With a career spanning four decades, Scotsman and chef Grant MacPherson has worked at some of the most prestigious hotels including Bellagio Hotel, Wynn Las Vegas, Ritz Carlton Big Island, the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas and many others. He’s opened many successful restaurants across the world, handcrafting exotic five-star dishes in the process. In 2019, he started working on an Asian restaurant at the San Manuel Casino in California.
But food isn’t chef MacPherson’s only passion. In his second-floor office of the ScotchMyst restaurant consulting firm, he keeps many guitars – Gibson Custom Shop guitars, 2006 Jimi Hendrix Flying V replica, autographed Joe Perry Boneyard Les Paul, a double-neck Jimmy Page EDS-1275 reissue, Pete Townshend Les Paul Deluxe replica and more. That should give you a good sense of some of MacPherson’s favorite bands, too.
In addition to U.S. presidents and British prime ministers, MacPherson has had the opportunity to cook for the likes of Michael Jackson, Roger Daltry and more. Throughout his life, he has seen food and music merge in interesting ways. He has even gone on record to say that music inspires him to make better dishes.
Pictured with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.
Follow Your Passion
The more you learn about MacPherson, the more you will discover that he’s a man of passion. And, throughout his prolific and successful career, he’s always followed his passion, which has led him to opportunity after opportunity.
But even he had humble beginnings. His childhood years were spent in Dundee, Scotland. He then moved with his family to St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. His love affair with the culinary art would begin there. But he wasn’t exactly working in prestigious or high-class restaurants at the time, and in fact spent a lot of time chopping chicken wings at a place called Bugsy’s. That eventually landed him an apprenticeship.
Much has been said about passion and whether to follow it. Like MacPherson, you could easily end up spending your formative years “paying your dues”, facing various life challenges as you look to advance your career.
Long-term, you will probably live a more fulfilling life following your passion. But that sounds a little bit like dangling the carrot in front of the donkey. The prospect of following your passion may not immediately strike you as being inspiring, and you may even give pause to the effort you think it’s going to require.
What we can say with some certainty is that while following your passion may not be easy, it is simple. If you’re engaged in something you love you’re far more likely to stick it out, even when things get tough. Many people give up when they hit that plateau. If you keep going, however, you will separate yourself from the crowd, and you’ll be one of the few emerging on the other side of trials and tribulations.
Depending on what you’re looking to achieve, music can be a challenging pursuit. But you would also be hard-pressed to find something so many people are so passionate about. Music brings joy to people. So, if you’ve gotten away from your passion, maybe it’s time to get back to it. Maybe it’s time to listen to your spirit and where it’s guiding you.
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