‘We don’t cater, we provide dining experiences’

Heather Graves

Staff

September 2, 2024

EAGLE RIVER – Self-taught chef Luke Olejniczak said his passion for food began when he was a kid.

Hunting and fishing trips with his father, Olejniczak said, would extend into the kitchen – cooking up the gains of the endeavor.

“Hunting and fishing was a big part of my life from day one,” he said. “My father and I would cook together when I was young, and it kind of blossomed into conversations based around food. It was a way to take our hunting or fishing trips a step further and continue to fellowship from there.”

Olejniczak said he’s not one of those people who had to move away from his hometown to recognize how special it was.

“I’m 100% born and raised in Eagle River,” he said. “My whole life has been spent here. I absolutely love the area and everything about it. The people here are great. I love the lakes and the woods. So, I never had a reason to move.”

Olejniczak said his passion for food and cooking continued to grow over the years – taking it upon himself to learn new techniques and recipes along the way.

“I am not a fancy pedigree chef with an elaborate background,” he said. “I’m a self-trained mutt who earned his spot at the dog show. Everything I have learned was from the internet, from other chefs or my father, and I just kind of built upon my skill set little by little.”

Growing up and residing in the area his whole life, Olejniczak said, “I know my niche in the area.”

It was this understanding of the area, he said, that eventually promoted him to start his business – Private Chef Luke.

Cooking up success

After receiving positive feedback regarding the food he cooks from a close friend, Olejniczak said he started his venture preparing meals for a local hunt club.

“I did a couple of dinners out there, and that’s when I really started to gain confidence,” he said.

For a bit, Olejniczak said he balanced cooking at the hunt club with his full-time job at a local butcher shop.

“To be honest, if I didn’t find this passion for cooking, I would probably still be there to this day,” he said. “But I would punch in at 6 a.m. and an hour in, I was already thinking about what I was going to do when I got off work and went to the hunt club. How was I going to present the steak? How was I going to make this experience special for the guys there? How am I going to leave a lasting impression on them?”

When his meals at the hunt club continued to receive rave reviews, Olejniczak said he started to think, “maybe I can offer this (type of experience) in the Eagle River area.”

“I literally just put a quick ad on Facebook, and I started to get a couple of jobs here and there,” he said. “And, if you just worry about putting out a good product, a good experience – the rest takes care of itself.”

Focusing on that, Olejniczak said, led to more and more bookings, and before he knew it, his private chef business was off to the races.

“Before I knew it, I was faced with the decision about whether I continue at the butcher shop working the ‘9-5 job’ – though typically it was 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. – or take a chance and follow this passion of an unorthodox career in the Northwoods,” he said.

Olejniczak said there were naysayers.

“I had a lot of people tell me, ‘yeah, that’s great, Luke, you’re doing fine now, but you’re not going to be able to sustain this in this area,’” he said. “Luckily, they were wrong. I’m booked a year out at times, and it’s been an absolute blessing.”

Private Chef Luke’s niche, Olejniczak said, is intimate-sized dinner parties – typically consisting of two to 14 people.

“(Dinner parties this size), gives us a chance to really connect with clients,” he said. “I’m not going to just smile at you and ask you how you enjoyed the meal. I am going to say, ‘how did you like the cook on your steak? This is why we presented the steak in this way.’ We are on a first-name basis with dinner guests. And for the time we’re there, it’s almost like family.”

Through Private Chef Luke, Olejniczak said he’s not just preparing food, but experiences.

“Not only is the taste profile there, but the showmanship is there as well – which is something you also have to do as a private chef,” he said. “It’s not only being able to cook a great meal, it’s being able to entertain. Every group is different. Every dinner is different.”

A Private Chef Luke experience, he said, is a two- to five-course meal – “usually there are three.”

“They’re steakhouse-style experience dinners because I’m unapologetically a beef-centered chef – lean heavily on my butchering career,” he said. “I have an intimate knowledge of beef, and I also do wild game.”

