? Okay, I've only got this period of time, we're going to be doing this, this and this to make it happen and produce something that's going to taste phenomenal.

Yeah, absolutely. And not to make a food pun, but it really is a pressure cooker and I had had intense training. I had my first restaurant job when I was 16 so I've been I've been working in really high-intensity professional kitchens my entire life. I'm now 29, I'll be 30 this year and in addition you know doing the live segments on you know Arizona Midday and you know 12 News and all the local stations here. It gave me good practice. But when you fly to Hollywood and you're on a studio lot and you're filming a show, it's another level of intense. But it was so exciting. I had had the

training wheels to get there. And when you're thrown into the boiling water of a high intensity, really high dollar amount production, it's a sink or swim sort of situation. The time clocks are real. You really have to trust your laurels. There's no preparing for it. You've done all the preparing in your professional, in your professional career and working and when you're in that moment it's almost like your brain shuts off and you have to go by pure intuition. Does it get any easier by the time you're at your fifth one you kind of get used to acclimated to what's going to get going to happen? Absolutely. You really get used to the format of hearing what the challenge is and then just cooking.

What I really recommend to anybody that is competing is really develop your clear point of view style and trust yourself. When you're in the moment making decisions, you have a clock that's running at either 25, 30 minutes. At the end of that 30 minutes, you're gonna be serving food to the judges. You need to be cooking food immediately. You need to get stuff on the grill immediately. And so there's really no time for planning. Where I really shift to is what am I craving?

And that is generally what I cook. To answer your question though, yes, it absolutely does get easier. By the time I did the fifth or sixth show with the Food Network, you get used to being on that big studio lot set and it just begins to feel like home. How did you know that you were good at what you were doing

in regards to the cooking aspect of it? Because, listen, there's a lot of people who think they're good chefs, but they're the only ones that eat the food that they make. They're like, this tastes good to me. I don't know. Yeah, you know what it comes down to? Does the food sell?

I think that that's what it's about. And whether it's selling in a restaurant or in mass manufacturing, or in being invited back to the Food Network, you know. If you're looking at it from a digital standpoint, are people commenting on your posts, downloading your recipes? Really it comes down to sales. Television is still a business. Talent on TV, it is there to make the business money. And so it's really a measurable thing is are people seeing you for for your food and man, I think you nailed it because it is you're right

The cooking aspect is one part of it, but then it's keeping people engaged Yes to not to write not just not it like like guy, right? For example I mean, you know, right bringing that and like you have, you know bringing that out But you know while you're cooking, how do you have both minds on both things of that? Like I got a people people engage I got to make sure that I'm cooking I'm make sure it's the right temperature Ingredients and everything happening at once in a short period of time and all these people and cameras on me Yeah, it's really hard David and but it but it but I think it's just one of those things where some people are really good at being a doctor, some people are really good at spreadsheets and working in supply chain. And I think this is just

one of those things that you have a natural tendency for. I'm really able to sort of shut off my brain, listen to what producers are saying, think about the challenge, but then also be going through the minutia of practical skill when it comes to cooking. And where I think a lot of that derives from is working in high intensity kitchens and working on the hotline. You come in at two o'clock, let's say you're working dinner service, it's a Friday or Saturday night, you've got 300 on the books. I worked in restaurants where they were like 50 60 70 dollar plates

You know really high high-end food with elite staff and a lot of pressure and extremely intense and so I think that that is the training that is Necessary in order to thrive in the camera Film, you know part of it because you're right, it's also entertainment. TV is entertainment first and then it's the food. No one's gonna end up tasting your food because it's on your on TV. They're gonna make it in their home. So I think being able to rest on your skill and your laurels of, you know, I know my food, I'm competent in my food and then just

being able to be yourself. Um, that's really the recipe for success. Excellent. Again, and it's this show is successful because I have the opportunity to meet incredible people like you, Matt, this hero show. So make sure that you go to alliances.com. That's E L I A N C S.com. Why the only place where entrepreneurs align, because we have with us Matt Jordan, eight-time competition show veteran, Food Network. You can reach him at mattjordantv.com. Mattjordantv.com.

Matt, what are they going to find when they go to your website, mattjordantv.com? Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, David, for plugging that. You're going to see a quick bio about myself, some representation of the food that I like to cook, and then a contact form. I'm always open to opportunities. My goals and ambitions are still to have a cookbook, have a television show, the whole shebang, a restaurant chain in my name, a restaurant group. My website is really a professional profile where other professionals and or fans can reach me.

Absolutely, that's incredible. And again, Matt, just do you ever like what goes through your mind when you have watched yourself on TV? Like you know is it is it where it's a critique or it's like what what goes through your mind when someone sees you when you see yourself on TV? Yeah, they David, I'm extremely critical of myself. I really use it to study. You know, whether that be changing mannerisms or things I say, recipes I cook, it's almost like a football player watching themself play.

I really use it to study. That being said, I'm not like watching them all the time. It's usually when they're first airing, but I am the critical type when I see myself on TV. Matt, if you had one goal of also what you want to do now, one goal. What would that be? Talk show. I would love to be a talk show host. Excellent. Excellent. Well, you have the personality for it. You have a look for it. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. You do. So we got time for, you know, one more question. I think this is important because you mentioned that the age of 16, how you really got involved in the food industry. Yes. What kind of secrets can you share for others

that you know maybe beyond the age of 16 but they don't know what they want to do? Like how do you find it? You know what is it and how did you know at the point hey this is really what I want to do. This is my passion. Matt, help us share the secrets of how others can find their passion for that. Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a lot of things that go into it, but I think that being able to stick with what you love through the hard times and when you're not making a ton of money, you know, being able to see past the horizon of that knowing that bigger things are coming are really essential to Becoming successful, you know straight out of school, especially culinary school If you're not right off the bat making a hundred K plus that's okay

You know cut your teeth on a hotline make twelve to fifteen dollars an hour work at really great places It's gonna be extremely challenging You know from age 16 to 24. I was making you know, barely above minimum wage Knowing that greater things were coming for me and this was all in tandem with you know Everything with Food Network the list TV show Young Hollywood and then I really got a big break in the corporate world the List TV show, Young Hollywood. And then I really got a big break in the corporate world working as a national executive chef in a really heavy chef operations marketing sales role. And so being able to lay the foundation to build your skill is critical. And even if it is, you know, painful, it's necessary. Excellent. Well, that's right. Stick with what you love.

That's what we're doing here. And that's what Matt's doing. Matt Jordan, eight time competition show veteran, Food Network, guys, most recent Food Network star, over to you. This goes on. Make sure you reach out to Matt at matjordantv.com.

This has been David Cogan with the Alliance's Hero Show. But Matt, you gotta dance with me now too. There you go. There you go. I love it. I love it. You're hired. I love it.

I love it. I love it. I love it.