José Andrés Offers Halcyon Fellows His Advice — and Spirit

“I want to be richer than Donald Trump,” said chef, entrepreneur and philanthropist José Andrés during the welcoming ceremony Feb. 18 for the Halcyon Incubator fellows of the Spring 2016 Cohort.

Speaking on stage at Halcyon House with Ryan Ross, program manager of the Georgetown non-profit that fosters social entrepreneurs and their big ideas, the positive, likable Andrés was talking about a new capitalism that succeeds without taking advantage of others. He offered his entrepreneurial advice and enthusiasm to 10 fellow who are pursuing eight Halcyon Incubator projects, ranging from life-saving shelter to rooftop farming. They each spoke briefly to those assembled about their project.

Fitting in well with the do-gooder but worldly fellows, Andrés looked very much at home and said he sees this smarter way of working as saving capitalism.

In a not very veiled reference to Trump, with whom he is snarled in a lawsuit about a proposed restaurant (which the chef nixed after the presidential candidate’s comments on immigrants) in the upcoming Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, Andrés said immigrants make good Americans and that there are “11 million undocumented” in the country.

The 47-year-old father of three said that when he arrived in America at the age of 19 he felt welcome — “and if not, I made them feel welcome.”

Andrés hit upon the large prison population in the U.S., saying that some inmates would do much better with mentoring — “make that person not a problem but a solution” — and perhaps make a new college for the jailed.

“Why throw money at a problem when you can invest in the solution?” he asked.

Touting “food as an agent for change,” the head of the ThinkFood Group, which owns most of its restaurants in and around Washington, D.C., spoke about going to Haiti and also helping during Hurricane Sandy. He noted that local is not always the best way to go — “buy avocados from Mexico” — and that the latest food fad or well-intentioned rescue can hurt farmers. Free rice to Haiti drove Haitian farmers out of business, he said. And quinoa? Local prices rose in Peru.

If you want to help Haiti, just show up — it’s not about money, he said. It’s how you think about it, Andrés said, questioning what people think about Anacostia.

We have to think smarter and invest more in the world, he urged. “To help the world we need to start looking at it like we’re investing in the world.”

Asked about failure, Andrés smiled and said, “I don’t like to read Yelp before going to bed.” As a chef, he said he knows that he is “only as good as his last plate,” unlike an artist who paints a masterpiece that everyone can enjoy for many years to come. “Failure keeps you awake . . . motivates,” he told the audience. “We need to make it a habit to celebrate our failure because there’s always a sunrise on the other side.”

Andrés offered a quote from Winston Churchill: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

Visit HalcyonIncubator.org — part of S&R Foundation — for more information about the program and its fellows.