Jason Grasty, head concept chef at Beehive Kitchen

Jason Grasty is head concept chef at Beehive Kitchen in Fort Lauderdale, where customers begin their meal-in-a-bowl by choosing a base ingredient, such as quinoa or sweet potato glass noodles, vegetables, and proteins, and top it off from a selection of sauces.

Grasty spent a decade at Roy’s, a chain of Pacific Rim cuisine restaurants founded in Hawaii. He was the executive chef partner of Roy’s Austin and then Bonita Springs.

He was also the east coast regional chef for 10 Roy’s locations over the last three years before joining the Doral-based Centurion Restaurant Group, which includes the Beehive Kitchen, Bulla Gastrobar and Pisco Y Nazca Cerviche Gastrobar restaurant brands. On the job

Culinary inspiration: I started out as a dishwasher, and I was blown away by what I saw being created in the kitchen around me. My biggest drive is delivering simple, great-tasting food. Too often, I think chefs are trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, instead of treating ingredients and flavor combinations with the respect they deserve.

Typical day: Open the restaurant; set up my prep guys. Accept a few orders; pre-shift and set up for lunch. After that: cleanup and shift changeover, as well as orders, then afternoon pre-shift and prep for dinner service as well as the following day’s lunch; followed by extensive cleanup, ordering, reorganizing, and setup up tomorrow’s service.

What don’t people know: You have to love what you do to stay in the restaurant business for any length of time. Strategies Networking: Chef summits geared toward the food everyone is working on and creating - coming together like that is very powerful. Advice to young professionals: Be ready for a long road ahead. On the side Reading: “Setting the Table,” by Danny Meyer

JASON GRASTY