Meet Pascal Simon | Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pascal Simon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pascal, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I believe the most important factor of my success is that I deeply care about what I do. I absolutely love teaching kids and seeing them succeed is what makes me happy. I am convinced that if I would not be passionate about what I do, I would run out of steam quickly and I believe it would eventually show. I am authentic in my work, I care about each student, each family, and I want the kids to feel empowered.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I love my job! I think that is key to being able to make it as an entrepreneur. What I am most proud of is that I found a career where I can help others feel empowered and good about themselves. I feel like this has been something I have wanted to achieve for a long time and I just never thought it would be through teaching. Was it easy? No! I created my job for myself out of necessity, I slowly grew into my business, it was definitely not a well-thought-out business in the beginning. When I started my business, my plan was to sell cakes.
I realized very quickly that selling cakes was maybe not the best option for me, since it felt at the time there was not enough demand. I loved the creative process, always the artist, this gave me a lot of opportunity for expression. From a business point, it felt too difficult for me personally. So one day someone asked me to teach their kids how to decorate some baked goods. I had been a teacher before, mosaic & art, so making the switch to edibles was not a huge leap. When I started I absolutely loved it and from there I just grew.
I started teaching out of my living room, with one stand mixer and cake pans that I had in my house, kids would take turns, I had to move my couch around every day to make room for the growing group of kids. Eventually, I moved my school into a larger and designated space and my business took off. And then, just as I thought I had found my ground running, COVID hit. We went under lockdown and I honestly only thought about how my clients must feel like. Kids at home, so much uncertainty, and I started my online school, offering free classes just so kids had something to look forward to. From here my business took a whole new shape and now I am teaching more kids, all over this country and even internationally how to create meals in their own kitchens.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh, that is fun! Lets, see, For breakfasts: I would take her to Sour Duck and get a croissant and coffee to go. The Omlettry, Magnolia, of course. (a lot of my favorite places have closed due to COVID, 🙁 )
We would also have breakfast at home on my front porch because my best friend lives in a much colder place than me and in Austin, the weather is always great!
We would hop on our bikes and ride downtown, using the many super cool bike paths that we have here in Austin.
We would go to Barton Springs and take a dip.
Go for a hike along the green belt.
On our list of things would be the framers Market at Mueller on Sunday.
Roller Skating on the Veloway, kayaking to see the bats at Congress bridge at sunset.
We would get dinner from some of my favorite restaurants in Austin: Thai Fresh, Kome, Uchiko, Julios Cafe, P-Terries, and of course my own kitchen.
I think for me everything would revolve around nature and food.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people deserve a shoutout for the success of my business. My mentor Chef Pavla, the families that believe in me, of course, but I think the people who have supported me the most over the last few years are my own children. My boys have always believed in me, we had to make sacrifices as a family, money was tight at times, my work hours are long and since I always work during the summer we had very little summer vacation time. My kids were always my motivation and they are also my biggest supporters.

Website: www.bakeaustin.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakeaustin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bakeaustin

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bake-austin-austin

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwfcKSmmfqGu964suMu5h2A

Image Credits
Terra D. For the photo with the pie. (Kid in kitchen and the cranberry pie on the right) Heather M. for the photo with the girl in the kitchen with the i-pad screen The rest of the photos are mine.