First and foremost Chris Jones is a husband and father — a hard-working, long hours, move across the country, take your daughter with you to the office on Saturdays kind of husband and father.
Chris Jones is also a chef. Yet he insists that despite the many kitchens he’s worked in, he’s never thought of himself as the best chef. His natural role has always been as a leader, making sure that everyone in his kitchen is as successful as possible. He is now the leader of the Just culinary team. Chris worked in restaurant kitchens his entire professional life, until one question led him away from the dinner service and toward a young company working out of a garage in San Francisco — how can we feed everyone?
So with his wife and 2-year-old daughter still thousands of miles away, Chris started working for an upstart company trying to change the food system forever.
Josh Tetrick, CEO & Founder: How did you know that this was the right choice?
Chris Jones: I understood that I would have to give up way more than I was willing to in order to do something truly great. My wife was 1000% supportive. We both viewed it as our opportunity. I’ve worked in kitchens for all of my life, and coming here gave us a brand new dream. Plus, we were both so ready to ditch the restaurant kitchen hours. Half of the culinary world will think I’m a sell-out because of this, and the other half will totally understand.
JT: In the early days, I remember you would go on these crazy long walks. Tell me about those.
CJ: I was out exploring San Francisco, looking for places for my family to live. I would go once a week, on Sundays, probably from 9am until midnight. I walked everywhere to keep things cheap. All of my money was going back to my family.
JT: What would you do on those walks?
CJ: Think about mayo. Think about new ways to make mayo. I would have full conversations of, “Hey Siri, please take my mind off mayo!” I would think about my wife, and wonder if she was OK. I would wonder, how long can she possibly hold out for? I would think about my little girl Savannah. All the time. I knew I had made a great move, but it was devastating to be away from her for so long.
JT: Do you remember the first time you went to a store with your daughter and saw Just Mayo on the shelf?
CJ: The first time I went to a store and saw it with her was when Just Mayo launched at Safeway. This moment didn’t happen for a long time, because my wife shopped in the middle of the day and and I was always working. Plus, I could get all the free mayo I wanted at work… Now, whenever we’re at a grocery store, Savannah points out Just Mayo on the shelf and goes, “Daddy, this is your mayo.”
JT: How many different formulations of mayo do you think you’ve personally made?
CJ: At least 500 variations of 4 different types of formulas…so more than 2,000.
JT: Are you surprised that Just Mayo is now on the shelves of mainstream grocery stores everywhere?
CJ: I never thought it could be this big. What surprised me the most is how much Just Mayo has changed the perception of what mainstream food can be. This product, out of all the products we’ll create over the next 20 years, proved to us that this mission is possible. Its success made me realize, wow, we actually can change the food system.
JT: Do remember when your family finally moved here?
CJ: My family finally moved here on Valentine’s Day. My wife was so nervous. She had never seen this house we were going to live in. She flew over all by herself, juggling a 2-and-a-half-year-old, a cat, and piles of stuff. I actually had a limousine pick us up from the airport (I had to wow her somehow because it was Valentine’s Day and we hadn’t seen each other for 6 months.) The limo drove down the street toward the house and all the cherry blossoms on our street were in full bloom. And as we walked inside my wife could see that I had unpacked all of our stuff by myself — I had literally moved a couch in with a scooter. She started crying. She couldn’t believe that after 6 months apart, we were finally together. Furthermore, we were moving into the kind of house we never thought we could afford to live in. It was a really fundamental moment for us.
JT: Has your journey with this company been harder or easier than you expected?
CJ: Way harder. I didn’t think anything could be harder than life in the kitchens, but building this company and being a part of it from the very beginning…well, every day is like the opening night of a restaurant.
JT: Chris, you did something back in the day that really impacted me. When we first met, you were the best chef that I had ever encountered in my limited experience. Yet, you chose to hire chefs to your team who you considered more skilled than yourself. Most people wouldn’t have the self-confidence to do this. Why did you do it?
CJ: If you surround yourself with greatness, you become great yourself. I don’t need to be the best chef to be the head chef. Charlie Trotter didn’t consider himself to be the best chef at his restaurant, but he kept the best chefs in his kitchen. My goal has always been to find the most talented people to put around me, and to be able to work with them, to learn from them, and to lead them. So if you look at the my team now, that’s what they represent to me.
JT: What does your daughter Savannah want to be when she grows up?
CJ: I think if you asked her what she wants to be when she grows up, she’d want to be Love. She would literally want to be Love to everyone. She wants to be there for people. She wants everyone to be happy.
When she grows up, I hope she looks at the world and thinks that nothing is impossible. Savannah has met so many brilliant women here, and so many brilliant scientists, and so many brilliant people in general. Having grown up around these people, I hope that whatever she wants to accomplish in life, she knows that she absolutely can.
JT: So, what does your daughter think you do for work?
CJ: Savannah is 6 now. Her understanding of what I do comes from spending time with me here in the kitchens at headquarters on Saturdays. She comes here and she tells me, “Dad, you’re not a chef anymore. You used to be a chef. Now you’re a scientist. You do way more than what a chef does.’”
