At 6 feet, 11 inches tall and 340 pounds, 33-year-old Grayson Hendricks stood out among the student honor delegates at the recent Michael E. Hurst Student Forum hosted by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation in Chicago. Faculty selected the more than 200 restaurant and food industry students for their leadership skills, discipline and talent. A St. Louis native, Hendricks is working toward an associate’s degree in culinary arts from the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago. Age and appearance are not the only things that make Hendricks an atypical student. A former drug addict and drug pusher, Hendricks is obtaining a culinary education to help him turn his life around.
How long did you abuse drugs?
I started when I was 17. When I was 19, I almost died from an overdose. I stopped using after that. I was working in a dead-end job as a bouncer and part-time bodyguard. I started dealing when I found out I had a 2-year-old daughter to support. I did that for about four years. I was moving drugs from California to Illinois on a weekly basis. I was making thousands of dollars a week.
How did that come to an end?
I realized what kind of time in jail I would do if I ever got arrested, so I started getting out of it. I was arrested in 1998. But I had never been arrested before. I didn’t have a record. I was given two years probation and a fine and an understanding if I ever ended up in court again, I’d do a minimum of five years.
When did you consider becoming a chef?
I had always dabbled a little bit. After my probationary period, I was working in a bar, doing barbecue. The executive chef [for Sportservice at St. Louis’ Busch Stadium] Rolf Baumann came in. He wanted something to eat, but not barbecue. I threw together a pasta dish.
He said, “If you can cook like this, I’ll give you a job.” I said, “Yeah, whatever.” But when I went to the stadium he hired me. He encouraged me to go to culinary school. The faculty here have instilled something in me and given me a whole new outlook towards cooking.
What do you want to do when you graduate?
I hope I can find someone who can look past my criminal history and give me an opportunity. That would be a giant leap for me.