Chefs seeking a flexible work schedule might want to consider becoming a chef for a sorority or fraternity at a university.
On TikTok, chefs like Kevin Ashton and Grant Groscost share what their days look like as Greek life chefs — that is, being a house chef for a specific Greek house.
Ashton, who serves around 28 girls for the Pi Beta Phi sorority at the University of Nevada, says he was “blown away” by the benefits of bring a sorority chef after retiring from the restaurant industry during the height of the pandemic.
The job allows Ashton to create his own menu, shop for his own ingredients, chop and prepare the food himself, choose his own hours and have time off during the summer.
“Everything they were talking about, it just seemed to fit,” Ashton tells TODAY.com. “It was exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t even know it.”
Groscost, who serves around 250 guys daily in the Sigma Pi fraternity at the University of Tennessee, says that though he was hesitant to accept the offer at first, “It’s by far the best job I’ve ever had, honestly.”
His success on TikTok, where he’s amassed over 437,000 followers, took him by surprise at first.
“I thought people only wanted to see three-Michelin star restaurants or that sort of thing,” he tells TODAY.com.
A typical day for both chefs starts at around 5 a.m. Ashton says he purchases groceries in the morning, heads over to the house to cook lunch and cleans up by 1 p.m.
After editing videos for TikTok, where he’s attracted over 5 million followers, he returns to the house at 3 p.m. to cook dinner and ends the day at 6:30 p.m., heading home to relax.
Meanwhile, Groscost heads into the house at 6 a.m. and spends 45 minutes “cleaning up whatever was left overnight.” Remember — it’s a frat house.
After serving breakfast until 9:30 a.m., he prepares lunch for 11 a.m., which ends at 2 p.m., then he heads to class at 2:30 p.m.
For both houses, the chefs say there’s a clear favorite dish. Ashton says his queso birria tacos are a hit, meanwhile Groscost says chicken tenders and Tater Tot casseroles are popular.
The chefs’ popularity is not only apparent online but also in the house. Some members have even shared their own reviews on the chefs’ food on social media.
“They’re fun about it,” Ashton says about the girls he cooks for.
Groscost’s house members took some convincing to review the food but eventually got “excited for it,” he says.
“They would wear costumes, and they were telling all the new kids who just rushed, ‘Chef Grant makes all these desserts that you get to try!’” he says.
One of the girls who reviews Ashton’s food is member Laryssa Kalayanaprapruit, who tells TODAY.com that Ashton is the “exact same way that he portrays himself on social media.”
“We see him as a friend, a mentor, especially for me and my social media,” she says, speaking on behalf of her sorority sisters.
“He’s super inspiring and strong for every single one of us girls in the chapter for battling cancer while also still being able to put his heart into our meals and hold a smile on his face around us,” she adds.
And certainly not to Ashton’s surprise, the queso birria tacos are in her top-three house meals, with honorable mentions going to the chef’s pulled pork mac and cheese and mango-glazed salmon.
“I hope he makes all three of those this year,” she says with a laugh.
Dining and Cooking