Although his name may not be well-known in local culinary circles, Gordon Ramsay certainly knows Scott McKinnon’s name.
McKinnon, a TCU graduate and former Horned Frogs football player, was a contestant on this season of MasterChef Generations, the culinary competition TV show starring the notoriously temperamental Ramsay. Unlike many of the dishes Ramsay eats on his TV shows, Ramsay liked the dish McKinnon made on “Generations,” but another judge didn’t like it, so McKinnon was removed from the competition.
Although McKinnon’s appearance on the show was short-lived, it brought attention to his new career as a private chef, which the Southlake resident began in his mid-50s.
“54 feels like 24,” says the 54-year-old Houston native. “I was finally able to realize my passion, my dream. I don’t think about my age. I have a lot of energy and passion for cooking. It’s in my blood. It is located in
In MacKinnon’s case, it’s not exactly a metaphor. Scott’s namesake, his great-grandfather Billy McKinnon (his first name is William, but he’s called Scott), was a famous restaurateur who opened a series of restaurants across the state in the early 20th century. He was a manager. .
“He operated five restaurants between Houston and Dallas from 1914 to 1930,” he says. “I still have a lot of his old menus. He ran high-end restaurants like caviar service and Chateaubriand. But he also ran buffet restaurants for day laborers. He was smart about finding ways to serve people of all economic backgrounds.
The city of Dallas honored Billy McKinnon by naming McKinnon Street near the Crescent Hotel after the popular restaurant owner.
Scott McKinnon’s love of food was born out of necessity, not necessarily interest. As a proud Gen-Xer whose parents worked long hours, McKinnon was often left home alone to meet her own nutritional needs.
“I was the typical GenX latchkey kid,” he says. “I was very passionate about track and field, but I would come home to an empty house and always be hungry. I started thinking about how to cook at an early age.”
This was a pre-internet era, so he often turned to another technological staple: television for cooking tips. “I just learned the basics by watching a lot of Emeril Lagasse shows and early Food Network shows,” he says. “It took a lot of trial and error to get pretty good at it.”
He thought athletics would offer more life chances, as well as sales and marketing, at TCU, where he also played football. After graduating in 1992 and marrying his college sweetheart, Kimberly, he began a 30-year career in marketing. This career became essential to support her two soon-to-be-born daughters.
In other words, it was tougher to navigate a career in the volatile food and beverage industry than in marketing and sales, areas where he found stability and success.
He says that cooking for his wife and daughter has become his joy in cooking. McKinnon was also the first to wear an apron and cook for parties and social gatherings at her family’s home.
As the years passed and his daughters grew up and started their own lives and careers, his interest turned back to food. Friends encouraged him to open his own restaurant. I knew that such a venture would take risk, time, and money, so I decided to start my own business as a personal chef instead.
“It’s a lot less overhead to buy food for a few people each day than it is to buy food for a few hundred people every day,” he says. After initially slowing down, business has picked up after appearing on four episodes of this season’s “MasterChef Generations.” He says he feels really energized.
“I’m going to be the guest celebrity chef for the Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game,” he says. “I feel very blessed and grateful.”
McKinnon says it’s never too late to change careers or try something new.
“Be a duck swimming on the surface, but rowing furiously beneath the surface,” he says. “You have to jump in and chase it.”
Scott McKinnon can be reached through his website, chefscottymac.com.