The experience, Olejniczak said, isn’t just about the food, but also about the service.

“Having good servers is important, as is setting a proper table, presenting the plate properly, giving them a smile, pouring the wines, purveying the food and telling guests why we paired items and preparing items tableside and telling guests what they should be looking for,” he said. “It’s all about the experience.”

As a private chef, all of the cooking – minus potential prep work – Olejniczak said is done in a client’s home or space.

A Private Chef Luke experience, he said, is not catering – “it’s a whole different experience.”

“Catering, to me, is when you’re cooking it off-site, you’re doing nothing more than providing a meal,” he said. “Part of the experience (Private Chef Luke provides) is seeing the chef in your kitchen, seeing him prepare this meal in the kitchen. We always try to do everything in the kitchen.”

Olejniczak said he’s actually more comfortable in a residential kitchen than a commercial one.

“One of the things I do bring with me – which commercial kitchens typically have – is Wisconsin-made Alto-Shaam equipment,” he said. “They’re internationally known, and I absolutely swear by their equipment. My reputation depends on it.”

A team effort

Though the cooking is mainly in Olejniczak’s hands, the overall experience, he said, is a team effort.

“Depending on the dinner party size, I have four servers I can utilize,” he said. “Typically, I use two – Jay and Nicole.”

Olejniczak said he has also connected with a like-minded youngster named Dominic who is currently working as an apprentice.

“He’s a high school student and wants to be a private chef in the area, too,” he said. “I thought I would pull back the curtain, per se, teach him a few things and help him get set up because there is plenty of work in the area.”

All of the servers, Olejniczak said, wear vests with the Private Chef Luke crest.

“And then I, of course, wear a chef’s coat with the crest,” he said. “

A perfect pairing

Being established in the Eagle River area – “in the summer, I don’t travel more than a half hour from my doorstep” – Olejniczak said he doesn’t have to “chase customers.”

“If you retain the customers you have, it’s really not that hard to stay booked,” he said.

Private Chef Luke, Olejniczak said, pairs perfectly with the region.

“This is a retirement community and a vacation destination,” he said. “It’s quiet. We’re rich in natural resources – we have the world’s largest chain of lakes – people want to be here.”

Olejniczak said Eagle River has always had that small-town charm – “but now it’s getting some big-city conveniences.”

Always learning

Part of what has helped him grow in his trade, Olejniczak said, has been consistent self-critiques.

“I am critical of the dinners I put out, and am always looking for ways I can continue to get better,” he said. 

After each dinner, Olejniczak said he writes in a journal.

“I don’t care how good the dinner went – there is always something you could do better,” he said. “It could be 11 p.m., I’m just getting home and I am so tired. The dinner went well, everyone applauded. But I will sit down and write in my journal about the things that could have gone even better. Maybe it’s something as simple as needing the servers to slow down slightly because one of the plates went to the table with a smear on the rim.”

Olejniczak said it’s the little things, like that, that make the difference.

“It’s about continually being critical of the product you put out,” he said.

Olejniczak said he wants people to remember him through his cooking.

“For someone to bump into you in the grocery store, and they remind you what you made them and they talk as passionately as you did when you presented the meal – that’s huge,” he said. “Being able to provide them with an environment to connect in a special and unique way through food – it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Merci beaucoup

Empty plates and complimenting words from his dinner guests, Olejniczak said goes a long way in validating his career choices.

Receiving recognition from the Vilas County Economic Development Corporation as its Business of the Year – he said, “was a whole other level of validation.”

“There was nobody blazing this trail for me,” he said. “This is an unorthodox career in an area that, if you look at it on paper, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. So getting that award in 2023 was about the most validating thing I could get. It was a nod of confidence that I needed – ‘yeah, you’re doing things right.’”

Olejniczak said there were several businesses in the area “that deserved the award.”

“So, it was humbling to win, but at the same time it definitely served as validation,” he said.

For more on Private Chef Luke, visit privatechefluke.com.